A bold prediction could be riding on Mexico-Uruguay outcome
Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa — Before leaving for the World Cup, Justino Compean, head of the Mexican soccer federation, made a pledge to Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
“Our promise,” he told Calderon in an elaborate ceremony at the team’s training base, “is the fifth game and more.”
That’s a pretty bold prediction coming from a guy whose team has managed as many as five games in a World Cup only once in its long history. But it could turn out to be pretty accurate if Mexico can get over a couple of more hurdles.
If El Tri beats Uruguay on Tuesday in Rustenburg, it will win its group and advance to the second round, where it will find either lowly South Korea or ever lowlier Greece between it and a fifth game.
A loss and Mexico will almost certainly still advance, but as the group runner-up it wound face Argentina in the knockout round.
Veteran striker Cuauhtemoc Blanco doesn’t really care about those scenarios. He says Mexico will be ready to play whatever team lines up in front of it in the second round — if it qualifies, something he is not taking for granted.
“We want to play against whoever it is,” said Blanco, whose penalty-kick goal in Mexico’s 2-0 win over France last week gave him a score in three World Cups. “Mentally, we’re fine, and we want to win against whoever it is so we can go on.
“We don’t have problems if it’s Argentina. It’s going to be a great game. But we haven’t qualified and we have to win Tuesday to move on.”
Nigerian gets death threats
The Nigerian team has asked for beefed-up security after midfielder Sani Kaita received more than 1,000 death threats from home following a game-changing red card in his country’s 2-1 loss to Greece.
Team spokesman Idah Peterside said the death threats came via e-mail after Kaita was sent off for kicking at Greece’s Vassilis Torosidis in the 33rd minute of Thursday’s game in Bloemfontein.
Nigeria was winning, 1-0, but after Kaita’s ejection forced Nigeria to play short-handed, Greece scored the first two World Cup goals in its history, pushing the Africans to the brink of elimination.
No field day
As if labor strikes, vuvuzelas, officiating and an erratic match ball weren’t enough, World Cup officials now have to deal with problems related to poor field conditions.
FIFA blocked training sessions at three of the 10 World Cup stadiums to protect the pitches, and more cancellations could be coming. One of the teams affected is the U.S., which, along with Tuesday opponent Algeria, was told it could not work out at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld Stadium ahead of the Group C finale.
The U.S. played on the field twice in last summer’s Confederations Cup, losing both times. But practices on the game pitch are still considered important in soccer to give players a chance to acclimate to the facility.
Chile and Switzerland were denied permission to train Sunday at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, where training sessions were also canceled last week. Brazil and Ivory Coast were prevented from training on the field at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg the day before Sunday’s match.
World Cup rules allow teams a 60-minute stadium practice on the eve of every match. But FIFA can cancel sessions in adverse weather or if the playing surface is “not in good condition or the training session would negatively affect” its quality.
Times wire services contributed to this report.
