MEXICO CITY, Sept 12 — Mexico is wrestling with the humiliating prospect of missing football’s World Cup finals for the first time in a quarter century with only two qualifiers left to reverse its fortunes.
The Mexican football federation is considering whether to name the national team’s third manager in four days. And the media has shown little love for the players after “El Tri” lost 2-0 to their bitter rivals the United States in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday.
“Tritanic” was the headline in Excelsior newspaper while the Cancha sports pages said the team now needed a “miracle” to book their tickets to next year’s World Cup in Brazil.
The sports daily Record bemoaned the team’s “dreadful” showing in Ohio.
“The prestige of Mexican football breaks into pieces and the dream of going to the World Cup hangs by a thread,” it warned.
The loss to the United States, after an embarrassing defeat to Honduras at home last Friday, put Mexico in fifth place in the six-team CONCACAF regional group fighting for a 2014 spot in Brazil.
With only the top three qualifying for the finals in Brazil, and the fourth-placed team advancing to a play-off against New Zealand, Mexico will be out unless they fight back in the final two qualifiers.
The United States lead the group by a point from Costa Rica, with both nations already having qualified for the finals.
Honduras are in third spot on 11 points. Panama are fourth with eight, level with Mexico but ahead on goal difference.
Andres Guardado, one of Mexico’s leading players who stars for Spanish club Valencia, said he could understand that Mexico fans “don’t identify with what they are seeing”.
“I want to tell them that we are ashamed,” the winger said after the defeat in Ohio.
Guardado and teammates based in Europe, such as Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez of Manchester United and Giovani dos Santos of Villareal, have come under criticism just over a year after Mexicans celebrated their historic gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
Luis Garcia, who played for Mexico in the 1994 World Cup, said the team’s chances looked dire.
“One must consider the real possibility that Mexico will not go to the World Cup,” Garcia told AFP. “We can look at the scenarios and keep hopes up, but football-wise Mexico is lost and mathematically out (for now).”
The Mexican football federation fired Jose Manuel “Chepo” de la Torre on Saturday, one day after losing to Honduras in Mexico City’s imposing Azteca stadium.
He was replaced by his assistant Luis Fernando Tena, who coached the Olympic gold medal team, but the interim manager said after the loss to the United States that his future would be discussed yesterday.
In a section containing unfancied nations such as Panama and Jamaica, Mexico were widely expected to cruise to Brazil.
But they have only won one of their eight qualifiers to date, drawing five, and scoring a miserly four goals.
They now face a win-or-bust game against Panama at the Azteca on October 11 before a final showdown in Costa Rica on October 15.
Mexico last missed a World Cup finals in 1990 when the federation was banned from international competitions after using over-aged players in an under-20 championship. — AFP
