Who just defeated Brazil?

[Chiwas]

FIFA Confederations Cup Germany 2005

[sike]

mexico.

who's the favorite in the would cup?

[twelli]

Chiwas, you didn't mention that Mexico missed three straight penalty shots in the game

ha ha, that could have been embarassing, hey wait, it WAS EMBARASSING...

[Member]

Brazil missed WAYYYY to many open chances during that game.

[Chiwas]

Mexico out to make history
20 June 2005
by FIFAworldcup.com

By winning against world champions Brazil at the weekend, Mexico claimed column inches in newspapers across the planet. However, they could achieve a more remarkable result yet with victory against European champions Greece in their next outing at the FIFA Confederations Cup Germany 2005.

Unprecedented success
Win or draw against Greece in their final Group B game on Wednesday and Mexico will reach a famous milestone in their country's footballing history – 20 games unbeaten for the national team.

Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe attributes this success to the playing style his team have developed over recent years. "We have been able to put this run together because we are now able to play our own game against whichever team we come up against."

More than that, the coach insists, Mexico can prepare themselves for any opponent without losing sight of their own strengths. "It doesn't matter to us if we are playing the Dominican Republic or the world champions," he said. "Because we don't see our rivals as being superior, and because, even against the biggest teams, we stick to our own style of play, it makes us more confident."

Indeed, the Mexican national side have never known form like this. Nineteen matches without defeat is a record in itself – before Lavolpe took charge of the Tricolor, the best they could manage was eleven games between July and December 1993 when Miguel Mejia Baron was coach.

Now Mexico are within a month of lasting a whole year unbeaten. Their most recent loss was against Brazil on 18 July 2004 – the same opponent they overcame on Sunday. Certainly, there was no comparison between the 1-0 victory in Hanover and last summer's 4-0 reverse at the hands of the Brazilians . Even Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira noted the vastly improved Mexican performance. "We played against a team that knew how to handle themselves. Their last defeat was against us a year ago and a number of their players will be appearing at their third World Cup next year."

Perfect record
Another good showing against Greece and 20 will be Mexico's new lucky number. Yet the match could be notable for another reason: in all their years of participation, El Tri have never taken a 100 per cent record from the group stage of any FIFA tournament.

On four occasions, they have come close to claiming three wins from three games, but have always fallen short. The first near miss was at the 1970 FIFA World Cup™ on home soil. Although they defeated Belgium and El Salvador, Mexico could only draw against the USSR in their opening encounter.

Then, at Mexico 86, they kicked off with a comfortable victory over the Belgians, only then to slip up against Paraguay when a last-minute penalty miss cost them the win. The subsequent triumph against Iraq left them with another two-out-of-three success rate.

The 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup seemed the perfect occasion for Mexico, again as hosts, to end the hex. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bolivia provided the first-round opposition, and the signs were good when the Saudis were thrashed 5-1 in the opening match. Things looked even better at half-time against Egypt, with the local favourites two-nil up. But that was counting without an impressive second-half revival by the north African side which earned them a draw – while dampening home celebrations.

Finally to Korea/Japan 2002 where Mexico, victorious against Croatia and Ecuador, needed an improbable triumph against Italy to complete a famous and belated hat-trick. Surprisingly, they led until the 79th minute thanks to Jared Borgetti's fine header, but a moment's hesitation in defence allowed Alessandro Del Piero to equalise for the Italians.

Once more then, and after a litany of failed attempts, Mexico are on the brink of making history. It is up to a chastened Greece side to stop them.


sike: the favorite is probably the present champion, Brazil, as usual, Argentina is playing very well though and could jump to the favorite position in a year easily if continues playing this way.

twelli, he made the first attempt but a Mexican player stepped on the penalty area and it has to be repeated. He failed the second, and the goalie stopped the third.

Member, you're right, but they just had to put the ball in to draw or win; the Mexican goalie, Sanchez, was named player of the match by FIFA, although I think there were 2 or 3 players that deserved it. Btw, from the last 6 lost games of Brazil, 3 have been against Mexico.

[funkadelik]

Mexico had three chances.. the first one was made, but had to be redone. The player then went on and missed the next two dude to someone crossing into the box before he contacted the ball. Replays clearly showed the Brazillian player cross the line before contact again, but the ref said he had enough and dismissed it.

[twelli]

RA RA RA

beat dem Grecos!

[Chiwas]

The semifinals are set:

Mexico-Argentina
Germany-Brazil

The three giants of America and a solitary European (at home).

Favorites: Argentina and Brazil. Therefore the final will be Mexico-Germany. (Hey, novice14!)

[Chiwas]

[twelli]

"Doping-Verdacht gegen 2 Mexicaner"? = "2 Mexicans may have used illegal performance enhancing drugs"...

better post another front page, Chiwas...

[Chiwas]

From Kicker, today:

Confederations Cup
Mexiko: Neue Spekulationen um angebliche "Dopingsünder" - 23.06.2005 17:42
Galindo und Carmona - ging es um die Prämie?
Die Spekulationen um die geheimnisumwitterte frühzeitige Abreise des mexikanischen Spielerduos Aaron Galindo und Salvador Carmona beim Confederations Cup in Deutschland nehmen kein Ende.

Nun heißt es in mexikanischen Medien, die beiden Akteure des Erstligisten Cruz Azul seien nicht wegen angeblichen Dopings oder aus disziplinarischen Gründen nach Hause geschickt worden, vielmehr hätte ein Streit um die Prämienregelung die Bestrafung durch den Verband ausgelöst.

Ztiert wird hierbei Ruben Omar Romano, Trainer der beiden Profis bei Cruz Azul.

"Es gab ein Problem mit den Prämien für die Mannschaft. Galindo und Carmona haben eine andere Auffassung als die übrigen Spieler, die letztendlich zurückgesteckt haben“, erklärte der Fußballlehrer.

Das Duo hätte Romano am Mittwoch im Trainingslager des Klubs in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo an der Pazifikküste die Situation geschildert.

Der mexikanische Verband, der von der FIFA am Donnerstag zu einer Stellungnahme aufgefordert worden war, lehnt weitere Erklärungen ab.
© Olympia-Verlag 2005 18:24:18

www.kicker.de

[alby]

Originally posted by: sike
mexico.

who's the favorite in the would cup?

haha i love it

[Murphy3]

It's soccer. Who cares? It's not like it's a real sport.

[Drbio]

Originally posted by: Murphy3
It's soccer. Who cares? It's not like it's a real sport.

The sad thing is that NHL hockey > Soccer.

[alby]

True. Here in America yes.

75% of the world thinks soccer > life

With that being said, I only watch soccer when nothing else is good on TV and even then I really don't watch it, its just on.

I was, however, very much into the US's run in the 2002 world cup, stayed up practically every night that summer.

[Chiwas]

The sad thing is that, having a pretty bad league, the US has a very good team, ranked 10th of the world, and there almost nobody cares about it.

Btw, Brazil just defeated Germany 3-2 and goes to the final.

[Drbio]

Originally posted by: alby
75% of the world thinks soccer > life

It apears then that 75% of the world are stupid.

[alby]

Originally posted by: Drbio

It apears then that 75% of the world are stupid.

Just ignorant.

They are not as lucky as we are to have football, basketball, baseball, hockey, etc.

[Chiwas]

Argentina 7, Mexico 6.

So long, dreams.

The final, Argentina-Brazil; better impossible.

[twelli]

Originally posted by: Murphy3
It's soccer. Who cares? It's not like it's a real sport.

What is a 'real sport' anyway?

Baseball? -- People standing around most of the time. One guy throwing all the time. Most batters missing most of the time.

American Football? -- Why are you calling it football when the foot is only used in special situations? Why do the players need so much protection when 'real men' -- rugby players or Aussie rulers -- can play without him?

Hockey? -- Where people seem to care about knocking their opponent's teeth out more than anything.

Basketball? -- OK, I like basketball.

Soccer? -- The term 'soccer' says it all. It's football light, American-style. The reason why Americans don't like soccer is because it's not European 'football'. No history, no rivalries, no subway series, no legends. Take away all those components from baseball, and you'll find that baseball sucks too.

The only thing I hate about soccer (football) is the off-side rule and the lack of goals.

[alby]

Originally posted by: Chiwas
Argentina 7, Mexico 6.

So long, dreams.

The final, Argentina-Brazil; better impossible.

7 - 6??

Wow, that is terrible.. for both sides.

[Chiwas]

0-0 in regular time, 1-1 in OT, and 6-5 in penalties (tie breaker).

[alby]

Oh okay, phew.

[twelli]

who just defeated Mexico... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

ok, nobody likes the Germans, but they look pretty promising going into next year's home world cup

[Chiwas]

In football, Germany is Germany.

My prediction for the world cup is as the positions in this tournament:

1.- Brazil
2.- Argentina
3.- Germany
4.- Mexico

But it will depend on the groups.

[dirk2003]

So sad to see how Americans don't have a single clue about soccer. Just because they don't know the game, they consider it not being a sport. Pathetic!