Mexico

Nick Rosano: Mexican soccer looks to build on banner year in 2012

El Tri and Mexican club teams will hope to continue the success of last year into 2012 with plenty of new heights possible on the horizon.

Jan 4, 2012 10:53:00 PM

By Nick Rosano

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If Mexico could replicate its 2011 this upcoming year, that would suit it just fine.

Between the resurgence of the national team under Jose Manuel de la Torre, two riveting league campaigns and a Mexican player reaching the pinnacle of European soccer, 2011 proved a fruitful year for the game in Mexico.

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As 2012 rolls around, plenty of questions remain about whether Mexico can build on its success as the build-up to the 2014 World Cup begins.

We’ll start with the good news for Mexico fans: The national team looks to be in great shape, for now. De la Torre is a great fit and provides the leadership the team needed and the capability of effectively utilizing the wealth of attacking talent the country produces. Even the women’s side had arguably its best-ever year, collecting two points in a tough World Cup group.

Aside from the U-23 team’s showing at the Copa America, Mexico’s men’s side lost only one match in all of 2011, a friendly defeat to Brazil. Apart from 20 minutes against the United States, a dominant Gold Cup campaign established the team as the region’s best. For this year, at least, that dominance is set to continue.

Mexico should have no trouble with its World Cup qualifying group. In home-and-home series with Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guyana, the Costa Rica away fixture is likely to be the only fixture in which the Mexicans stand a realistic chance of dropping points. Even if there are a few slip-ups, 2012 really will be the end of the world if Mexico doesn’t finish in the top two of that group.

Exhibitions against Venezuela and Colombia (the latter falling on a FIFA date) could even give de la Torre a better litmus test as far as his players’ ability on the international stage, and a few more friendlies (there are open FIFA dates without qualifiers in March, August and November) should also provide opportunities for Mexico to test itself against quality European and South American opposition.

Of course, any discussion of the strength of Mexican soccer inevitably leads to comparisons with El Tri’s neighbor to the north, and color me shocked if Mexico doesn’t face the U.S. at least once this year. Jurgen Klinsmann will complete his first year as coach of the U.S. team this summer, and a match against Mexico could be an excellent barometer to not only measure his progress, but to see just how far ahead (or not) the Mexican team might be from its archrival before their competitive showdowns in 2013.

At the youth level, new cycles for the U-17 and U-20 national teams are about to start, while Olympic qualifying kicks off in a couple months. Given the success of the youth teams in 2011, expectations will be high as a new crop of youngsters, and positive response to these pressures would be welcome after a period in which Mexican teams’ mental toughness has often been called into question.

Of course, there are other pitfalls that could slow the game’s continued growth in the world’s 11th most populous nation.

Javier Hernandez, so prolific in the 2010-2011 campaign for Manchester United, has struggled with injury during the 2011-2012 campaign (though he has been fairly efficient), and even on the pitch he has not enjoyed the best of holiday breaks. Beyond 2011’s breakout star, there is plenty of technically skilled players up front, but no scoring option anywhere as effective as Hernandez, and Mexico could find itself in a real quandary up front should he fail to shed his injury troubles.

Furthermore, the club futures of some of the best Mexican players in Europe are far from certain, so much so that one can easily argue that Mexico’s two most consistent foreign-based players in the second half of 2011 have both been central defenders – Francisco Rodriguez at Stuttgart and Hector Moreno at Espanyol. That pair, along with Andres Guardado, set for an upward move when his Deportivo contract expires, have represented Mexico well in Europe, though there are big questions for players elsewhere in Spain.

Javier Aguirre is out at Zaragoza and his two compatriots playing there – following moves originally intended to kick-start their European careers – face uncertain futures too, despite reasonable performances for the bottom side in La Liga. Pablo Barrera and Efrain Juarez have both been linked with moves back to Mexico, and although they will likely have other suitors in Europe, these players have struggled to test themselves consistently against top opposition, as has Giovani dos Santos.

Should these players make smart moves and apply themselves well, the Mexico could well and truly have a contingent that can compete with the best in the world, but should they continue to miss out on playing time, Mexico’s push for the top could stagnate.

On the club scene, the league looks set for another thrilling season, with most teams reinforcing well over the winter break. However, there will be plenty of focus on Mexican teams, which will face stiff opposition as they set out to prove they are among the elite in the Americas.

Unsurprisingly, all four Mexican teams participating in the CONCACAF Champions League qualified for the knockout stages. As Real Salt Lake showed in the 2010-11 campaign, though, the gap between MLS and Mexican club sides is closing, and with strong outfits out of Seattle and Los Angeles also in the knockout stages, ensuring Mexican dominance in North America looks like it could be harder than ever to maintain.

Another question on the mind of many Mexican supporters is when a Mexican side will finally claim the most coveted club trophy in the Western Hemisphere – the Copa Libertadores.

Mexico is sending its top three finishers in the 2011 Apertura to the 2012 Libertadores, an unprecedented move meaning the country’s best teams will finally get a crack at the trophy. The bad news, though, is that the competition is stronger than ever.

The Brazilian league is thriving financially and attracting higher-quality players. Clubs not just from Argentina and Brazil, but across the continent have gotten visibly stronger, meaning the field in the upcoming Libertadores will be as strong any in recent memory.

The competition will be strong in 2012, but given the quality of performance across all sectors of Mexico’s game in 2011, fans will it is reasonable to expect another excellent year ahead for Mexican soccer – just don’t take it for granted.

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