Mexico defeats Guyana 3-1

Mexico played Guyana in the first match of Group B of the Brazil 2014 World Cup Qualifiers.  Mexico came into the game with a winning streak, within them their victory against Brazil that ended 2-0.  On the other hand, Guyana entered the third round phase of the qualifiers by beating Trinidad & Tobago, but also came into the game with a losing streak in several friendlies.

The match was greatly anticipated by both national teams, and Mexico came in as huge favorites to win by a grand margin in front of a near sell-out home stadium, Estadio Azteca.  The match begun with Mexico attacking left to right with Pablo Barrera on the right, Giovani Dos Santos on the middle, and Andres Guardado on the left.  These three players were very dangerous on the first half providing several crosses and shots.  Soon enough, after a poor clearance from a Guayana defender, Carlos Salcido took a beautiful shot from outside the box and scored the first of three Mexico goals.

El Tri did not stop attacking as they knew they had the crowd’s pressure to score more goals and soon after a brilliant play between Dos Santos-Chicharito-De Nigris-Dos Santos led to the best goal of the match with a left-footed shot from outside the box.  As the minutes passed by, Guyana attempted to create offensive plays but these were without good results.

The second half showed a different game in which Mexico seemed without focus and a Guyana who had lost their fear of playing in front of a huge Azteca stadium.  Nonetheless, Mexico kept on attacking and after a cross from Guardado to Javier Hernandez a Guyana defender hit it into his own net for the 3-0.  Guyana knew they had nothing left but to attack and they tasted glory when Mexico also converted an own goal by Hector Moreno making the final score 3-1.

Notes:

Mexico played good soccer in the first half as expected but their last 45-minutes were weak and without much balance and attacking idea.  By playing with two forwards–Aldo De Nigris and Chicharito–they lost balance in the middle of the field and De Nigris was lost for most of the game.  Guyana played an intelligent match by defending 90% of the game, but Mexico’s talent is simply much superior especially at home.  A 3-1 victory is a good start for the Tricolor in the qualifiers, however they will have to finish a higher percentage of their scoring plays to beat their next rivals, El Salvador next Tuesday, June 12 in the Cuscatlan.