The European leagues are not in full swing yet but the EPL kicked off this past weekend. Look for Tecatito and Guardado to make their season debuts later this week. So how did Mexicans in the EPL do? Well, one of them scored against Tim Howard and the other had a nice view from the bench.
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Posted in Player Recap
The English Premier League is set to kickoff this weekend. There are currently only 2 Mexican internationals on EPL rosters but for the sake of this preview, lets include Raul Jimenez as a West Ham player. His loan deal is expected to be finalized this weekend.
The new Top 25 Mexican Players ranking is out and there has definitely been some movement in the rankings. Make sure you head over to FutMex Source to see the complete rankings. Keep reading if you want to see my rankings and thoughts on some of the players. Feel free to tell me how wrong I am in the comments below.
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
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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 ?
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Posted in Kick Around, Recap
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
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Posted in Preview
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…
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Posted in Feature
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.
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Posted in Recap
So… what the hell happened to Mexico at Copa America? I can’t say I am too surprised at the group stage exit but that doesn’t mean I was not disappointed by it all. So what could have been done to improve Mexico’s Copa America?
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Tecatito was a player I was very interested when the season started but I had low expectations. I expected him to mostly play with Twente’s reserve team with spot starts for the first team. So I was not shocked when word got around that he was “demoted” to their reserve team. He only had 3 starts and 15 total appearances totaling less than 400 minutes during 2013-2014 season. Reserve minutes would have been expected but reports started coming out of the Netherlands that he was out of shape. Reporters were saying he was not worth the transfer fee paid for him and labeled him as a lazy player. His own coach even called him fat.
Fuertes críticas de un periodista holandés contra #Tecatito Corona. http://t.co/iH6OGNDcPe pic.twitter.com/owwMgwBGa6
— Goal México (@goalmex) September 2, 2014
This started to have the makings of a Mexican player on his way back home after a failed excursion overseas. Luckily, something clicked for Corona while he was with the reserve team. He played well, scored a few goals and improved his fitness. Corona rose to the challenge put down by his manager and regained his spot on the first team. The head coach started plugging him into the starting XI and these types of things started to happen…
Tecatito stepped up to the challenge and grew into a more professional player. Gone were the stories of him lacking fitness and being a lazy player. His personal life featured some changes as well. He became a father halfway through the season. Corona said himself that becoming a father changed a lot of things for him. He had grown into a better overall player, one who could be counted on to perform. Twente’s attack relied heavily on Corona and he was their main threat going forward. He very well could have led them to a Europa League spot but financial problems haunted the club. Those problems led to them being docked 6 points. And those very same problems are likely to be a big reason why they allowed him to play in both tournaments this summer.
While I saw plenty of his games this past season, I had not looked at his season stats. Safe to say, his season totals were surprising. WhoScored had him as the 9th best player in the Eredivisie. Overall, (including cup competition) Corona finished with 11 goals and 4 assists. Although he was the focal attacking point for Twente, he was not one to take as many shots on goal as possible. Corona was only 31st in shots per game. He was a menace on the wings and led the league in successful dribbles (ahead of Memphis Depay). Defenders did whatever they could to stop him and that included fouling Tecatito. He finished as the 6th highest fouled player in the Eredivisie. That’s something Carlos Vela can relate to as he is consistently up there in terms of fouls per game in La Liga. He isn’t a finished product as he can be wasteful, having had the 3rd highest number of dispossessions per game. He will need to be more efficient in the future but is on the right path at this stage of his career.
The future looks bright for Tecatito. He is still only 22 years old and will look to feature in the Olympics next summer. This summer is all about cementing his national team status and taking a hard look at other clubs. I think he can use another season in the Eredivisie before going off to a “bigger” league. PSV is said to be interested in buying him to replace Depay. That would be a win win for him: a bigger club in the same league and one who will sell if a good offer comes in. I’m excited for what the future holds for this kid from Hermosillo, Sonora.
Tecatito finished as the 9th highest rated player in Eredivisie, per WhoScored
If you were not able to catch many of his club games this past season, check out some of his highlights.
Posted in Feature, Player Recap