Fantastic game T&T and of course Kudos to the coach. This is very esalily the best result we have had at the azteca and probaly one of the better if not the best performance. I will single out the performance of Hislop and Bakr. Hislop becz I thought he was a lost cause and Bakr for rebounding so well after the earlier lapse in his first game at the azteca. although mexico dominated this was par the course. I shudder to think of the result had Maturana been in charge. We will qualify and the team will continue to grow into a respectable unit under Latapy. We dont need Arena as some fool suggested or anyone else for that matter at this point in time. I wonder if Beenie ever took us to mexico and if so what was the result? How did we look? Could we have gotten more?
Latapy will bring it home!!!
When Sub and I start to agree I does have to stop and think again
First of all after that debacle vs. CR, my expectations at the Azteca were limited. Performing at high altitude is always an uphill task.
Mexico has lost one WC qualifier at the Azteca in the last 30 years - because of the altitude. Only CR another high alt country can consistently give them a run for their money there. If Mexico concede four goals at home in the Hex, is plenty.
We had no Avery, Stern, Glenn, Sancho, Scotlan and Tallest (I coulda do without Tallest;-))
For the first 10 mnts it was Clayton Ince vs Mexico and he did a helluva job, his detractors should admit this.
He was also damn good vs CR.
I was impressed how the TT defense settled down for the rest of the half and managed some forays into the Mex box. I then realised that if the realities of high alt were no to kick in during the seond hlf, this game could look very different.
PPl should understand that KJ was up front by himself and being tripled teamed. He was always going to ketch ass but it did free up the other players. My only problem was they were feeding KJ balls on the ground, when they should have aimed it up, he was taller than the defenders and he would have had a chance to control and stab a shot or pass.
EVERYONE knew TT was going to ketch ass in the last 45 mnts but they sucked it up, if we had to lose at least it was to a helluva shot that would've beaten most keepers.
We defended as a TEAM did what we had to do to survive and forced the Mexicans to go wide. Yorke did a helluva job defensively. Daniel had his best game. We finally saw some of that flair that he is known for. It's important that players like him, Tinto, Noel etc show their wares, it takes pressure off the defense and can draw fouls. Also, we need some brilliance aside from Carlos and Latas.
We laid back in the second half because of an oxygen problem and nothing else. I would've liked to have seen more balls pumped to the subs but as said bfore, a helluva job defending as a team.
Sure Mex should hve scored more. We should've doen the same vs El Salv and CR, but this is football. We never should've drawn with Sweden, but hard defending and luck saw us through.
Because of geography and not becz of a mediocre Mex team, this will rank as one of the great TT performances right up there with our games vs Sweden and Eng. at the WC.
WC or no WC, I will be damn proud of what I saw on June 10.
Looking at Daniel, Bakr, Hyland, Tinto, Birchall, Baptieste, Noel etc, I can't wait to see what happens when these guys get better blooded.
WELL DONE TT, I AM PROUD!!!
VB