World

North America

Mexico

The Day after

April 3rd, 2006 | By: John | 7 Comments »

When I woke this morning, the sun had indeed risen, the electricity in my house was still on, the cat still scratched me, the Earth hadn’t cracked open, the seas didn’t boil, and I was still stuck in traffic on the way to work. So I guess that means that Cuauhtemoc’s exclusion from Ricardo Lavolpe’s squad was not the end of the world.

Lavolpe did have a few surprises, namely his son-in-law, Chiquis Garcia to the pool of 26 (to be cut to 23 by May 15). The 3 extra players are a contingency to see if some players can return from injury. Antonio Naelson, Jesus Arellano and Rafael Marquez are all recovering. Claudio Suarez is suffering from grey hairs. Mexico has 3 players in Europe, and Jared Borgetti will probably go back to Mexico after his season with Bolton ends. Franco and Marquez may not join the team until they get to Europe. La liga doesn’t end until May 14, and the Champions final is May 17.

The 3 extra spots also gave clemency to a few who may not have made the list in the first place: Israel Lopez and Jimmy Lozano are the ones who most benefited. Of these two, Lozano should call the governor and thank him for his pardon. His level of play has improved over the last few weeks, and he has a lot of room to improve. That is not to say that Israel Lopez is just filler. He has also enjoyed a great season with Toluca, but his competition is a lot stiffer for defensive midfielder position with Pavel Pardo and Gerardo Torrado.

Back to Blanco, he took the decision in stride, and with his head held high. “I am relaxed, maybe too relaxed. It was a decision made by the coach, and as a professional, I respect his decision. Now all I can do is watch the mundial on TV and concentrate on getting America the Mexican championship.” He refused to believe that his feuds with Lavolpe led to his exclusion. “I prefer to think that it was my lack of form due to injury.” His stock answers were expected, let’s see what he has to say tonight at a press conference in his restaurant. I hope it’s good because the team has a 10 day break, and I have to write something on the blog.

Tags: Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Jared Borgetti, Mexico, Ricardo Lavolpe

Mexico World Cup RSS Feed

Comments

By Mexico announce their pre May 15 roster - FIFA World Cup 2006 - Iran World Cup Team Blog | April 3rd, 2006 at 1:02 pm

[...] Hey Team Melli fans. Here is the latest on our fellow Group D members Mexico. Their coach announced a 26 man roster which is to be cut down to 23 by May 15. [...]

Posted from United States

By Big-Baller-Shot-Caller | April 3rd, 2006 at 1:48 pm

The exclusion of Blanco is justified. He knows he is injured and unfortunately, he has underpeformed because of nagging injuries.

More worrisome is the size and the speed, strength of the midfielders chosen.

Not one player is above 5′6 in the midfield. This leads to the conclusion that Marquez will be moved up as a 5th mid for more size and muscle.

Posted from United States

By John | April 3rd, 2006 at 2:25 pm

That is precisely why Suarez was included on the list. That allows Lavolpe to switch to a 4-4-2, and let Marquez join the midfield. Injuries to Hugo Sanchez Guerrero and the suspension of Aaron Galindo forced his hand.

Posted from United States

By Big-Baller-Shot-Caller | April 3rd, 2006 at 3:04 pm

The problem with this solution is Suarez lacks the pace to track any top level striker down. In fact, our left and right backs dont have man-to-man marking pace. Team them with Suarez and you have huge leaks. This was why “Ojitos” got the boot and Aguirre overhauled the whole roster mid-way through ‘02 qualifying. Think of the Confederation cup in Japan in ‘01 or the Costa Rica game in qualifying they lost in the Azteca.

Carmona was our best marking back, he could stick with say a Adriano or Rooney or Viera stride for stride and also stretch the field on offense.

Suarez seems to be a stop-gap or a player you bring in when you have the lead and need to protect it.

On a side note, the Mexican federation has to take the blame for not only selling-out Carmona and Galindo, but not producing a decent center back with speed that is good in the air. When the next best player is 37 years old is a disaster. They don’t grow on trees but to have that big a drop off is terrible.

Posted from United States

By John | April 3rd, 2006 at 3:15 pm

You may forget that Salcido has excellent pace to do the man marking. I can understand why you would forget about him, he hasn’t played on the NT for a while.

Posted from United States

By Rene | April 3rd, 2006 at 4:13 pm

That is why I don’t believe Lavolpe will use a 4-4-2 against European teams, but rather a 5-3-2. That allows you to keep your defense near the penalty area and use speed (which we do have on sides with people like Morales, Guardado, Castro) to move the ball forward.

A 4-4-2 is a system that works better against slower, more ball control oriented teams.

Curiously enough, I only see them doing a 4-4-2 against Portugal in the first round (a European team that plays more like a South American team).

By Big-Baller-Shot-Caller | April 4th, 2006 at 4:02 pm

Rene, you make some good points. Against Portugal I think Lavolpe will do exactly what you say 4-4-2. He will team Borgetti and Franco or Borgetti with Fonseca and then bring Bravo as a sub for Borgetti.

Against Iran one might gues he runs a conservative 5-3-2, where the backs become wings. The thinking is to protect at least one point at first.

Against Angola he needs 3pts so he will open it up with a 3-4-3.

Posted from United States

By Rene | April 6th, 2006 at 10:56 am

Speaking of formations, Lavolpe said in an interview that at this point in time, his regular formation would be a 4-4-2, using a diamond shaped midfield (one defensive midfielder, two wingers and an attacking midfielder or 9 1/2, and the people he has in mind to start at this point are:

GK
Oswaldo Sanchez

Defenders
Castro (right)
Osorio (middle)
Marquez (middle)
Salcido (left)

Midfielders
Pardo (DM)
Perez (RW)
Sihna (LW)
Franco (AM)

Strikers
Borgetti
Bravo / Fonseca (depending on the team they are playing)

Comments are closed