A couple of Mexican defenders found themselves on the scoresheet and another found himself back in LigaMX. Let’s see what else happened this weekend.
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Most of the European leagues return from winter break next weekend. Until then, we are light on actual games.
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January soccer feels like the week between Christmas and New Year’s. No one is sure who is working or what day of the week it is. Here are a few things that happened over the weekend.
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I’m writing this the day after the game and I still can’t believe Mexico pulled it off. They executed a perfect game plan and stuck to it for all 90 minutes. So how did Mexico pull off the upset and become the first CONCACAF nation to beat Germany at a World Cup? I try to dig a little deeper.
Early in the season, it was Tecatito Corona who was the only one of the Mexicans at Porto getting any playing time. Herrera and Layun were relegated to short substitution appearances. Diego Reyes never got off the bench but things are starting to change. Herrera and Reyes were big factors why Porto won 2-0, let’s dive into how that came to be.
Pic via Carlos Barron (@cbarronjr)
An exciting game to close out the September friendlies. Here are my quick thoughts.
Mexico was well on its way to boring everyone to sleep with their game plan aka get the ball to the wings and try a cross into the box. Then it happened, another late game pk call in their favor. Was it a penalty? I think it was but that call will never be examined in a vacuum. It comes on the heels of major corruption charges against several high ranking CONCACAF officials. It comes right after Mexico had been given a late lifeline against Costa Rica. It happened about 60 minutes after Panama had been given a somewhat harsh red. Each one of those individual calls can be chalked up to subpar referees but all those calls in favor of one team in a shady federation? Let the conspiracy theories begin…
Sure, Mexico might have been given a dubious penalty call for a second straight game but that’s not their fault. And if you really think Guardado should have missed the pk then you must have never experienced being on a bad end of a call. It happened, and Guardado hit another perfect pk. Can’t blame the Mexican captain or his team for playing out the game. Also, you can’t blame Panama for staying on the field and finishing the game. The Univision announcers were calling for them to walk off but that’s just one on a list of terrible things that crew said. Panama would have faced sanctions if they had walked off the field and World Cup Qualifying is not too far off.
Most alarming thing from last night was Mexico’s inability to score w/out the need for a pk. They are now up to 240 minutes without a goal in the run of play. Keep in mind they were up a man for about 90 minutes, basically playing at home and could barely get a shot on goal that would make Penedo move. I know injuries have hampered Piojo’s options up top but his lack of game plan against a 10 man Panama left much to be desired. They are through to the final against Jamaica, a well organized team. Can Piojo figure out a plan to attack ?
Plenty of of writers had their own take on the night’s proceedings.
CH14 calling for the trainer
The only thing anyone wants to talk about is Chicharito’s injury. It likely means he is done for the Gold Cup and might limit his transfer options. That sucks for us but no one else in CONCACAF will feel sorry for us (except maybe SUM). El Tri will need to bounce back in a hurry. The team has not gelled in the 2 warm up matches and missing 2 key starters will not help. Last night’s game was not the prettiest display by Mexico, nor was it the most effective. Here is what I liked and what I didn’t like.
Cup Update
Mixed bag for Mexicans in the Copa Del Rey quarterfinals and a less mixed, more terrible day in Portugal. Another group of Copa Del Rey games featuring Mexican national team players took place this Wednesday. Here is Joshua Picazo’s recap of the day that was.
After the senior team fumbled their game in Belarus, the U21s tried to give us something to cheer about. The team kicked off the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games, where countries are allowed 3 “over-age” players but this is basically a U21 tournament. Mexico started their campaign against Honduras and were able to win by a comfortable margin of 5-2. Mexico is the favorite to win it all. The tournament may very well be a minor one but it still is a great chance for these players to continue their development. 1 player caught my eye in particular. Continue reading
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