Mexico in ecstasy

 Mexico is in the last-16 after eliminating Ecuador 2-0, on two great goals by Julian Quiñones and Raul Jimenez. The first half of the team was fantastic. With their incredible home crowd in the legendary Azteca stadium the Mexicans look like one of the best teams of the tournament, and surely expectations are growing as they advance. Javier Aguirre's starting lineup was very offensive and seemed to take the Ecuatorians by surprise; it looked as if they home team would crush the South Americans, but second half they stood back comfortably as Ecuador made some feeble attacks.

There was never a doubt about who would win. 

Mexico will face either England or DR Congo in what will be a huge hurdle for both sides. But it will also be Mexico's last match in the Azteca, as future games will move to the USA if Mexico advances. This will be interesting to see, but Mexico are celebrating that they are perhaps one fo the best teams in the world in their mighty home stadium. 

 

Record and surprise in Group A

Tournaments are often notably hard to predict, and Group A in this World Cup was notably difficult. After the opening match between Mexico and South Africa it was impossible to predict the strength of those two sides: Mexico won 2-0 against a very poor South Africa, and the home side only started showing their true strength when they defeated South Corea 1-0. Today Mexico were fantastic: 3-0 over a Czechia side that only played decent football during the first half hour, on goals by the Alkmaar defender Mateo Chavez, Julian Quiñones and Alvaro Fidalgo. 

Czechia proved to be one of the poorest side in the tournament, but that does not take away the fact that Mexico, for the first time in their World Cup history, won three matches in the group stages and progresses with a score of 6-0. The Mexican side, managed by the experienced Javier Aguirre, have shown that the doubts about the side were baseless, and that they are a side that aims to get far in the tournament. 

Any team that will face Mexico will struggle, not only against a great team, but also with an incredible local support.

We will see who they will play in the next match soon! 

In the meantime, everyone underestimated South Africa (including myself), most notably the South Coreans, whom everyone was expecting to go through on second place after Mexico. All the Asians had to do was tie South Africa. Instead, the South Africans won 0-1 on a goal by Thapelo Maseko, and they take second place in the group (and will be facing Canada next). It is a huge surprise, given how they played in the first match, and the fact that they only managed to tie Czechia (again: perhaps the poorest sides in the tournament). 

South Corea, who looked so good in their first match, and played a good match against Mexico, can only be disappointed as they are now on the verge of being eliminated. They can still hope to go through as one of the best third-placed teams, but with only three points and a score of -1, this would be incredibly lucky indeed!

The best tournament teams do not underestimate anyone, and pace their tournament. Mexico and South Africa perhaps paced themselves after the opening match, but now they are both deservedly celebrating that they are through to the last-32.