Mexico

VIDEO: Mexico's Javier Aguirre Talks About The U.S. Match

Javier Aguirre held his final pre-match press conference ahead of Wednesday's US-Mexico match in Estadio Azteca.

Aug 11, 2009 9:58:26 PM

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Javier Aguirre- Mexico Manager (Tomas Fregoso)

Mexico's Javier Aguirre talked about the United States and his team's key World Cup qualifying matchup against their rivals on Tuesday at Estadio Azteca.

Aguirre's press conference will be the last one he will hold until after the U.S.-Mexico game, which will be played before more than 100,000 fans.

Here is what Aguirre had to say:

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Q: Do you see any similarities from the game against the U.S. when you took over the squad in 2001 and you played them at home?

“There are similarities, the second round of qualifying had just begun, they had 13 points, we had 4 points, now we have 6. The stadium was full - it was at a good time of day, good weather, they came in as favorites, and well, very little people gave us any hope like what they do now. I hope the result will again favor us again.”

“I read what you guys write and you give the impression of a positive result. That could help us out because they players will be more relaxed and less nervous during the game, but we will see in 90 minutes of play if we are indeed able to beat them,” Aguirre said.

Q: How do you relax before such a big event?

“Inviting the players in, not to believe in all that they see or read about them,” admitted Aguirre. “ They need to be confident in their capacity, in their teammates and in the collective play and evidently wait for the cheers from their fans. We need to have our fans on the same page, they need to realize the discarded us too early and hopefully it will be a great day for Mexico and the Mexicans.”

Q: What do you have to say about Mexico taking advantage of the Azteca in order to win?

“I think it’s a part of the football culture. They took us to the north to the cold and the whole field played to their advantage. There was a lot of wind in that first game and they took that to their advantage. This time we turned it around on them we bring them in with our fans, our altitude, our heat. It is evident that it will be a factor, you will se that by the 60th or 70th minute. We know that - we live here, we can feel it,” said Aguirre.

Q: Did you use the tape from the Costa Rica and U.S. qualifying game?

“Of course we’ve seen that game we took note of what could harm them. Costa Rica was up 2-0 by the 12th minute and I hope we can take that type of that advantage early in our game. That would calm the fans down calm us down and then we could mange the times in the game. If that does not happen we need to be patient and be intelligent against their counter attack. It is clear that game, the game against Brazil and Italy do serve us to see where they are most vulnerable,” admitted Aguirre.