Last update 6 April, 2024 by Alberto Llopis
In the time I've been watching soccer in my life, without a doubt I think this is the worst Mexican team in history. The one that started the World Cup process in 2010 with renewed vigor and for two and a half years he raised hopes that we were "at the height of any rival", underpinned by international triumphs such as the Pan American and Olympic gold medals, and the titles in Toulón and, above all, at the U-17 World Cup, today he literally wallows in the mud of his own mediocrity, with only the play-off against New Zealand as the only and last possibility to go to Brazil 2014.
Con 2 consecutive defeats in the duels of this date FIFA (one at home against Honduras and another on a visit to the US), the dismissal of his immovable coach –José Manuel De la Torre, who sinned arrogantly in good times and also in bad times–, and the cowardly attitude of much of its staff, The Aztec Tricolor has been a tris away from fighting his ticket to the next World Cup through the shameful way of the playoffs.
There has been no lack of alarmist news and catastrophic scenarios that paint things as almost the prelude to the end of the world if the "green" does not go to next year's tournament: that there would be losses for 600 million dollars around the football industry in the country and that, at the height of paroxysm, the fact would give rise to a year 2014 hot politics, economically and - hence - socially, when various reforms are under discussion and the financial issue is held up with pins. Yes, some media specialists envision an alarmist scenario if the “Tri” does not go to Brazil, due to the paraphernalia that in World Cup times is armed around everyone's team (that ends up being a few), by the advertising revenue it generates and the direct and indirect jobs that are created at that time.
I find it extremely yellowish to affirm that Mexico's participation (11 men on the court and 12 more on the bench) the well-being of a nation of more than 100 millions of people, that although most are fans of this sport, your happiness will not depend on a sports classification. It seems aberrant to me that supposed specialists design such a dark panorama, when he “Tri” normally only participates in 4 of 64 matches played in a World Cup.
Obviously, there would be serious economic damages: perhaps the sponsoring brands - who have invested so much money, sometimes even in advance - they would move away from football as a showcase, and for the process 2014-2018 they would be the ones who would set the tone to set new commercial rates; They could play the tambourine of the negotiation and would no longer bend so easily to the absurd costs imposed today by executives Justino Compeán and Decio de María, under the argument that the “Tri” sell, which is a "round business" (hiding behind the fanciful and convenient "moleros parties" in the US and that the green shirt is one of the 3 most bought in the football universe).
To top, on the edge of irony, and meaning a slap with a white glove to our wild footballers, the Aztec basketball team obtains its ticket to the World Cup of the specialty, in a sport where there is little economic and commercial support in the country, and not even in dreams are the salaries that are handled in football paid.
A prostituted Mexican Selection has been exposed, enslaved to endless interests, where the sacrifice and effort of players like Memo Ochoa is not recognized, who preferred to leave the comfort of Mexican soccer, where he was an idol and earned lots of money and lined up for one of the most powerful and media clubs, to go to a small team in France, where, however, he has managed to earn a name without the help of any television station, as he was accused here. Instead, vedettes who do not run on the court are pampered so that their mascara does not run off and their hairdo does not get upset.
Nationals such as Christian "Chaco" Giménez have been preferred, an Argentine in the twilight of his career and who in many golden opportunities has failed to make a difference in favor of his team, Blue Cross, who has been runner-up in numerous finals, when his individual talents were supposed to change things.
The "Chepo" De la Torre was swallowed by the pressure of the federative, club owners, the televisions, The promoters, the sponsors and all that web of interests - disgusting and undeniable - that has gradually embraced the national representative and the home tournament. Former technical director (con 2 League titles in different teams, Guadalajara and Toluca) he did not know how to handle the crisis with Carlos Vela, maybe thinking that he had enough players not to need the cancunense, and lo and behold, he just failed to set up a respectable offensive and 4 eliminatory matches in the "Azteca", 360 minutes, only a miserable little goal has been scored and in counterattack.
Maybe it will be better for our football to be left out of the World Cup so that a real reengineering comes, a fundamental restructuring, an “atomic bomb” that dynamites this stagnant and motionless dinosaur to its entrails, that has already been overtaken by the US for a long time, who will attend his seventh consecutive World Cup, and other rivals in the area such as Costa Rica and Honduras are strengthening long-term and well-established projects to reach leadership in CONCACAF.
Whoever is in charge of the Aztec team can arrive and things and the results will remain the same if this mousetrap mentality is continued, if players are not proudly preparing for defending the national jersey, with a winning mentality, with leadership, with self love, If there are not so many petty interests so alien to football around the representative of a country whose state of mind actually depends largely on what his selection does or does not do..
However, those who should be concerned are the Brazilians and the FIFA, because obviously the Mexican pawns even his soul to the devil in order to go to the World Cup to see "his Tricolor" (that invariably stays in the fourth game), while Hondurans, Costa Ricans and even gringos are not so passionate and brainless as to leave family, work and savings to go 30 days to a strange country to consume and party.