WORLD CUP 2006
Mexico
Introduction
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Mexico's best finals performances were in reaching the quarter-finals in the two tournaments they hosted, 1970 and 1986. They have never done better than the last 16 on foreign soil, but this time they are confident they can go much further, even all the way to the Final.
Ricardo Lavolpe, Mexico’s gruff, even rude, Argentinian coach, has given the team a winning mentality and self-belief rarely seen in the past. Once, Mexican players often had to wait until their late twenties before an international call-up, but Lavolpe has reduced that age drastically, in some cases selecting players who had barely played a competitive game at club level. The likes of Carlos Salcido, Luis Perez and Gonzalo Pineda are already seasoned internationals in their mid-twenties.
The coach has also ended Mexico’s traditional dependence on the talents of one or two outstanding individuals, preferring instead to focus on solid organisation. At last year’s Confederations Cup, where Mexico beat Brazil in the group stage and lost only on penalties to Argentina in the semi-finals, the team were repeatedly praised for their tactics.
Few other coaches have enjoyed as much time with their players as Lavolpe. With only three of the likely squad based abroad, Mexico have been able to play friendlies and organise training camps almost at will, without depending on FIFA’s calendar. Last year alone, they played 26 games, and when Lavolpe named his provisional World Cup squad at the start of April, the players were immediately whisked off to a training camp in Acapulco and their clubs left to complete the League championship without them.
Of course, it has been far from plain sailing. Lavolpe has angered many people by selecting two naturalised players
– Brazil-born midfielder Antonio Naelson and Argentina-born forward Guillermo Franco – and Rafael Garcia, his son-in-law.
Even more controversial was the coach’s decision to leave out Cuauhtemoc Blanco, the only Mexican player capable of producing the truly unpredictable, on the grounds that he did not fit into the system.
“I’ve played under umpteen coaches and fitted into all their systems, so I don’t see why I couldn’t fit into Ricardo’s,” Blanco responded. Many suspect that the forward’s fearsome temper, his difficulty in getting on with his team-mates and his refusal to play at the Confederations Cup have more to do with Lavolpe’s decision.
There have been hiccups on the field, such as a painful 2-0 defeat in the United States, a shock loss against Trinidad & Tobago, and, worryingly, failure to win any of the first six matches against European opposition under Lavolpe. Mexico finally broke their duck by beating Hungary in December.
But now, after being surprisingly seeded, the Mexicans face Portugal, Angola and Iran in an apparently easy group, while the United States, the team they really fear, are safely in the other half of the draw. Although Mexico’s second round opponents will be from the Group of Death – Argentina, Ivory Coast, Serbia & Montenegro or Holland – they look perfectly capable of reaching the semi-finals.
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