Press round up 21/6/10: Champions? Why not?

On Father's Day, the 'daddy' of the Mexican squad, Cuauhtemoc Blanco - and he really could be the father of some of the players- told a press conference that Mexico should be thinking about winning the World Cup and that they fear nobody.

"Why shouldn't we think about becoming champions if we have a great team?" said Cuau.

Blanco also denied that there is any pact between Mexico and Uruguay to draw the game on Tuesday and ensure both qualify for the Round of 16.

"For me there is no pact," said Blanco. "I love to win and my teammates are the same. We have that mentality. I don't care which of Uruguay, France or South Africa don't proceed."

And as for a potential clash against Argentina if Mexico fail to beat Uruguay and finish second in the group, Cuauhtemoc said: "We've got to remember that we haven't qualified yet," before adding: "We are very focussed and we'll have to beat them (Argentina) at some stage to advance. We don't have a problem confronting Argentina."

Defender Ricardo Osorio warns that Mexico can still improve on their performance against France.

"I believe that we can still give more. We're playing well but are still lacking some small details to finish moves well."

The transfer rumour mill is in full effect following Mexico's good performance against France.

Giovani Dos Santos is being watched by a number of clubs, with Italian outfit Genova yesterday making public their interest in the young Mexican-Brazilian. He still officially plays for Tottenham Hotspur but was last season loaned out to Galatasaray and before that, err, Ipswich. A couple of good performances and it would be no surprise to see Gio move to a middle-to-top ranking European club.

The surprising rumour of the day is a loan move for new Manchester United striker Chicharito Hernandez to Valencia, on calcionews24.com. The 22-year-old would be an excellent replacement for David Villa, says the source.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Ricardo Osorio, Guillermo Franco, Oscar Perez, Rafa Marquez, Giovani Dos Santos and, possibly, Pablo Barrera (see blog tomorrow for profile) are all moving on this summer, so they are in the shop window this World Cup.

In other news, Carlos Vela was 'trotting' in training yesterday but won't make the Uruguay game and probably not a potential Round of 16 game. Pablo Barrera is likely to take his place.

Another fact the Mexican press pick up on is that Uruguay have never beaten Mexico in competition.

However, until the France game, Mexico had never beaten one of the World Cup winning teams in the World Cup. They'll be hoping to defeat their second in a row on Tuesday.