Tag: mexico

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Dallas product Marco Vidal made his Mexican First Division debut when he started for Juarez Indios Juarez in its 1-0 loss to UAG Saturday in the club’s debut at the top level of Mexican soccer.

[MEXICO] Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson, whose last stint as a national team coach was at the England helm in 2001-06, has been named Mexico coach. Eriksson, who replaces Hugo Sanchez, coached Manchester City during the 2007-08 season.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Edgar Castillo, a 21-year-old New Mexico product, helped Santos win the Mexican league championship. The left back, whom the Mexican press is lauding as one of the league’s top young players for his attacking contributions, initiated the foray that led to Daniel Luduena‘s goal in the 1-1 second-leg tie with Cruz Azul on Sunday that gave Santos a 3-2 aggregate win.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Texan Juan Francisco Torres started and played the first half for Pachuca as it fell at home, 1-0, to San Luis in the first leg of their wild-card playoff game. San Luis’ U.S. U-23 defender Michael Orozco missed the game with a muscle injury.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] The Mexican Clausura 08 postseason kicks off this Wednesday with first-leg repechaje (play-in) games for quarterfinal spots. San Luis, for which U.S. U-23 defender Michael Orozco started 11 of 17 regular season games, faces Pachuca, for which Texan Jose Francisco Torres played eight games. Earning spots straight into the quarterfinals were Santos Laguna (Edgar Castillo), Chiapas Jaguares (Daniel Hernandez) and Chivas Guadalajara (Jesus Padilla).

[AMERICANS IN MEXICO] U.S. U-23 defender Michael Orozco made his 10th start in 15 games this season for San Luis in a 2-1 win over Morelia. The win put San Luis in a tie on points with Chivas Guadalajara atop the Clausura 2008 overall standings; Chivas has a better goal difference. Edgar Castillo went the full 90 for Santos in a 1-1 tie with Necaxa that kept Santos on pace for a playoff spot. Daniel Hernandez also played the full 90, but his Jaguares fell, 2-1, to Veracruz. Jaguarez does remain in the playoff hunt.

[MEXICO] Hugo Sanchez, whose 16-month stint as Mexican national team coach included two losses to the USA and one tie with the archrival, has been fired. Sanchez’s ousting comes two weeks after he failed to qualify Mexico for the 2008 Olympic Games.

[OLYMPIC QUALIFYING] New Mexico product Edgar Castillo went the full 90 minutes for Mexico’s U-23 national team in its final two warm-up games for CONCACAF Olympic qualifying, which starts next week. On Thursday, Mexico tied Finland, 0-0, in front of 11,780 fans in Frisco, Texas. On Sunday, Castillo hit the cross that Australian Adam D’Apuzzo knocked into his own goal in a 1-1 tie in Oakland, Calif., in front of 47,416 fans.

[VIDEO] New Mexico product Edgar Castillo has been selected by Coach Hugo Sanchez to Mexico’s U-23 team for its qualifying campaign for next summer’s Olympics. Mexico’s first-round play against Canada, Haiti and Guatemala kicks off March 12 in Carson, Calif. Last week, Castillo scored for Santos Laguna against Chivas Guadalajara on an 18-yard shot after dribbling from near the halfway line.

Mike Woitalla on El Tri’s vets and teens
For Wednesday’s friendly against the USA in Houston, Mexico coach Hugo Sanchez has called in seven European-based players, including Barcelona veteran Rafael Marquez and the Barca teen star Giovani Dos Santos. Also coming is a player Sanchez criticized his predecessor for selecting.

Next Wednesday, Mexico comes to Houston to face the USA, whose win one year ago in a similar friendly meant a lot for Coach Bob Bradley. Soccer America’s Mike Woitalla explains how recent U.S. supremacy over Mexico has been critical to the success of U.S. national team coaches going back almost 20 years.

[MEXICO] Club America beat Cruz Azul on penalty kicks after a 3-3 tie at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in front of a sellout crowd of 27,000 to win the second final of the InterLiga tournament and earn a spot in the Libertadores Cup. In the first final, Atlas downed San Luis, 3-0. Atlas will play off against Bolivia’s La Paz FC for a Libertadores Cup berth.

[INTERLIGA] Club America and Atlas joined San Luis and Cruz Azul as the final four Mexican contestants for two spots in the Copa Libertadores by scoring five goals in a 3-2 America win Wednesday night at Home Depot Center as Interliga group play concluded. But in spirit of the tournament’s wacky tradition, matters weren’t completely settled at the final whistle.

[INTERLIGA] Winner of its first two group games, San Luis squandered a chance to capture the Group B title outright when it lost, 1-0, to Monterrey Tuesday at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. But it won the group anyway, when Cruz Azul broke a second-place tie with UNAM by beating Pumas, 1-0, in the nightcap.

InterLiga play on the weekend included the professional debut of a 14-year-old, a female field invasion and the passage of Club America and San Luis into the semis.

The Mexican League is renowned for its flowing, attacking style, but little scoring has been on display so far as eight Mexican teams vie for two Copa Libertadores spots in the USA-hosted InterLiga. Three goals in four matches is the aggregate after Club America beat Morelia, 1-0, following a 0-0 tie between Toluca and Atlas Thursday night in the Group A Interliga openers at Robertson Stadium in Houston.

Club America aims to bring the Copa Sudamericana title to Mexico for the second straight year, but must overcome a 3-2 first-leg deficit when it faces Argentina’s Arsenal in Buenos Aires in the second leg on Wednesday (TV: Fox Sports en Espanol, 7:30 pm ET). Arsenal has never won an international title or even an Argentine championship in its 50-year existence, and has never placed a player on the Argentine national team.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] In the Mexican Apertura 2007 semifinals, Edgar Castillo again went the full 90 as Santos downed UNAM Pumas, 4-2, but was eliminated, 5-4, on aggregate.

Mexico’s Club America beat Colombia’s Millonarios, 2-0, with two goals by Uruguayan Hernan Lopez in the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana semifinal for a 5-2 aggregate win that sets up a final clash with Argentina’s Arsenal, which downed River Plate on penalty kicks after both legs ended in scoreless ties. Club America aims to become the second Mexican team to win the competition in its six-year history. Pachuca’s won the title last year.

[AMERICANS IN MEXICO] Texan Sonny Guadarrama, 20, saw action for the third time this Mexican First Division season when he played the last 23 minutes for Santos as it remained undefeated with a 0-0 tie with Tigres. Edgar Castillo served a yellow-card suspension.