It has been a wild 48 hours in Mexican Football. On one hand, El Tri completed their objective and won the Gold Cup. On the other hand, their coach had an “altercation with a reporter” and is no longer their coach. Just another couple of days in the world of Mexican football. So where does Mexico go from here? Continue reading
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 ?
Its put up or shut up time for Mexico. The same might especially be true for their manager, Piojo Herrera. Mexico has made it to the semifinals in controversial fashion but it will be for nothing if they cant advance tonight. They will face a Panama side that had to endure extra time and PKs. So what does Mexico have to do tonight to win? Here are my thoughts
Transfer season is upon us. I will try to corral some of the rumors involving Mexican players. As with any rumor roundup, proceed with caution. Lets dive in…
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.
