Mexico looks to brighter soccer future
Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa — As time ran out on Mexico’s World Cup on Sunday, Cuauhtemoc Blanco stood on the sidelines alone, arms folded across his chest.
The greatest Mexican player of his era never even got on the field, left instead to watch as Javier Hernandez, making his first World Cup start, scored Mexico’s goal in a 3-1 loss to Argentina.
That vignette speaks volumes about the state of Mexican soccer in the wake of the country’s fifth consecutive World Cup elimination in the second round.
The generation of Blanco, Rafael Marquez, Oscar Perez and Gerardo Torrado is over after a 12-year run highlighted by three Gold Cup titles and a Confederations Cup championship — but marred by four disappointing World Cup performances.
The generation of Hernandez, Giovani Dos Santos, Andres Guardado and Carlos Vela is just beginning, building on a U-17 World Cup win in 2005.
“This isn’t just talk — there is a precious generation of young Mexican players [coming up] and we have to take advantage of it,” Coach Javier Aguirre said after Mexico’s latest World Cup loss. “They are in a process, and were at the World Cup at 21 years of age, and surely they’ll be there in four years. You’ll see that.”
But simply “being there” should no longer be enough for Mexico. The second round of the World Cup should no longer be enough. For the next generation of Mexican players to truly distinguish themselves, they will have to do better than their predecessors.
And Aguirre thinks they will.
“The Mexican people can think four years down the road. These players were world champions five years ago. Today they’re 21, 22,” he said. “In four years, we’re going to have a really good base of eight or 10 players, world champions when they were younger who matured playing in Europe, with experience, to do something good in Brazil [at the 2014 World Cup].”
Ten of the 23 players on this year’s Mexico World Cup squad are 24 or younger, and seven of those had significant playing time in South Africa. Five of the 10 already play in Europe.
Aguirre was one of four coaches Mexico used in this World Cup cycle and to replace him Mexico would be wise to go back to another of those four — former Club America coach Jesus “Chucho” Ramirez, who won four of his five games as a caretaker of the national team in 2008.
But the most important entry on Ramirez’s resume is the 2005 U-17 World Cup he won with the players who figure to form the core of Mexico’s national team going forward.
Ramirez has been criticized for his defense-first style of coaching, but who says he would use that approach with this national team? His U-17 championship team scored 16 goals in six games, including 10 in its three knockout-round games.
The past didn’t get Mexico where it wanted to go. But the future appears bright.
“It’s a new era for the national team,” Blanco said before this World Cup. “Time passes and young players come along ready to play. That’s the beauty of soccer.”
