Getting An Idea Of What To Expect

March 12, 2010

With 90 days to go to the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, there are teams that are starting to give an idea of what we’re likely to see at the event ... unfortunately, some teams remain so experimental, we really don’t know what we’re going to witness.

In fact, 10 World Cup-bound teams were held scoreless in their international friendlies last week and that remains the most telling for me. These internationals seemed to sound a warning, particularly for the African sides to pick up or lose out.

Only Nigeria managed a win last week, a 5-2 trouncing of DR Congo, but they too, have to look at a leaky defence that could have conceded more and a work on producing consistent performances. As for the host nation, the unfortunate situation that practically saw them being the one team without a World Cup base was embarrassing, to say the least.

But on the playing field, are things looking up for Bafana Bafana? Well, let me begin by examining their Group A opponents, starting with Mexico.

You could say that New Zealand put up a fight, but ultimately goals from Javier Hernandez and Carlos Vela saw Mexico to a fairly comfortable 2-0 victory over the All Whites last week. But many Mexicans still felt the result was disappointing – and this is no disrespect to New Zealand – considering the quality of the opposition.

Following a 5-0 hammering of Bolivia the previous week, this win marked the second of a run of seven USA-based warm-up matches for Mexico, with friendlies against Korea DPR, Iceland, Ecuador, Senegal and Angola still to come before they return to Mexico City for a friendly against South America’s giant-killers, Chile, in May. They also meet the Netherlands and Italy before the face South Africa at Soccer City on June 11 in the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Mexico have a well thought out build-up, playing familiar and unfamiliar teams, teams that can threaten with pace, teams that are physical, teams that are gifted in attack and teams that are defensively unyielding. And for me, it is that pre-tournament strategy that marks them as the most dangerous team South Africa will face during the World Cup. I don’t make that statement lightly, but it is credit to a man that spent a decade playing for the national team and became a hero when Mexico hosted the 1986 World Cup.

Since losing his first match in charge as Mexico coach, Javier Aguirre has been widely criticised for his experimental tactics, but he has only lost once in the following 16 matches, a 2-1 friendly defeat at the hands of Colombia while trying out a few new and inexperienced players. But he also guided Mexico to a 5-0 victory over the USA in the Gold Cup final in New York to claim Mexico’s first continental title off Mexican soil since 1999.

That his trials have yielded dividends cannot be denied. And he is undoubtedly getting the balance right. Mexico have scored 38 goals and conceded only 11 in his 17 matches in charge. And the story gets better. His defence has not conceded in their last two matches, while his strikers have found the back of the opposition net on 7 occasions. Plus he has a pool of over 50 tried and tested players to choose from for the World Cup.

His critics make valuable points, but might be applying unnecessary pressure on him. They need to understand that Aguirre has a plan and perhaps the publicly reticent coach needs to clarify where he is going without giving away his game-plan. ‘El Vasco’, as he was called during his playing days, used 42 players in qualifying alone and continues to state there are no guaranteed World Cup places, but generally kept faith with his European-based stars, including Carlos Vela, Carlos Salcido, Rafael Marquez, Andres Guardado and Giovani Dos Santos.

Aguirre’s most widely condemned move was to revive the careers or ageing strikers Cuauhtemoc Blanco (37) and Jared Borgetti (36). Between them though, they scored 6 goals in 12 games for Mexico in qualifying. Not brilliant, but with 3 strikes each, they finished as joint leading goal scorers for Mexico in the qualifiers. They were also considerably better than the remaining 11 strikers used by Aguirre, who scored only 12 goals between them in 62 combined appearances.

Perhaps Blanco and Borgetti can still play a part, over and above their obvious experience. Not only do they have a number of continental titles under their respective belts, but Blanco has the experience of having won a FIFA tournament before: his 6 goals leading El Tri to the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup title. You must give credit to Aguirre for realising that they still had the ability to contribute and more still, having the fortitude to play them, long after they had been written off by those in charge.

Better still, Aguirre has shown that he is looking to the future. 21-year-old Javier Hernandez, the son of the former Mexico striker of the same name, has now scored in his last two matches for El Tri following his brace in the 5-0 win over Bolivia. Hernandez, who incidentally did not play in the qualifiers, began the Mexican first division in style this season, scoring 6 goals in 3 games and earning a national team call-up in the process. Affectionately known as ‘El Chicharito’ or Little Pea, owing to his diminutive stature, Hernandez remains the leading goal scorer in first division with eight goals in nine games for Chivas Guadalajara and indeed in contention for a World Cup place.

While Aguirre has also tried talented youngsters like Nestor Calderon and Enrique Esqueda, his best young player remains Carlos Vela. Still not a regular starter for English Premiership side, Arsenal, he came off the bench to score Mexico’s second against New Zealand. In fact, he probably creates more opportunities than he scores, but Aguirre must be looking for him to do exactly that at the World Cup, unlock opposition defences.

And such is the popularity of Vela that more internet searches are done to see if he has a girlfriend than searches regarding his football prowess. But having finished top goal scorer at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru and a star at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, Vela might very well be the difference between success and failure for Mexico at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.