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México - Can ‘El Trí’ overcome their 2nd round blues?
After a bad start to the qualifying campaign under Sven Goran Eriksson, Javier Aguirre returned for a second stint with “El Trí” and ensured that México qualified with games to spare. In the process he built a team which is a goof mix of veterans like Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Rafa Marquez, Gerardo Torrado and exciting young players like Javier Hernandez (Man.United), Carlos Vela (Arsenal).
México has always played well in the group stages of the world cup. The usually get eliminated in the 2nd round. The two occasions on which they advanced to quarterfinals in 70 & 86, they were the hosts. The Mexican people support their team passionately and have high hopes. Having had the opportunity to live in México, I can vouch that the hype and expectations are comparable to those in India for cricket.
In the 90s the Mexican national team used to be made of primarily homegrown players from the Mexican league, probably the richest league outside the big European leagues. It has been changing a lot in the past decade, especially ever since Rafa Marquez moved to FC Barcelona. No almost half of the players in the team play in big leagues of Europe. Added to the mix, Javier Aguirre who has been very successful, this is a very well drilled team with a lot of exposure to the top players in the world.
Style of Play
México traditionally are very good with the ball. Slick passing by the pivots in the midfield, skillful wingers stuck to the touch-lines going up and down plus a host of good 2nd striker kind of players who play behind the center-forward. What they usually lack are quality strikers, the center-forwards in particular.
Depending on the opponent, they usually switch between a 3-5-2 formation against the more accomplished teams or a 4-5-1 (or a 4-1-4-1 with Marquez anchoring in front of the defence) against teams that are not good at possession. Two holding midfielders in the midfield like Rafa Marquez and Torrado play in front of the 3 central defenders Salcido, Osorio and Francisco Rodriguez. Andres Guardado will be play on the left wing and is a very good at the classic wing play as well as shoot from medium distance. Alberto Medina or Carlos Vela will do the same on the right side (or sometimes play as the 2nd striker). Guillermo Franco or the young Javier Hernandez will likely be alone up front with Giovanni Dos Santos/Cuauhtémoc Blanco in 2nd striker/free role. You will see México keeping the ball for long periods in the game even against accomplished sides.
Problems
México is one of the few teams who have been training together as a team (except those playing in the European Leagues) since April. They have played a bunch of friendlies against African nations to prepare for their first opponent South Africa and close out with a series of games against the top sides in Europe like England, Netherlands among others. This is a definitely a positive for México.
One of the causes of concern is the lack of enough quality in front of the goal. It was evident at the recent friendly against England at Wembley. México dominated possession in both halves of the game and created a lot of chances but failed to capitalize and were soundly beaten in the end. The lack of directness, rather the lack of a plan B to switch to a more direct approach should their plan A isn’t working has been the undoing of México for years.
The 2nd biggest issue is the lack of size, most of the players are small and they can be overpowered at times, especially while defending set pieces.
Depending on the their strengths oppositions will either counterattack by soaking up the Mexican possession and try to win free kicks close to the 18 yard box. If México falls behind their style of play makes is doubly difficult for them to come back. On the same coin if they take an early lead they can run away with the game against the best of them. A lot depends on the finish of Javier Hernandez and the experienced Guillermo Franco. Blanco will be primarily used as an impact sub in the 2nd half, at 35+ he doesn’t have the legs of the past but his vision and the reading of the game are still intact and can unleash a great pass at any time.
Prediction
México are in an open group with no clear favorites. South Africa, France and Uruguay do not necessarily strike fear, but at the same time each of them will be feeling very good about their chances. They could run into bitter rivals Argentina in the 2nd round, a repeat of the 2nd round cracker in 2006 which the Argentinians won through a wonder goal from Maxi Rodriguez in overtime.
I predict México to breakthrough their wall and make it to Quarter-final. With a few lucky breaks with the draw, I won’t be surprised if they make it to the semi-finals because they are in the easier half of the draw.
Team Bus Slogan: ¡Es tiempo de un nuevo campeón! (It is time for a new champion).
Slogan Rating: 8/10. Bold and positive.
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Showing posts with label Barcelona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barcelona. Show all posts
16.5.08
Dag Frank!
Frank Rijkaard has coached the final game for Barcelona on saturday.
Shame on the management of Barcelona for the way they handled the whole affair of him being replaced. But Frank never complained. Took all the blame for the wrongs of some of his extravagant squad.. most notably Ronaldinho.
Last year around February, Barcelona was cruising in the league. Had a huge lead over Madrid although their Champions League campaign didnt go as far, they were still expected to win La Liga. Madrid was in all sorts of chaos. The whole beckham saga of signing with MLS Soccerball LA Galaxy, the crowd's distaste for the practical and unstylish means of Fabio Capello. Suddenly something happened. Madrid caught fire. Ruud Van Nistelrooj carried this team and then when Beckham came back for the last 10 odd games they kept pulling win after win. That amazing run coincided with a funk of Barcelona and to this day they havent shaken off of that funk.
Frank is not blemishless. He is criticised for his lenient ways towards his players notably their training habits. He has always been that way. Its just that folks like Ronaldinho couldnt handle the huge success of winning 2 Ligas and 1 Champions League in 2 years. Rijkaard put Barcelona back on the map of European greats after the mess left by Luis Van Gaal.
One of the problems not very well publicised is the departure of his hardman assistant Henk Ten Cate at the end of last season. Henk was the guy who used to do the 'dirty job' of a task master in the coaching set up of Frank. Although it is well documented in Barcelona that Ronaldinho and bunch of other stars were never known for their affinity to training and practice.
Apart from the obvious contributions in trophies Frank overlooked the maturing of exciting youngsters like Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Giovani dos Santos and Bojan Krkic, who no doubt will be his legacy.
The famous 4-3-3, the committment to attack and play attractive football, he never wavered from any of that. A case in point is that inspite of the wretched season Barcelona had, Manchester United barely got past them in the CL semis.
Thank you Frank for everything. Wish you all the best in your new job. I am sure you will find a great one. The people in Barcelona, Madrid and the Spanish league will miss you greatly. I was never a Barça fan, and I am still not one, but would love to see you back in Spain.
Adiós Frank. May be you are a good fit in Milan to coach Kaka, Pato & Co!
ps: Dag = Adiós = Bye in Dutch :)
11.5.08
Celebrating 2nd place
Villareal is celebrating. Big time.
If you see their celebrations spilling over a few days one might wonder if they had won a big cup or league championship. No they did not win the spanish league. They came a distant but comfortable 2nd. Except for a couple of weeks they were never even discussed as serious contenders
Truth be told, they never considered themselves as title contenders. Thanks to the inability of the big clubs like Real Madrid and Barçelona to string together a few wins in the months of March and April meant that little Villareal found themselves in the midst of a title challenge. Can Villareal really pull it off. They had a couple of chances to close the gap with Madrid but they failed to capitalize. Call it nerves, lack of experience, out of depth, anything.
I think it doesnt matter.
Little Villareal from Vila-real notorious for
-having just one decent hotel,
-a small stadium that holds about 20,000 in a city (i am being generous) with a population of about 45,000
-languishing in the lower levels of spanish regional leagues not so long ago ( about 9 yrs ago)
is 2nd in arguably the worlds best league top-to-bottom.
With 1 game to go:
Villareal has 74 points.
Real Madrid has 82.
Barçelona has 64.
If they win their last game Villareal will end the season on 77 points.
To put it in perspective, 77 points would have won La Liga in 6 of the last 10 years!!!
I think thats an incredible achievement for a small club. And they achieved it playing very attractive football for the most part. They do play on the counter a lot of times but thats not for the lack of skill or the ability to play a possession football ala Barçelona, they adapt to the opponent.
One of the keys to their success is playing a consistent style of football home and away. They have the 2nd best away record in La Liga (on Madrid has a slightly better record). Strong midfield play with Senna, Pires and Cazorla support potent but undervalues strikers like Nihat and Rossi (yep! he used to be a Man Utd player 2 seasons ago.). An all round good team without any superstar but not many passengers either. And a great coach in "El Profesor' Manuel Pellegrini.
A few years ago this team was over-reliant on a bunch of Argentinians led by the moody genius Juan Roman Riquelme. They had that amazing run in Champions League when they lost by a whisker to Arsenal (Riquelme missed a penalty that would have sent that tie to overtime). He followed it up with the typical moody and unprofessional behavior. Pellegrini had built the entire game of Villareal around Riquelme. Results dried up. Riquelme got worse. And the midway through last season the professor had enough. He decided he wont use Riquelme anymore. Shock waves through Spain...(errr.. not true... i made that up :)). Everyone thought that thats the end of Villareal's fairy tale couple of season. They were teetering towards the mid-table mediocrity.
They had signed Pires at the beginning of last season but he got injured pre-season. He came back in the later parts of the season. He helped beat Barçelona in his first full game after the long injury layoff. It was written off as a one-off win then. Then they win 9 games in a row to close the season in 5th!.
The message to Spain and Riquelme in particular was clear. Villareal has moved on. The clawed back from adversity. I am not exaggerating but its really difficult for small clubs to come back from such a talismanic loss and getting over the hangover of a fairytale season. There are a lot of examples where small teams have had their moment in the sun and faded into oblivion. Villareal is one of the few clubs that rewrote that script.
This season they used a lot of players from their youth system. They made 15 mill Euro by selling Diego Forlan (who they got for almost free from Man Utd) to Atletico Madrid.
Matías Fernandez is an exciting talent.
It helps that they are managed nicely and their owner is dedicated to the long term future of the club. One of the little known facts is that they have one of the better youth systems in Spain and a fantastic training facility.
Cheers to Villareal! Aupa Submarino! Vaya Vaya!
Looking forward to next season, things will get much tougher for the Yellow Submarine. People expect more. Opponents will try to break them down more. They are in the Champions League group phase where they will face atleast 2 clubs with a much higher pedigree and longer history than them. But I think they can succeed. If they can keep their coach they is a very good chance of repeating the success of this season.
One of these days I would like to go watch a game in El Madrigal. Wearing the Yellow Jersey!Submarino Amarillo! :) :)
As Nihat put it after clinching the 2nd spot:
2nd in La Liga is as good as winning the championship for Villareal.
Whle i dont normally subscribe to that filosofy, I will give it Villareal...only this year. Next year they have to aim for the 'real' championship.
If you see their celebrations spilling over a few days one might wonder if they had won a big cup or league championship. No they did not win the spanish league. They came a distant but comfortable 2nd. Except for a couple of weeks they were never even discussed as serious contenders
Truth be told, they never considered themselves as title contenders. Thanks to the inability of the big clubs like Real Madrid and Barçelona to string together a few wins in the months of March and April meant that little Villareal found themselves in the midst of a title challenge. Can Villareal really pull it off. They had a couple of chances to close the gap with Madrid but they failed to capitalize. Call it nerves, lack of experience, out of depth, anything.
I think it doesnt matter.
Little Villareal from Vila-real notorious for
-having just one decent hotel,
-a small stadium that holds about 20,000 in a city (i am being generous) with a population of about 45,000
-languishing in the lower levels of spanish regional leagues not so long ago ( about 9 yrs ago)
is 2nd in arguably the worlds best league top-to-bottom.
With 1 game to go:
Villareal has 74 points.
Real Madrid has 82.
Barçelona has 64.
If they win their last game Villareal will end the season on 77 points.
To put it in perspective, 77 points would have won La Liga in 6 of the last 10 years!!!
I think thats an incredible achievement for a small club. And they achieved it playing very attractive football for the most part. They do play on the counter a lot of times but thats not for the lack of skill or the ability to play a possession football ala Barçelona, they adapt to the opponent.
One of the keys to their success is playing a consistent style of football home and away. They have the 2nd best away record in La Liga (on Madrid has a slightly better record). Strong midfield play with Senna, Pires and Cazorla support potent but undervalues strikers like Nihat and Rossi (yep! he used to be a Man Utd player 2 seasons ago.). An all round good team without any superstar but not many passengers either. And a great coach in "El Profesor' Manuel Pellegrini.
A few years ago this team was over-reliant on a bunch of Argentinians led by the moody genius Juan Roman Riquelme. They had that amazing run in Champions League when they lost by a whisker to Arsenal (Riquelme missed a penalty that would have sent that tie to overtime). He followed it up with the typical moody and unprofessional behavior. Pellegrini had built the entire game of Villareal around Riquelme. Results dried up. Riquelme got worse. And the midway through last season the professor had enough. He decided he wont use Riquelme anymore. Shock waves through Spain...(errr.. not true... i made that up :)). Everyone thought that thats the end of Villareal's fairy tale couple of season. They were teetering towards the mid-table mediocrity.
They had signed Pires at the beginning of last season but he got injured pre-season. He came back in the later parts of the season. He helped beat Barçelona in his first full game after the long injury layoff. It was written off as a one-off win then. Then they win 9 games in a row to close the season in 5th!.
The message to Spain and Riquelme in particular was clear. Villareal has moved on. The clawed back from adversity. I am not exaggerating but its really difficult for small clubs to come back from such a talismanic loss and getting over the hangover of a fairytale season. There are a lot of examples where small teams have had their moment in the sun and faded into oblivion. Villareal is one of the few clubs that rewrote that script.
This season they used a lot of players from their youth system. They made 15 mill Euro by selling Diego Forlan (who they got for almost free from Man Utd) to Atletico Madrid.
Matías Fernandez is an exciting talent.
It helps that they are managed nicely and their owner is dedicated to the long term future of the club. One of the little known facts is that they have one of the better youth systems in Spain and a fantastic training facility.
Cheers to Villareal! Aupa Submarino! Vaya Vaya!
Looking forward to next season, things will get much tougher for the Yellow Submarine. People expect more. Opponents will try to break them down more. They are in the Champions League group phase where they will face atleast 2 clubs with a much higher pedigree and longer history than them. But I think they can succeed. If they can keep their coach they is a very good chance of repeating the success of this season.
One of these days I would like to go watch a game in El Madrigal. Wearing the Yellow Jersey!Submarino Amarillo! :) :)
As Nihat put it after clinching the 2nd spot:
2nd in La Liga is as good as winning the championship for Villareal.
Whle i dont normally subscribe to that filosofy, I will give it Villareal...only this year. Next year they have to aim for the 'real' championship.
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