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Mexico - Team Profile
01/06/2006
A standing dish at World Cups these days, Mexico will be appearing in their twelfth finals though their tournament record is poor having reached just two quarter-finals - and on both of those occasions they were playing at home.
Nicknamed El Tiri, Mexico scored over 60 goals in qualifying, beat Brazil in last season's Confederation Cup in Germany and enter this tournament with one of their best preparations to date.
Coached by Argentinean Ricardo La Volpe they finished second behind USA in their Concaf group -though may have won the group if not losing a meaningless game to Trinidad and Tobago.
Mexico has produced many great keepers over the years including legends such as Antonio Carbajal and Jorge Campos. The current guardian is Oswaldo Sanchez with Jesus Corona as his understudy. The defence is marshalled by Barcelona's Rafael Marquez who has had an outstanding season in La Liga. Claudio Suarez is a veteran of Mexico's last two World Cup campaigns and should get the nod on the right-hand side of defence. Carlos Salcido looks set to start at left-back. Other defenders who should make the squad include Mario Mendez, Ricardo Osorio and veteran Claudio Suarez.
Juan Pablo Rodriguez impressed many in the Conferations Cup and can be expected to start El Tiri's opening game against Iran on Sunday June 11 at the Frankenstadion in Nuremberg. Jaime Lozano scored some important goals in qualifying and looks likely for a place in the starting line-up. Gerardo Torrado is another who can contribute important goals and with European experience in Spain could play an important role in the squad. Amongst other challenging for a place in the midfield are Pavel Pardo, Rafael Garcia and Gonzalo Pineda.
El Tiri's main worry is up front where star striker Jared Borgetti has been struggling to hold down a place in Bolton's Premiership challenge. A prolific scorer throughout his career he has missed vital warm-up games due to Bolton's decision not to release him. His lack of match practice is a cause for concern. There were protests when coach La Volpe called up an Argentina-born player for a recent international. However Franco Guillermo is a useful addition to the squad that does lack some firepower in attack and has been playing well for Villareal in Spain. Omar Bravo scored two goals in a recent friendly against Paraguay but failed to booked his seat while the fourth striker looks likely to be Francisco Fonseca of Cruz Azul.