Who is the Azteca a Problem for Again?
Posted on February 10, 2013 18:37
After a long week spent on TV trucks all over Texas, I finally had a chance to watch Mexico’s scoreless draw at the Azteca vs Jamaica. After watching, I only had one question:
How did Jamaica let that one get away?
Lost in the storylines that Jose Manuel “Chepo” de la Torre had his worst game as a coach, the Mexican players’ less than stellar performances, The captain flipping off the fans, and a half-empty Estadio Azteca that didn’t intimidate the Reggae Boyz at all, was the fact that Jamaica’s strikers had an even worse night. They surprised Mexico and should have punished Mexico for their arrogance, but they let them off the hook on more than one occasion.
In the lead up to the match, Chepo talked about how difficult qualifying was going to be, which it will be. The way Mexico played, though, one may have thought that the game was played in Kingston, not Santa Ursula. Jamaica became the first Caribbean team to ever earn a deserved point at the Azteca.
Ah, yes. The fabled Estadio Azteca. We have said for years that it represents the best home field advantage on the planet. When all of the intangibles are in place: the sun, the crowd, the altitude and the smog, it is an extremely difficult place to play. After a 1-0 win over Honduras in 2009, Ricardo Osorio was asked why Honduras played such a defensive match. “The Azteca weighs teams down.” He responded.
lately, the team that has been weighed down by the Colossus has been Mexico. The worst performances in the Chepo era have played out in Mexico’s citadel. The players were much looser in the semi final round in games that were outside of the Azteca. Their tightness was palpable against Jamaica. The team did not take chances that a home side would normally take with impunity. The once impregnable stadium became as intimidating as the field down the street from my neighborhood behind the Giddy Ups (with outdoor pool tables!). And when the fans sensed Mexico’s nervousness, they turned on them: whistles, boos, sarcastic olés. It didn’t help that Chepo took out the only players that had any success in trying to decipher Jamaica’s Gordian knot.
With 9 games to go, this thing is far from over, obviously. Fans should hope that de la Torre has learned his lessons and will take the governor off, especially at home. Fans should hope that the FMF has learned its lesson as well in that a full stadium should trump gate receipts.
And the rest of Concacaf should take notice of two things: points in Mexico or on the table, and the Reggae Boys are going to be a very, very tough out.
the problem was that de la Torre choose the wrong strategy, the wrong starting XI and refused to admit it.
Salcido looked slow and sloppy
Aguilar was just terrible overall
Peralta and Hernandez aren’t compatible
Dos Santos couldn’t do anything from the right without anyone to linkup, same history with Guardado.
Herrera was left alone in the midfield and was too busy taking care of Salcido’s mistakes
the problems could have been solved taking out Peralta or Hernandez, letting in Aquino and moving Giovani behind the striker or letting Fabian/Reyna in, but he was stubborn and decided to keep his 4-4-2 formation with only ONE strategy, crossing to the box which is something completely illogical considerng that the size and speed are the only advantages the jamaican players had and he played the game that they exactly needed (looking for a header from Hernandez/Peralta)
I think the problem with Chepo is that he is a slave to a system. The problem is that through injuries and bad form, some of the guys who used to work for his are not there and it’s not working. He insist on playing the system with the wrong players and it’s just not working. He has very little tactical flexibility.
He hasn’t been able to find a guy to replace Efrain Juarez in the midfield or Pablo Barrera on the right. This has forced him to play players out of position (Gio and Salcido) and not only seen their form dip, but seen the guys replacing them not work out. Paul Aguilar was atrocious, and Oribe is a great striker, but a lousy second forward.
There are no minnows in the hex. Fortunately, there are three and a half boletos.
i feel that they took Gio Dos Santos out way to soon..
The problem is you are bringing scrubs like Gio and Chichirito in, instead of playing home based players like DiNigris and Peralta!
why couldn’t we have a qualifier stateside???
the caribs do it all of the time for the big payday.
is it actually possible?
The other problem is that Mexico is going to have more players playing outside of Mexico, and when they return and have to play in the Azteca they have to deal with the negatives of those elements just like their opponents. It was different in the 90′s or 00′s even. These days, arguably some of Mexico’s best players aren’t in the FMF. So they suffer in that stadium.
I am curious why there are low turn-outs at the Azteca? Are the ticket prices too expensive for the average fan?
What I want to know is why there are low turn-outs at the Azteca? Are ticket prices too expensive for the average fan?
How did Jamaica let that one get away? Simple – they are Jamaica. And this is CONCACAF. Yes Mexico played like crap. With every missed pass I was about ready to throw things at the TV. And then Jamaica would show me just how bad CONCACAF is. With all due respect to Mr. Corona, how do you not score within 10 feet from goal with an open net? The blown chance on the breakaway in the second half was also quite amazing. I know, it was the altitude, smog, etc. It always is. It says something about this confederation that you can play that poorly and that in the end, it really won’t matter. Mexico will be there in Brazil in 2014. And unfortunately in Brazil they will face teams with actual talent. Playing like this will just give Mexico their normal 3 and out in the World Cup. But we’ll show ‘em in 2018. Boy, we’ll be ready then !
@Monkeyboy – Troll alert. There are a few teams that would envy Mexico’s World Cup record of consistency from, say, 1986-2010. But rather than list them, let’s talk about all the other teams that have qualified for each of those world cups (1990 excepted) AND advanced from the group stage to qualify for knockout rounds each time.
Germany
Brazil
…and, I believe we’re done.
Trolling ? Really? Wow. I’m not denying your stats. But surely playing in CONCACAF has contributed to making the World Cup in all those years. Regardless, we’re talking about this team. All I’m saying is that when push came to shove, we broke down mentally. There was no reason for Mexico to play the way they did against Jamaica at home except for the pressure the players placed upon themselves. When guys like Guardado can’t make a 10 foot pass, there’s something seriously wrong. They talk about not taking opponents lightly but they always do. And when things don’t go their way, they tighten up. In all those years you list, the same thing happens in the fourth game. (or in the case of 1986, the fifth game). 1986 vs Germany – a bunch of missed chances to put the Germans away, instead we go to PKs the ultimate pressure situation, we lose. 1994 vs Bulgaria, basically the same problem, we get to PKs, we lose. 1998 vs Germany again, we were so close in this one. Hernandez has a late break-away where he has a clear goal and blows it. That one still hurts. 2002 vs US. This game was basically the same as what we saw in Mexico vs Jamaica. A very poor performance against a team I’m sure the whole squad thought they should be able to beat. Bad passing, bad aim, you name it. 0-2 loss. 2006 vs Argentina. We shouldn’t even have played Argentina. We could have won the group had Bravo not missed his PK chance against Portugal. Anyway, we go up a goal and can’t hold the lead. What was it 5, 10 minutes before we gave up the equalizer? And then Aguero kills us. Finally, 2010 vs Argentina. Osorio gives the ball away in the second Argentina goal. 1-3 Loss. Now look who we played – Argentina twice, Germany twice, US, and Bulgaria. In none of those games did we get outplayed. What was our worst game – vs the US, arguably the weakest opponent. In meaningful games, we play our best against stronger teams, but it’s always some lack of focus that does us in. That’s not just bad luck, that’s poor mental preparedness. That’s what needs to be the focus. When I see games like this against Jamaica, I see us falling back to old bad habits. Can they get it together? I’m sure they will. I’m more worried about what will happen in Brazil.
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