That’s the question doing the rounds in Mexico as the minutes tick down to Sunday’s big game with Argentina.
Two strains of thought prevail.
Some look at the game against Argentina through the lens of fatalism that tends to define Mexico’s psyche (see post from yesterday about Rafa Marquez) and say the national team is destined to lose, like four years ago when Maxi Rodriguez broke Mexican hearts in extra time at the same stage of the competition.
But another, far more positive theory is gaining ground.
The optimists argue that 2010 is Mexico’s year, when the nation marks the 200th anniversary of its independence from Spain, as well as the bicentennial of its bloodthirsty revolution that threw up heroes like Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. Something is supposed to happen this year. Will it be football related? Revenge against Argentina perhaps?
What is certain is that Mexico will need to play at the highest level to be victorious. The key men will be holding midfielders Rafael Marquez and Gerardo Torrado, whose task will be to break up Argentina’s intricate passing game. Both have experience on their side, Marquez knows Messi inside out and both will want to end their international careers on a high.
The other major debate is who should play up front. Argentine-born Mexican Guillermo Franco isn’t cutting it and most fans are calling for Manchester United new boy Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez to start.
Chicharito has become the ‘golden boy’ of the ‘golden generation’ of Mexican youngsters. In 1998, a fresh-faced Michael Owen scored a wonder goal against Argentina in the same round. Millions of Mexicans are praying Chicharito can do the same.
Probable starting line-up: Perez, Osorio, Moreno, Rodriguez, Salcido, Marquez, Giovani, Juarez/Guardado, Torrado, Vela/Barrera, Franco/Chicharito.
If pressed: Juarez, Barrera, Franco to start based on what Aguirre has done so far and his stubbornness! Vela depends on his fitness.
Saturday 26 June 2010
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I'll take your two strains of thought and morph it into three:
ReplyDelete1) We lose badly, 3-0, 4-0, 79-0, something like that. Not a lot of pain here since it was expected. We can all go back to our lives. Everybody can blame Calderon, errr, Salinas, errr, Porfirio Diaz, errr, Aguirre for our woes and the scapegoat fatalist culture can go on living it's day to day life.
2) We win. Mass pandemonium. Traffic brought to a complete halt everywhere. Street fights between youth and cops. Rioting and looting. Drugs being openly trafficked and distributed throughout the country. The little Virgen de Zapopan doll comes to life, breaks out of her acrylic box and walks down Lopez Mateos to take a bath in the Minerva Fountain. We then lose to Germany or England badly and see number 1.
3) We once again lose to Argentina which with a population of 40 million and a G-20 nation will not be nearly as embarrassing as losing to Ghana or Uruguay (ooops). In this scenario you will feel the doom and gloom hanging over the nation like a really bad hangover. The kind of hangover where you really consider sticking a sharp object into your temple just to relieve the pressure. It will be a well played game with Chicharo scoring and Messi being shut down and maybe even El Conejo making a few amazing saves. It will be hard to point the finger at Aguirre and so no one will have anyone to blame yet no type of "second place is ok too" celebrations will be permitted. This is the result I dread and the same result of four years ago that I just recovered from three weeks ago when this god forsaken tournament began.
Bottom line is that it's masochistic to follow Mexican soccer let alone support it. Regardless of the outcome today, I should burn my green jerseys and go back to following the Lakers, Yankees and Tiger Woods.
All that being said, I need to go online to book my trip to Rio in 2014. Look for me on TV, I'll be the tall guero with his face painted green.
Option 1
ReplyDeleteSee number 3 Ed. Chin! Otra pinche vez!
ReplyDelete