T&T 2 – Mexico 2: Not Great But Whatever

We’re already into the World Cup and this game was pretty much irrelevant, but why does this draw seem so bitter? It’s because the team didn’t have the drive to win the game and it was the opposite of what it should have been. It should have been a match where the non-regulars had a chance to prove themselves, not a mirror image of the B-teams that play useless friendlies in the United States.

Frankly, we didn’t lose the match, so there’s not much of a right to be critical. Plus the objective had already been achieved last weekend, and this was a glorified friendly. That doesn’t take away from the fact that it was a bit disappointing to let a good chance to win slip away. The real victory was giving some players some playing time and having nobody injured.

Lineup (4-4-2): Ochoa; Gringo Castro, Magallon, H. Moreno, Salcido; Palencia (Blanco 54′), I. Castro, Torrado, Guardado (Barrera 46′); Vela, Sabah (Esqueda 54′)

Trinidad and Tobago didn’t have anything to play for really. Their stadium was as deserted as the moon, and the only way that you knew there were any Mexicans was when you heard those few shouts of “PUTO” when the Trinidadian keeper took his goal kicks, and when the camera would zoom into that small section of drunk fans celebrating after each goal.

The game didn’t start too exciting and when our attack couldn’t break through the defense, you could tell that the team wasn’t going balls out this time around. The first T&T goal was a penalty another silly handball ala the El Salvador match, this time by Gerardo Torrado. Baptiste smashed the ball in and the match was 1-0 at halftime.

It took ten minutes into the second half for Mexico to equalize, with the newly subbed Enrique Esqueda (subbing the slow and ineffective Miguel Sabah) blasted the ball into the top left corner. It was quite the golazo. A few minutes later, T&T scored from a header with our mediocre aerial defense playing a bit of a part. Salcido equalized with a header a few minutes later from a set piece. The game looked like it was going to be an exciting comeback and a goalfest at this point, but the goals stopped there, unfortunately.

We finish in second in the hexagonal with 19 points. This is our third World Cup qualifying campaign finishing in second place. Honestly, bragging rights are good and all but that one point between us and the USA isn’t quite the determinant of who is the “giant of the CONCACAF” if that’s any important. Some more important criteria should be considered, such as who the team that won every match at home is and which team got scored on 7 times in a three week period by the eternal rivals. Argue it if you want.

The World Cup is many months away, so don’t even consider this match to be all that important in the squad selection being made for April. Those who did well and those who sucked it up (Sabah, Moreno) will all still have some time to prove themselves and to get into the roster. A glorified friendly and nothing more.

At least this whole qualification fiasco is over. Look forward to South Africa and possible friendlies against England and the Netherlands up until then.