The Road To Brazil 2014 via Wellington feat. Mexico

I'm taking a South African work mate along, this will be his first football match, having previously been too much of a bitch to attend one in his homeland . He's a 'soccer is for pansies' type rugby fanatic, so will see how it goes.

Yeap, going back to NZ,  they will use 2 squads, the home leg with players from Mexico from the teams that play in Mexico DF, it is understood.  And the european based players will go to NZ one week beforehand. 

The best mexican player at this time former Arsenal FC, Carlos Vela, doesnt want to play for the national team anymore, he is not available for selection. 

And uruguayan-born, naturalized mexican,  striker Nery Castillo, from Rayo Vallecano of  La Liga of Spain,  is in the same place, he doesnt want to play for Mexico anymore.

Btw, Bigsoccer.com is the wild wild west of US/Mexican soccer fandom. Mostly full of shit, but you can find a few gems there if you look hard enough.

A common source of laughter on soccer podcasts and other media in the US.

This business companies are pushing Mexico to make it to Brazil,  Movistar, Banamex, Adidas, Coca-Cola, P&G, Corona Extra, Interjet, Comex, Gillette, Nature Nutrition, Ford, Lala, Visa, ADO, Bimbo y Roshfrans, according to the Federación Mexicana de Futbol (Femexfut). there a serious business fall  if they got eliminated by NZ.  

Bit of confusion of the date/time of the first game. FIFA has just got 13/14 Nov. NZHerald says 15th.

Mexican sites have 2pm on the 14th. As NZ is 18 hours ahead that makes it 8 am on the 15th.....correct?

However Mexico finishes daylight saving on 27th October so their time goes back 2 hours. So that makes us 20 hours ahead of them.....so its 10 am on the 15th.....correct? (or is it 6am?)

If you want some entertainment check out some of the english speaking Mexican sites. LOL talk about angst. Plus some of them are really funny. Comment after the NZ vs Chivas game " they(NZ) are really shit team are'nt they?....should be a close playoff". Plus some great photoshop stuff......like Dos Santos dancing through Hobbitville. Lots of LOTR references etc. Plenty of bad blood between Mexican and USA fans.....lots of nasty stuff. I guess we will have plenty of support form the USA.

Any Mexican fans reading this forum......We hope lots of Mexicans come down to NZ for the game. We don't have any bad blood with you. I am sure you will have a great time in NZ and enjoy the kiwi hospitality. Wellington is a great little city, easy to get around and lots of entertainment. And after we beat your team I am sure you will find lots of kiwis will buy you drinks all night.

You beaudy! Hugo Sanchez welcome at Bangalore Polo Club anytime! Come on down!

Amazing positivity in this thread.  Who would of thought we might stand a chance against Mexico???  But I as many others think maybe we might just pull this off.  If we can get a goal against them away early I could see them imploding. Even if we lose 2-1 i feel te pressure will get them coming here

I actually think the most important thing in tight home and away matches is to keep a clean sheet at home.. It's counterintuitive but then an away draw gets you a penalty shoot out minimum

Rory to score!

One of the big Mexican football forums just posted a link to this thread on this forum. It was quite funny reading through all of their comments. They say that our forum is full of trolls and Americans/Argentines and that we don't have any kiwi supporters here lol. A great read.

All of them are saying that we will 'bunker down' and look for the occassional set piece. I feel like we have to play Rojas and Barbarouses. They are predicting us to defend the whole game. I believe we should play our best team and encourage them to play. The Mexican defence is really average at the moment and if we go out there with a positive attitude and style of play we have every chance of getting a positive result. If we go with a negative approach, I feel the best possible result will be a draw but we will more likely lose the first tie. Why not go out there and have a real go against a team that is seriously seriously wounded. If we allow them time on the ball they will runs circles around us and attack for the whole game. This can only result in goals. 

Bring it on, I remember not many giving us a chance vs Italy at WC2010, worse build up this time and we've lost some great players, but the fighting Kiwi spirit might just help us create another football miracle... or we could get spanked 11-0 at the Azteca and then get kidnapped by a local cartel. Either way, will be plenty of drama and family fun.

I feel like Mexico vs New Zealand is similar to Nz vs Fiji. Fiji beat us not so long ago, so therefore we have a chance right? A small chance but a chance nonetheless.

Rojas, Wood, McG....maybe Smeltz can be the hero for one more WC...

certainly Wood and McG impressed in Bahrain in the away leg...

How far away is Wood from playing?

Mexican media don't have much faith in their team - here from yesterday's Mexican paper in USA:

http://www.latinospost.com/articles/29816/20131016/mexico-vs-new-zealand-world-cup-2014-playoffs-el-tri.htm

MEXICO vs. NEW ZEALAND WORLD CUP 2014 PLAYOFFS: IS EL TRI GOOD ENOUGH TO BEAT KIWIS?

Mexico's midfield is a mess. There is no focal point and the passing is predictable and tedious. None of the main attackers seem willing to try anything new. Rafa Marquez was brought up to bring some structure to the team but was a hindrance on many occasions.

Then comes the biggest problem of all - Javier Hernandez. Isn't he supposed to be the best Mexican player in the world? The savior? The clutch performer? Hernandez, or "Chicharito" as he's often called, had a prime chance to open the scoring but seemed afraid to make a mistake and passed the ball to an offside Oribe Peralta. Later in the first half he created the goal by breaking away, but he also failed to fire a shot and a lucky bounce to Peralta allowed for Mexico to tie. After those two plays, Hernandez disappeared for the remainder of the match and had little impact on it. Hernandez finished the qualifiers with two goals in 10 games.

Mexico's defense conceded nine times in 10 games but only managed to find the back of the net on seven occasions. The first game against New Zealand takes place at the Azteca but it may actually be of little comfort to El Tri as the team went a combined 1-3-1 at home in the hexagonal stage. How many goals did Mexico score at home? Three.

Then there is the issue of expectations. Mexico has already performed below expectations and their qualification will be a disappointment regardless. However, they are still expected to pull it off and any more missteps will be a major indictment of the team. New Zealand knows that it is the underdog, but the team has proven to relish this spotlight. Just ask Italy what happened in the 2010 World Cup when it underestimated the Kiwis.

Mexico is likely changing managers (again, this is the 4th in 2 months) and is going with LigaMX winner and Club America manager Miguel "Piojo" Herrera.

http://www.record.com.mx/article/miguel-herrera-llega-al-tri-en-lugar-de-vuce

This probably won't change much as far as how you guys should approach the match, but it may change some of Mexico's personnel.

Interesting that Smeltz is being talked of as a sure starter.  There is no way I'd have him over Rojas - the one I could see missing out is Brockie and Kosta, neither who've looked that comfortable in front of goal at international level.  You have to play Rojas.  Wood is a no brainer

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11141887

Kiwis -- Pardon the starving Argentine bastard.  Latin America, especially the Argentinians,  have a massive inferiority complex towards Mexicans due to the perceived notion that our powerful neighbor to the north gives us special treatment and is only reason for our economic growth (which is true in all honesty).    It really has nothing to do with Football either it a cultural socioeconomic thing.  To sum it up, regardless of how shitty our country is, they (Argentinians) know that they're even worse off.  It comes down to this (all statements are backed up by world orgs like the World Bank, OECD, UN, IMF, etc).... Mexico leads Latin America in Education by having the best Universities in all of Latin America, income, infrastructure, tourism, culture, pop-culture [having won more Academy Awards, Grammys, Olympic Medals, etc (Mexico exports tons of tv, radio, movie, etc media to their countries while no one in Mexico cares about their media)], foreign investments, quality of life, unemployment, safety (even in a drug war Mexico still has less murders than many South American countries, I know shocking), etc.  Hence the complex.

.  

Just wanted to post an FIY for you Kiwis  that are new to the international scene and don't understand why all the shit talking so don't be so surprised if you go to any Football site or forum and find some wanna be mister-know-it-all Argentine spewing garbage like they always do and a Mexican putting him in check.

As to the US fans, well, they're our rivals it's expected so carry on.  Can't argue that most of what they say isn't true.  Mexico does sucks right now.  The players have no confidence.  We play like shit, we're mental midgets at the moment.  We can't bust a bunker. We are arguably the weakest team in the region.

Sounds like Route one football might be the order of the day. The only concern for me is Rory's habit of swinging those arms around and Mexican players falling down at the slightest hint.  As if it wont be hard enough with a stadia full of passionate fans backing them, just like when they come here to visit. We need a nice strong cold Southerly the be around during that game!

Hola mis amigos!

Chicano here. Just wanted to drop by and set things straight. There's been a lot of noise lately concerning the Mexican national team and unfortunately now New Zealand is now part of this sh*tstorm. Please excuse the ignorance of my fellow compadres. Alcohol is one helluva drug. 

I will try to explain this in a way you guys can understand. Soccer is the most popular sport in Mexico. Its not just a game. Its our passion. Its our LIFE. Its as essential as eating and breathing. Another thing about Mexicans. We are proud. We have heart. And the will to fight on until the last second. Sort of that "macho"mentality. We have a tendency to mix Patriotism with the Mexican national soccer team. Why? They have always performed respectfully in their sport. 6 Gold Cups (most in the CONCACAF, although USA is one shy away from catching up to us) a confederations cup, and most recently a gold medal (2012). Obviously the most prestigious international tournament is the world cup, where the farthest we've ever gone is quarterfinals (twice, both times ironically have been when we've hosted it). The world cup has been an area of opportunity for Mexico. The country has instilled a belief of hope that Mexico must go farther than they've ever been before in history. Our expectations of our national team are a lot higher than they've ever been before. WHY? For the first time we've finally established a decent amount of players in Europe. Everyone knows that Europe is where you'll play the highest level of competition. Therefore its everyone's dream to make it big out there and be successful. We've had players like Hugo Sanchez (best Mexican player of all time, Real Madrid legend) Rafael Marquez (Barcelona) make a name for themselves but now we have 10+, the most ever. Combine that with the proven success of our U17 & U20 teams (2 world cup winners and 3rd place) and our expectations/hope have gone over the roof. We demand a higher level of play, performance, & results. The Mexican media does not help the cause. They always portray a negative vibe towards the team. So much criticism, hatred, judgement, unprofessionalism (yellow  journalism at its finest). Instead of supporting the team they have a tendency to break the team down. If they win a game it was either a fluke or it wasn't entertaining enough. If they lose they blame the coach, players, etc. The poor coach ends up being a scapegoat. And of course the people of the nation feed into that stuff laid out by the media. Its sad and a crying shame. 

Mexico has been underperforming for quite some time now. Stress levels and pressure are as intense as they've ever been. Its quite clear that its had its toll on our staff and players. Its quite obvious to see on the pitch. They are playing with self doubt, lack of confidence, a sense of fear. They are second guessing themselves, their decision making, their tactics. Its Murphys law at the moment. And just when we thought it was over, USA gave us a blessing/curse depending on how you look at it. I was coming to terms with missing out on the world cup. Mexico was 2 minutes away from being eliminated. It would have given the federation an opportunity to clean up this mess. But no, the circus at will continue. There's a strong rumor going around that the coach brought in to replace our ex coach is now being replaced. Its a f*cking disgrace. Things will not change until the mentality of the media and federation (all the care about is making $$) change. Do you guys want to know how greedy our federation is? In fear of not qualifying to the world cup they pushed Adidas to release a new kit (that was meant to be revealed for the WC) against Panama in hope to rack up even more $$.

I'm sorry New Zealand. You guys don't deserve to be part of this. I hope we can be compadres after this is all over. Our recent clashes vs Kiwis (2-0, 2010 3-0, 2011). We are currently battling against ourselves, so god knows what will end up happening. 

Saludos

How mongrel does Dura look in this pic? 

Hola Chivamex10,

Thanks for the update. Sounds like the Mexican team is under enormous pressure. The NZ team is under no pressure because the whole world thinks Mexico will beat us. How it works out on the pitch on match day is any ones guess. 

Has the date and time of the match in Mexico city been confirmed? Whats the weather likely to be in November?

Lol at people saying AWs should go to Mexico and try to play attacking football. If we are to have absolutely any chance we need to park the bus better than ever before.