Vs Mexico 2nd Leg Wed 20th 7:00pm SS1

everyone likes a party Robin...shame some of those guys dont come and watch the nix (not in white clearly)

I do think that Miguel Herrera has made a rather large impact on the team since taking over.  As a traditional, and for most of CONCACAF's history the only, regional power Mexico has earned a (rather well deserved) reputation for being arrogant combined with things just falling into place and working out for them when they have seldom found themselves in a tough situation.  They for the most part have never had to "grind it out" in CONCACAF nor build a program like the US, Costa Rica and Honduras have.

Until recently, most Mexican players stayed in Mexico.  During the 2006 World Cup, only four players on their squad plied their trade outside of Mexico, one of which was playing for Chivas USA, MLS's Mexican team.  Mexico always had great players, but they were never superstars in the way that Chicharito, Giovanni Dos Santos and Andrés Guardado are and they always had to fight for their position on the team.  To be fair, the FMF wasn't a total corrupted clusterf*ck like it is now.  What Miguel has done is basically sent a shot across the bow of all the Mexican players by showing that just because you ride the bench for ManU most of the year does not mean you automatically play or make that squad for that matter.  In addition, this provided and excellent opportunity for the guys on the fringe of the national team, that they normally would not have, to book their ticket to Brazil.  He showed everyone that regular Liga MX players are perfectly capable of doing what they have traditionally done, qualify with Mexican league players.

Most experts agree that this is not the team that will show up in Brazil.  They are an all-star club team, but certainly not a national team.  All these guys that Miguel selected were in form, most make their living by playing with each other day in and day out, and his comments about the travel and adjusting to the altitude of Mexico City were legitimate in my opinion.  He made the best team from the best immediately available players, which unfortunately are head and shoulders above the current crop of All Whites in terms of technical ability, form and shape.

I know you guys are feeling in the dumps, and I hate to pile on, but in all sincerity, I am not sure if the All Whites would have made it into the final round of qualifying (the hex) if you were in Concacaf.  If you had, I suspect you would have gone the route of Jamaica.  While most of the US fans would have loved to have seen Mexico implode even further, most never seriously thought that they wouldn't make it through to Brazil.

I'm curious about that as well. Had not seen any of their earlier qualifiers.

Start winning.

I must also add that the Mexican fans were all very friendly and respectful towards our team. Loved chatting with them after the game. They seemed to really like Wellington and even our weather believe it or not! One guy from Mexico city said that he wants to come and live here! A couple of them said they much preferred Wellington to Auckland so that's a bonus.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11160552

Burgess ratings. Very harsh on Roux I thought

Jordan v Uruguay is on now

Ricki implying it might have been a player who didnt play who leaked info to Veitch re: Herbert not talking to players after Mex loss? Clapham perhaps?

I do think that Miguel Herrera has made a rather large impact on the team since taking over.  As a traditional, and for most of CONCACAF's history the only, regional power Mexico has earned a (rather well deserved) reputation for being arrogant combined with things just falling into place and working out for them when they have seldom found themselves in a tough situation.  They for the most part have never had to "grind it out" in CONCACAF nor build a program like the US, Costa Rica and Honduras have.

Until recently, most Mexican players stayed in Mexico.  During the 2006 World Cup, only four players on their squad plied their trade outside of Mexico, one of which was playing for Chivas USA, MLS's Mexican team.  Mexico always had great players, but they were never superstars in the way that Chicharito, Giovanni Dos Santos and Andrés Guardado are and they always had to fight for their position on the team.  To be fair, the FMF wasn't a total corrupted clusterf*ck like it is now.  What Miguel has done is basically sent a shot across the bow of all the Mexican players by showing that just because you ride the bench for ManU most of the year does not mean you automatically play or make that squad for that matter.  In addition, this provided and excellent opportunity for the guys on the fringe of the national team, that they normally would not have, to book their ticket to Brazil.  He showed everyone that regular Liga MX players are perfectly capable of doing what they have traditionally done, qualify with Mexican league players.

Most experts agree that this is not the team that will show up in Brazil.  They are an all-star club team, but certainly not a national team.  All these guys that Miguel selected were in form, most make their living by playing with each other day in and day out, and his comments about the travel and adjusting to the altitude of Mexico City were legitimate in my opinion.  He made the best team from the best immediately available players, which unfortunately are head and shoulders above the current crop of All Whites in terms of technical ability, form and shape.

I know you guys are feeling in the dumps, and I hate to pile on, but in all sincerity, I am not sure if the All Whites would have made it into the final round of qualifying (the hex) if you were in Concacaf.  If you had, I suspect you would have gone the route of Jamaica.  While most of the US fans would have loved to have seen Mexico implode even further, most never seriously thought that they wouldn't make it through to Brazil.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11160552

Burgess ratings. Very harsh on Roux I thought

Latins are renowned for telling people what they think they'd like to hear.

True, but I have been to a US/Mexico World Cup Qualifier as well as a few friendly matches in Mexico friendly stadiums (Houston and Philly) and each time they have been quite courteous and affable.  In normal daily interactions with Mexicans around where I live they are very friendly.  I think some of that has to do with the fact that they are immediately surrounded by US fans in the US, and to be honest, not all Americans have the best opinion of them so should something happen, they might feel that they may not get a fair shake from the law.  The issues with their fans mostly begin once you cross the border.

I would imagine that most of the Mexican fans that made the flight to Wellington, which as I am sure you are aware is quite expensive, would be the type of person that is decently to well educated, has a decent job and worked hard to make their money.  I have found in general that those type of people tend to be less extreme/confrontational and a little more worldly.  They are not the lot of people getting into brawls in the slums outside of the stadiums.

I must also add that the Mexican fans were all very friendly and respectful towards our team. Loved chatting with them after the game. They seemed to really like Wellington and even our weather believe it or not! One guy from Mexico city said that he wants to come and live here! A couple of them said they much preferred Wellington to Auckland so that's a bonus.

To be fair, they have  struck Gold on the Weather front if they have been here the last few days! 

I know you guys are feeling in the dumps, and I hate to pile on, but in all sincerity, I am not sure if the All Whites would have made it into the final round of qualifying (the hex) if you were in Concacaf.  If you had, I suspect you would have gone the route of Jamaica.  While most of the US fans would have loved to have seen Mexico implode even further, most never seriously thought that they wouldn't make it through to Brazil.

I pick Siggy. He's a straight-talker. And he'd have grounds for grievance.

Moss was interviewed after the game in Mexico and had said that Ricki does not normally address the team directly after the game, normally senior players do, and does so the day after. The radio sport host totally overreacted and I think it has been 'chinese whispers' to other media.

It was great to see Craig Henderson get on the field last night as well. Local boy who's had a few ups and downs. Had a nice cameo too.

My 7 year old and 5 year old both went to their first All Whites game last night and they got spoiled really.

- Great crowd and atmosphere - not quite at 2009 levels but only because of a lack of tension, and it was damn close anyway.

- Absolute top quality side in Mexico - if I've seen a better football team play in NZ I sure as hell can't remember it.

- A spirited performance from the home team, including a quasi-comeback that at least gave the second half some bite.

- Overall, a very entertaining game and 5 of the 6 goals were scored right in front of us!

Veitch is a piece of shit who broke his GF's spine and then tried to buy his way out of it and somehow we are ok enough with that as a country to let him back on the radio and have the Prime Minister on his show laughing it up...

not worth listening to...

Moss was interviewed after the game in Mexico and had said that Ricki does not normally address the team directly after the game, normally senior players do, and does so the day after. The radio sport host totally overreacted and I think it has been 'chinese whispers' to other media.

My 7 year old and 5 year old both went to their first All Whites game last night and they got spoiled really.

- Great crowd and atmosphere - not quite at 2009 levels but only because of a lack of tension, and it was damn close anyway.

- Absolute top quality side in Mexico - if I've seen a better football team play in NZ I sure as hell can't remember it.

- A spirited performance from the home team, including a quasi-comeback that at least gave the second half some bite.

- Overall, a very entertaining game and 5 of the 6 goals were scored right in front of us!

Don't worry about piling it on. Nothing you said was unfair, even if Jamaica had been the 4th team we would have probably still been underdogs against them (although had a much better chance than Mexico). I would only add that the real advantage in being in a bigger qualifying group is that there are so many more meaningful games to help raise the standard. Our preparation this cycle has been pretty bad.

I think it's fair to say that with proper preparation and with Reid and Wood in place of Durante and Brockie alongside last night's lineup and I think we could have kept the difference to 2-1 overall rather than 3-1 (as in 9-3). We'd certainly give the lower level teams like Jamaica and El Salvador a good game, as we've done in the past. Mexico are just too good over two legs. Would have been closer against Panama.

Brockie is a strange one. Does score good goals in the A League but when a striker doesn't score in 40+ internationals, often against pretty poor Oceania opposition, you've got to question him. Think he's had more than enough time to prove himself. I must confess I did feel sorry for him when he hit that soft penalty but I've always felt he drifts in and out of games too much.

PS - JV, thought your analysis was good.

Don't worry about piling it on. Nothing you said was unfair, even if Jamaica had been the 4th team we would have probably still been underdogs against them (although had a much better chance than Mexico). I would only add that the real advantage in being in a bigger qualifying group is that there are so many more meaningful games to help raise the standard. Our preparation this cycle has been pretty bad.

Brockie is a strange one. Does score good goals in the A League but when a striker doesn't score in 40+ internationals, often against pretty poor Oceania opposition, you've got to question him. Think he's had more than enough time to prove himself. I must confess I did feel sorry for him when he hit that soft penalty but I've always felt he drifts in and out of games too much.

(....)

If you put out a team in 4 years time that looked like this

         Moss/Spoonley

Roux Reid Smith Tuiloma

          Payne  James

Rojas      McGlinchy    Kosta

              Wood

Thats not a bad side you know. Some people will come and go because of form but as a base to develop, that's not bad.

My 7 year old and 5 year old both went to their first All Whites game last night and they got spoiled really.

- Great crowd and atmosphere - not quite at 2009 levels but only because of a lack of tension, and it was damn close anyway.

- Absolute top quality side in Mexico - if I've seen a better football team play in NZ I sure as hell can't remember it.

- A spirited performance from the home team, including a quasi-comeback that at least gave the second half some bite.

- Overall, a very entertaining game and 5 of the 6 goals were scored right in front of us!