Mexico Is Ready for Anything
The message is the World Cup, and what Mexico plans to do with it, and over the last few days, that message has been jumbled.
“The ultimate goal,” Mexico Coach Javier Aguirre said Thursday night in San Francisco, “is to do better than all the Mexican teams have done in the past World Cups.”
Aguirre was talking about reaching the semifinals--with a team that had just struggled far more than necessary to defeat a squad of young Bolivian prospects and projects, 1-0.
“Si Se Puede!” is the official Mexican team slogan and marketing catch phrase as the team prepares for first-round competition against Italy, Croatia and Ecuador. Spectators at today’s 2 p.m. Mexico-AC Milan match at the Coliseum will see the words on T-shirts and other souvenir merchandise sold throughout the stadium. They will also hear them during a sort of halftime pep rally, designed to send the team off for Asia in rousing fashion.
“Si Se Puede!”
“Yes, we can.”
But just in case we can’t, we have booked a flight back to Mexico on June 15, two days after the team has concluded its first-round matches.
The Mexican Football Federation’s release of the team’s World Cup travel itinerary this week caused an uproar among Mexican soccer fans, who believe the federation was showing little faith in the team’s prospects in Japan by booking such an early trip home.
The federation was forced to backpedal Friday. Spokesman Armando Aceves told Reuters, “At a World Cup, you have to have all the reservations ready because all the flights and hotels are full.
“This doesn’t mean to say that the team is going to return on the 15th. It’s simply a question of planning, which is done by all teams.”
Aceves said that the travel plans, originally posted on the federation’s Web site, would be removed to placate fans.
“We understand that the fans are upset, and to help put the people at ease, we are going to remove it, because they are saying we have no confidence in the team.”
Today, Aguirre and his team attempt to take the appeasement a step further in their final North American match before flying Monday to Japan.
Mexico has been less than impressive during its recent run of warmup matches, with Aguirre tinkering with his lineup, experimenting with players while not wanting to reveal too much to Croatia, Mexico’s opponent in its June 3 opener.
Only late in the second half Thursday, after Aguirre had sent in five substitutes, did Mexico play with the squad most likely to be on the field against Croatia.
Two of them, forwards Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Francisco Palencia, created the only goal of the match. In the 47th minute, two minutes after entering the game, Blanco’s pass set up Palencia for a 17-yard strike inside the left post.
“Some players satisfied me, some didn’t,” Aguirre said. “Up front, I think we lack a little imagination right now. But I think we’re very organized in the back.”
Wednesday at Giants Stadium, AC Milan played to a 1-1 draw with the MetroStars.
