Mexico Exhibition

Mexico is preparing for the World Cup. A World Cup that given its ticket prices is only to be witnessed by the wealthiest people... 

This World Cup is the third one to take place in Mexico, and a beautiful exhibition on Avenida Reforma, alongside the Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, shows this history through images by the outstanding artist Cynthia Saide. 

 

The 1970 World Cup in Mexico was historical in many ways, but notably on one technological improvement: it was the first World Cup to be transmitted to the World in colour TV. 

The images of Pele, The King,  celebrating his third World Cup title in the mighty Azteca stadium after thoroughly defeating Italy in the final, were seen in colour across the World, and surely led to more of globalizing football.

But it was not only Brazil, Pele and colour TV (as well as some fantastic matches and a marvelous atmosphere) that made the 1970 World Cup special. The tournament also saw the introduction of one of the rules that we take for granted today: the use of yellow and red cards.

After the violence and questionable decisions of many matches in the 1966 World Cup, the introduction of this system was to try to curve the violence and give the players a warning before being sent off.

The first red card was awarded by the Turkish referee Dogan Babacan to the Chilean player Carlos Caszely in the first round match between Chile and West Germany.

And thus a rule was born on Mexico.

The 1986 World Cup in Mexico was not supposed to have been. The tournament had been awarded to Colombia, but Mexico stepped in when Colombia was unable to go ahead with the organization.

Despite a horrible earthquake barely a year before the tournament, Mexico stepped in to organize what to many people who lived it has been one of the best World Cups ever (and totally subjectively I include myself, thanks to the performances of Argentina and Denmark); many fantastic matches and some of the best collection of players, overshadowed by the most extraordinary of them all: Diego Maradona, who in Mexico reached heights perhaps never seen in a World Cup. At the Azteca Stadium, against England in the quarterfinals, he scored two of the most memorable goals in history (for good and for bad), and was eventually crowned World Champion with Argentina beating West Germany in a very exciting final.

Legends were made in Mexico in 1986.

The exhibition by Ms. Saide includes many other fantastic pieces, and I would recommend anyone in Mexico City to see it.

That said, my last picture, here to the right, has a more personal character. It shows the clock counting down to the World Cup, and in the background you can see a large building, which is a large hotel in Mexico City. In 1986 I was in Mexico as an 11 year old kid before the World Cup, and enjoyed the same type of warm-up to the tournament as I am seeing now, 40 years later, when I am again living in Mexico, and looking forward to what will hopefully be another historic tournament, notwithstanding the fact that it has 48 teams, takes place in three countries, and that ticket prices are completely overblown.

But ok, such is the world of today. 

Morocco World Champions!

 Morocco has been crowned World Champions at the U-20 World Cup in Chile. In the final they faced a confident Argentina side, but the Moroccans sealed the match in the first half. Yassir Zabiri scored the first goal on a splendid free kick in a situation that perhaps should have been a penalty, but in the end it did not matter... Zabiri himself made it 2-0 on a great volley following a great pass from the tournament's best player, Othmane Maama.

After this Argentina pushed forward but without patience or a cool head. A lot of shots outside of the target and corner kicks that led to nothing. In the meantime the Moroccans let the Argentines have the ball, but stood back solidly and with a cool head. 

In every way Morocco deserves this great title, and adds to Morocco's extraordinary strides in world football, and they will be a country to watch in the World Cup next year, when we will hopefully be able to see some of these great youngsters that won the title today. 

Cruz Azul victory

The late game tonight in Mexico was the classic between Cruz Azul and Club America, second and third in the league, and working to keep pace with the defending champions of Toluca on top.

And I was happy to see Cruz Azul triumph 2-1 after going behind in the first half on a goal by Brian Rodriguez. But it was two Uruguayans, Gabriel Fernandez and Ignacio Rivero who scored the two blue goals, the second a fantastic strike by the captain.

Cruz Azul are now on second spot three points behind Toluca and one point ahead of Club America and Monterrey.

Bad day for Mexico

Yesterday I decided to relax with some beers and football, as Mexico were playing two matches. Firstly, the young Mexicans were facing Argentina in the quarterfinals of the U-20 World Cup. The Mexicans were not bad, they tried to play the Argentineans, but Argentina went ahead by Maher Carrizo, who caught a rebound from the Mexican goalkeeper after only 9 minutes in what was effectively Argentina's first shot on goal. The rest of the game Argentina were in control despite Mexico playing well. In the second half the new Inter Miami player Mateo Silvetti completely outran two Mexican defenders to make it 2-0 and seal the match. It was a pity that two Mexican players got red cards in the dying minutes of a match they had already lost; but Mexico had a great tournament and can hold their heads high.

Argentina will face Colombia in the semifinals. Colombia defeated Spain 3-2. 

The bar I was at slowly filled out with Colombians, who came to watch the friendly match between Mexico and Colombia. These friendlies should be important for Mexico, who has not gone through qualification, as they try to find a squad for the World Cup here in Mexico. In the meantime, Colombia have qualified strongly and by far outplayed the Mexicans: 4-0, with goals by established players Luis Diaz and Jefersson Lerma, but also Bologna's defender Jhon Lucumi scoring his first goal for Colombia, and Internacional's Johan Carbonero scoring in his debut for Colombia.

Colombia is looking strong (and look at their strong u-20 side), but Mexico is hopefully going to improve before they receive the world in 2026.

 

U20 World Cup in Chile

The U-20 World Cup is taking place in Chile. A group with Spain, Brazil, Mexico and Morocco should be considered a group of death at any level, and yesterday I watched the final group match between Morocco and Mexico. Morocco have been flying and defeated Spain and Brazil 2-0 and 2-1 respectively, and before the match against Mexico were sure to win the group no matter the result as Mexico arrived in the match with two 2-2 ties. 

Mexico ensured the second spot by winning 1-0 on a penalty goal by the 16-year Tijuana player Gilberto Mora (also the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Mexican top league). In the meantime Spain won 1-0 against Brazil, who are surely disappointed to be eliminated in the group stage.

Morocco and Mexico are through, and so are Argentina and Japan, with three victories, as well as Ukraine, Chile, Paraguay and Italy. There are still matches left in the last groups before we have all the teams in the last-16 of a very interesting tournament.