Did anybody catch the Mexican club Team America go absolutely nuts after they got eliminated by Sao Caetano in Copa Libertadores? The whole thing reminded me of when the Mexican national team lost to the United States in WC 2002. They went out fighting. elbowing, and bitching like represented sore losers. Carlos Blanco, BY FAR, will go down as the biggest sore loser in the history of soccer. He was begging to get into a fight with an opposing player in the last few minutes of regulation time. At the end, finally the referee noticed his pushing, head-butting, and aggression.. so he got red-carded by viciously elbowing a Brazilian in the mouth when play was stopped due to an injury (a Mexican player intentionally kicked the Sao Caetano goalkeeper in the head area when he had the ball on the ground). Remember when Blanco was dieing to get into a fight with Mastroeni in WC2002, and several Mexican players were abusing Cobi Jones? Well at the end of the game, a mess of Mexican fans came out onto the field LOOKING for trouble. One camera that was close up to the fighting that was going on behind the goal that Sao Caetano had defended showed a Mexican JOURNALIST kicking and attacking one of the Sao Caetano players as he was trying to escape from the mayhem. Then other Mexican fans came into the scene and started kicking that player before finally other Sao Caetano players were able to come to his defense before they all ran out of there while being attacked. But the funny thing was that the Mexican police (supposedly) and riot squad was there in the middle of it and could NOT stop the Mexican attackers from trying to gang up on the Brazilian players. Other fans were throwing stuff at the police, and even wacking them with their flag sticks! This is truly sad for the organizers of Copa Libertadores, and I believe this was the first time Mexican teams were allowed to compete in this event. Mexico is giving us Latin Americans a bad name when their soccer fans and players do this kind of stuff on a soccer field. It would be nice to someday see Mexico field some classy players on the field who handle elimination with maturity.
that's one reason why i can't respect the mexican national team. for a team that has so much skill and talent, it is amazing how little class they have. a team with their ability doesn't need to play 'dirty.'
Even worse, the bad behavior of America's players transended onto fans that stromed the pitch and attacked the Oppositions keeper and a couple other players.....absoultly no class, but we have all come to expect that from Mexico...Santos and Borgetti didn't do much to help that image either in their Copa game either.
I agree with the jist of your post, but mexican teams have been playing in Libertadores for at least 3 or 4 years now. Also, his name is Cuahtemoc Blanco and he can be a very poor sport at times. But it would be a shame to say that this one incident should remove mexican teams from the competition. Mexico rarely if ever has hooligan problems. Argentina has a terrible record of repeated violence by their criminal supporter organizations (I love argentine football by the way...), but they will never kick them out. Mexican fans can be boistrous, but something like what happened in Azteca last Tuesday is not the norm.
It must be said that estadio azteca has never had a riot like it had in america vs sao caetano, did you know this MiamiAce?. It seems to me that MiamiAce wants to make it look like hooliganism is common in mexico but I just proved it isnt. Mexico is one of the only leagues in the america's (besides mls) where whole families go to the stadiums to watch games. You are right about Blanco. The guy is crazy. He celebrates infront of defenders when he scores, and we can't forget how he has no respect for refs (he is a ref's worst nightmare). He provoked all this in the first round of Copa Libertadores when sao caetano was also in America's group. America played against sao caetano in the second round as well so obviously there had to be a lot of tension they played 4 times against each other total. Santos and Borgetti did nothing wrong! all they did was complain to the ref after he robbed them of a win in penalties. There was no punches thrown, no fighting, just complaining.
While I agree with the condemnation of the Mexican's behaviours (both fans and players) a couple of important points were omitted. First the Brazilian goalie was never even touch on the head. I watched the replays. That was pure gamesmanship, even worse than the crap Rivaldo pulled against Turkey in the WC. Second, the Mexicans were pissed that an arguable handball in the box was not called in their favor in the waning moments of the match. Brasil gets these calls, look at how many penalties Brazilian teams got in the knock-out round. And third and most important, the Mexican teams have a history of being screwed by the refs in Copa Libertadores. Did you see what happened to Santo Laguna in the shoot out with River. I am first and foremost a fan of Argentina and its teams, but even I can see that something aint right. They are treated worse than the Americans are when playing in Central America, in terms of reffing decisions. Now their physical reaction was terribly wrong, but the anger in justified.
Great points. ANd you know, if Chivas comes into MLS, I'm certain we'll have this sort of Mexican hooliganism EVERY WEEK in MLS.
I disagree-- Borgetti should not be allowed to play again. MLS players would never complain like that after losing due to a few dodgy calls in favor of the home team in an international tournament!!!
You need to take a primer on the history of soccer in So. Am. CA's recent fiasco will does little to tarnish an already tarnished history. In fact, perhaps one could argue that, b/c MFL is an importer league, that it is precisely those "classy" So.Amies that are further eroding players' behavior. Take for example the actions of a few Tigres (Monterrey) players in the Apertura final last year ('03).
Santos isn't the first none the last team to complain after an intense game, and the call wasn't dodgy, it was a pitfull rob. Do you know what does playing River Plate at El Monumental on Copa Libertadores means? If the MLS lacks of intensity is not our fault. I remember last year Pumas-Peñarol game, after a hard fought game, played under rain and 70k crowd with chants that could be heared kilometers away, Pumas won 3-1 eliminating the legendary Peñarol from the competition. Peñarol's players were so frustated that they were after... no the referee or linesman, but againts Pumas most skilled played, responsible of Pumas great comeback. Of course, there was no big sanction, because this thing aren't uncomon. And about Club America, this is the first time and also the last that this kind of things will happen. As a sanction, the migthy Aguilas have to play their home play-off game without public againts their daddy Toluca.
Oh yeah? Well MLS teams have played against SAPRISSA and ALAJUELENSE and SANTOS-- and you NEVER hear them complain about the refs in those places. Maybe it's not el Monumental, but MLS players-- unlike whiners like Borgetti-- don't bitch about the arbitro. They just stand up and take it like men.
first of all let me start by saying that your an idiot. its not carlos blanco, you must be thinking of carlos ruiz..lmao. his name is cuautemoc blanco. this wasnt the first time mexican teams participate in the copa libertadores. the 'mexican'(which was a chilean) player didnt even touch the gks head, the gk faked it, that tactic is used alot in close games to waste time. a journalist kicking a brazilian player? lmfao, any proof, sh|tcake? stop talking out of your ass.
That riot was really pathetic. The guy did go after the goalie. If you didn't notice, his foot did move to the direction of the 'keeper. Blanco was his usual self again. I seriously can't understand how his actions are allowed. He lifted his arm twice to "punch" Mastro in the WC, and he goes out and started taunting the Brazilian guys in the game. I guess after he realized that no one was going to sink down to that level, he got really mad and decided to elbow the guy. The goalie was also beat up pretty badly. He was kicking guys behind him as self defense. He needed the riot police to protect him! Anyone notice some of the Sao Caetano guys doing "karate?" Simply obsurd.
Carlos!?!?!? It's Cuauhtemoc. He was the only Mexican player to exchange jerseys after the 2-0 WC match with the US. He's a maniac (just ask that waiter in Houston). But by standing out and exchanging jerseys was impressive and admirable.
Impaled, I just watched it again like 10 minutes ago. The guy was standing there and "walked" away. But as he walked away he "accidentally" "tripped" on the goalie's face. The goalie could have wasted some time, but that's legal. Stepping on one's face isn't. There was a huge riot in Argentina the other day. The one gate behind the goal opened and the fans came running out and stopped the game. Yeah, when you say admirable and exchanging shirts in one sentence, it sure does say a lot about a player.
There is a difference between hooliganism and intensity. Just because something is "common" does not mean it's right.