Bang Bang

ok people. Wow, it is great to see that Marquez is doing great. Mexico needs the publicity. I found an article that might be of some great interest to our discussion. If you can’t read in spanish i’m really sorry..
Pele wrote.
Si vamos a hablar de individualidades, para mí, Márquez es al momento el mejor defensa de toda Europa”
Pele says..
if we care talking about individuals, for me, Marquez at the moment is the best defensive player in all of europe’

Nice said Pele…

Posted from  United States

sorry friends , here is the articles website…

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cronica.com.mx/nimagenes/5/051606d3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php%3Fidc%3D241343&h=142&w=200&sz=11&tbnid=q6lFMdOjFjgqEM:&tbnh=70&tbnw=99&hl=en&start=14&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbarcelona%2Bchampions%2Bmarquez%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DRNWE,RNWE:2005-50,RNWE:en%26sa%3DG
i know it’s long, but there ya go..

Posted from  United States

As much as I like Pele, if he was in Spain, he would say that Puyol es el mrejor defenssa de europa. It by no means takes anything away from Rafa, he is world class, but Pele always plays to his crowd.

Posted from  Canada

I agree,

Pele does like to kiss butt to keep everybody happy.

And regarding the match, I was surprised at Thierry Henry. He is such a better player than when he was in Monaco or when he won the World Cup in 1998.

I pity the teams that get to play against France this summer, since he will be a handful.He did indeed make Marquez look bad in a couple of plays.

Unfortunately, the game itself was kind of boring. A few nice plays but overall an excercise in futility from both teams.

Pele’s comments… come on! Henry ran circles around Rafa. Just like Hugol, Rafa is an incredible club player. But at the seleccion level, hasn’t lived up to the hype. Just like Hugol.

Posted from  United States

Actually that is not true.

Rafa has been a very important part of the national team for years (I still remember that Under 21 World Cup in which Mexico defeated Argentina 4-0, with one goal from him), but as it usually happens with defenders, if he doesn’t have the right group around him, he can be made to look bad. He has no excuses for this world cup though, as Mexico probably has the best set of defenders in its World Cup history. A good indication is that this team received the least amount of goals during the qualifiers (10 goals) for the region. and Osorio, Marquez and Salcido were usually the 3 defenders used).

Hugol, meanwhile, had probably one of the most potent midfields Mexico has ever had in a World Cup to supply him balls to score (Aguirre, Tomas Boy, Negrete, De Los Cobos) and he scored a measly 1 goal, not to mention he didn’t play for most of the qualifiers.

Another thing that you have to consider is that for a defender to be successful, he has to be able to do 2 things:

a) Try to take the ball away from the attacker.

b) When the attacker is able to pass him, he has to make sure to at least close his shooting angles.

Marquez was quite successful at doing that. While I was watching the game, I saw several ocassions in which Henry looked to be left alone vs. the goalkeeper, and somehow Marquez always seemed to be nearby to reduce the shot angle. Proof of that is that the only goal Henry was able to score came from a very doubtful Free Kick, and it was not the man who Marquez was marking who scored.

In that match, Puyol also bit the dust several times. Again… if your defensive unit as a whole is not playing well, any of the individuals on it will look bad.

Finally… that Norwegian referee should sell shoes or something instead of refereeing. He was incredibly bad.

Well, there’ll be a rematch on the Henry vs. Marquez battle in that same stadium on the 27th, won’t there? This time they’ll be playing for their respective national teams, though it’ll only be a friendly.

I’m actually looking forward to that game, beacuse it will also be Zidane’s last official game in France (unless, of course, they organise a special farewell game, as they usually do) as well as Mexico’s first real match up against strong European opposition since last year’s Confederations Cup. Let’s hope they put on a good show, and Henry and Marquez both play the full 90 minutes!

Posted from  Australia

Don’t get me wrong, Rafa is a great player and I enjoy watching him play. But he does not play the same with El Tri.

I agree in qualifying he was strong. But he was playing T&T, Guatemala and Panama. So that doesn’t say much.

Against the US he’s been average… at best. In 2002 got kicked out for a dirty foul and failed to keep his players calm. As captain that is inexcusable.

I just want to see more from Rafa. He’s our captain and leader and needs to step up.

Posted from  United States

OK… so you are saying you are making him accountable still for an action that happened 4 years ago, for which he admitted he was wrong and at a time where he was kind of young to be captain anyway (he was 24 at the time).

To say he hasn’t been as great for 1 match is like saying Zubizarreta was a not the best Spanish keeper for one silly goal in 1998.

-John, How does Pele Play his crowd, and by crowd do you mean mexico. since when is pele such a big fan?
anyway …

Can’t wait for the France match..
It is going to be the new cinco de Mayo.. when Mexico beats france,everyone will finally see the power we have, and people can stop talking about our rankings. not to mention to all the Us fans that think Us is better than Mexico.

Posted from  United States

If Pele is in Ivory Coast, he would say that drogba is gthe best striker in Europe, if he was in Korea, he would say that Park is the best …, etc. He says what his audience wants to hear.

Posted from  United States

Rene, I’m not bashing the guy, I’m just saying he hasn’t performed at his best with el Tri; in my opinion he hasn’t.

It’s not 4 years ago, it’s one world cup ago, or 1 world cup match ago.

Rafa has the pottential to be a like the next Beckenbauer and if he reached his potential we win the WC.

But to put him on a pedestal because he is on a team that won the Champions is putting the cart before the horse… this is a world cup blog and that’s what i’m commenting on; world cup performance.

Posted from  United States

Louie, US is better than Mexico in recent history, they’ve spanked US when it counts… The France game is a friendly right before the World Cup. If all the players are smart; which they are. They will play at 50% effort. No one wants a silly injury before the world cup.

Posted from  United States

Louie, I missed the “A new cinco de Mayo” comment. A new cinco de Mayo is correct. It will be just like cinco de Mayo, Mexicans in Mexico consider the holiday a non event. It’s the disconnected Mexican in the US that makes a big deal and celebrates the silly holiday.

I guess you will be celebrating when a 50% effort mexico beats a 50% france. The rest of us will know the truth.

Posted from  United States

Robert.

I know what the holiday stands for. IN chihuahua people celebrate it, hardcore. SO that’s what i meant. A new Cinco de MAyo. Whatever the percentage given we are still going to beat them.

Fine if you like it,
if for some reason Mexico faces spain, I will come back and say
it’s the new September 16th.. is that better.. Quit your crying, i’m sure you that live in the US go out and celebrate it also.
And i still don’t think that the US are better than Mexico.

Posted from  United States

Robert and Louie-

while I find your personal attacks on “mexican authenticity” very amusing, how about we talk about soccer?

I think Mexico and the US are two evenly matched teams that, like all good European teams, can win at home but lose when visiting. Mexico won in the Azteca and the US won in Columbus.

However, in the past few years Mexico has played incredibly well against top flight competition. The US? Norway’s b team? Jamaica’s b team? Morroco’s c team? Germany’s a team? We all know how that turned out….

Bottom line: the US needs to play top flight competition in neutral sites (Like the England-Argentina friendly) or they will never improve.

Posted from  United States