In view of this I went to Tom Marshall who is a freelance writer on Mexican football, to find out a bit more about the land that spawned the likes of Hugo Sanchez, Jared Borgetti and most recently Chicarito...
Full Name: Tom Marshall
Website: mexicofooty.blogspot.com
Football Team Supported (Mexican and Foreign): Mexico: Atlas. Foreign: neutral but watch Premier League mainly.
What is the top football club in Mexico and how do they compare to their counterparts in Europe and South America?
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| Fans of Chivas, the most successful team in Mexican domestic football |
The best supported are Guadalajara Chivas and Club America. Chivas are quite unique in that they play with only Mexican players and currently rely heavily on their youth system to produce players. The last big name they produced was Javier Hernandez who isn't doing too badly at Manchester United. Carlos Vela and Carlos Salcido are both products of the Chivas youth system too. They are also the Mexican club with most league titles: 11.
Chivas do currently face a dilemma. With their policy of only Mexican players, if youngsters aren't of the desired quality they have a problem. Other Mexican clubs often inflate the prices of players when Chivas are interested because they know that Chivas can't bring someone in from South America like other Mexican clubs can. It's a similar dilemma to what the Basque clubs faced when they only played with Basques. At the moment fans complain about the team but the average age is 23 years and needs time. With a brand new international quality stadium Chivas fans, like many other fans, simply don't want to wait for something that is in no way guaranteed.
Who would you say are the top 3 players playing in the Mexican domestic league? And why?
Christian Benitez (Santos):24-year-old Ecuadorian striker Christian Benitez is strong, direct, fast and a good finisher. He spent a year on loan at Birmingham with little success but he'll surely go to Europe again and has all the quality needed to make it.
Humberto Suazo (Monterrey): 29-year-old Chilean striker Suazo has the knack of being in the right place at the right time. Was the key player in Monterrey winning the championship last year. Similarly to Benitez, many in Mexico are scratching their heads at how no European clubs wanted him after his loan spell with Zaragoza in the first half of 2010. May have one last chance to make it in Europe.
Christian Gimenez (Cruz Azul): 29-year-old Argentine attacking midfielder provides the midfield magic. A product of the Boca Juniors youth system Gimenez is the creative beat of Cruz Azul and scores spectacular goals (have a look on You Tube).
Note: Mexico is spoiled for good goalkeepers at the moment, many of whom would make the grade abroad: Jesus Corona (Cruz Azul), Jonathan Orozco (Monterrey), Luis Michel (Chivas), Oswaldo Sanchez (Santos), Memo Ochoa (America), Alfredo Talavera (Toluca)
With Chicharito being a hit in Premier League, all eyes are on Mexico's potential prodigies. Could you name 3 Mexican U21 prospects who you feel might be able to ply their trade in Europe in the future, what are their positions and attributes?
Martin Galvan (Cruz Azul): the 17-year-old striker has been seriously injured over the last five months but it now coming back. Made his debut aged 14 for Cruz Azul although has had disciplinary problems that forced him out of the U-17 World Cup. Barcelona wanted him to join their youth system but his family didn't have enough money to send him. Now Arsenal are said to be following his progress.
Edgar Pacheco (Atlas): 20-year-old attacking midfielder/winger with a lot of energy. Has just got back into the Mexican squad. His versatility, drive and long range scoring ability make him one to watch.
Erick Torres (Chivas): 18-year-old striker. Club insiders are very excited about this prospect and readily mention Torres in the same breath as Chicharito. Some believe he's better than the Manchester United man. A predator and 1.80m (5'11) tall. Moved straight from the Under 17s to the first team where he's scored one goal so far this season.
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| Is this the next Chicharito? |
Who do you consider to be the greatest Mexican footballer ever? And why?
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| Hugo Sanchez the greatest Mexican footballer ever in action for Real Madrid |
Which foreign players would you say have had the biggest influence on Mexican domestic football?
When businessman and media owner Emilio Azcarraga bought America in 1959 it is said he stated: "I don't know anything about football but people have told me that the best players are Brazilians and Argentinians. On that base I'll construct America." Azcarraga followed through on his promise to bring South Americans. Some of the best in the late 60s and 70s were Francisco Moacyr Santos, Jose Alves, Carlos Reinoso (the current manager) and Enrique Borja.
I'd say they have the biggest influence because America's policy laid out the groundwork for today's league in which many South Americans enjoy huge success. Obviously, Chivas are the exception.
Which foreign coach has had the biggest impact on domestic football in Mexico?
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| Ricardo La Volpe during his tenure as Mexico manager |
Difficult question. Dutchman Leo Beenhakker had a big impact although his America team didn't win the league. Indeed, he was only at the helm for one season. Nevertheless Beenhakker brought the attacking Dutch style to Mexico. The emphasis was on attacking, free-flowing football. Another coach that had a big impact was Argentine Ricardo La Volpe. His Atlas team of the late 90s played effective attacking football. Even today commentators use the term Lavolpista to describe teams that like to attack.
Who is the greatest/most respected Mexican coach and why?
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| Javier de la Torre lining up trophies he helped Chivas win |
Javier de la Torre managed Guadalajara Chivas during the famous Campeonismo period. Out of the eight titles Chivas won, de la Torre was at the helm for five of them. No team has ever dominated Mexican football like Chivas did in the 1960s and for that de la Torre must take a lot of credit. In total he worked for Chivas for over 60 years.
Which foreign team has the largest following in Mexico?
These days Barcelona followed closely by Real Madrid and Manchester United. The number of Manchester United fans is growing all the time thanks to Chicharito. Obviously, apart from being massive clubs, Rafa Marquez recently played for Barca and Hugo Sanchez is a legend at Madrid.
How do you feel about Mexico's World Cup 2010 performance?
Same as usual! On one hand reaching the last 16 is a good achievement but everyone in Mexico demands more. El Tri has gone out at the last 16 stage in the last five straight finals! People want a quarter final at least. There's no reason that Mexico can't do it but you need a bit of luck too, which they didn't have against Argentina even though they matched them for quality.
What is your most memorable international match involving Mexico?
My favourite Mexico match was against France in the last World Cup. Looking back France were terrible but at the time and especially going into the break at 0-0 it felt like it would be another case of Mexico playing well but failing to capitalise. Then Chicharito broke the deadlock with a goal that really put him on the map internationally. The celebrations after the game were wild too.
Which European player is the most popular in Mexico?
European-based player would be Leonel Messi. Actual European? Probably one of the Spanish world cup winners: David Villa, Iniesta or Xavi.
What do you think of the decision to allow Qatar to host World Cup 2022 instead of the US?
I don't necessarily think it should've been the United States but a lot of the Qatar bid didn't really make sense, as has been well documented. It's such a small country and it'll be so hot. It's good to take the game to new places but it doesn't seem completely thought out. From a Mexican point of view, holding the World Cup in the U.S. would be great. The Mexican national team is the only football team that regularly sells out stadiums over there.
Finally where do you think the Mexican Domestic League football and the international team will be in ten years time?
Domestically: Hopefully some major changes. I've done an article on them: http://bit.ly/fDeXXN One of the main points is that businesses and individuals shouldn't be allowed to own more than one team. The television deals needs to be thought about too. On the positive side the fact Mexican teams pay higher wages than in Argentina and Brazil means that if a restructuring is carried out there is no reason why the league can't become the best on the continent.
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| Two of the "Golden Generation" Chicharito and Carlos Vela celebrate together |
International: A lot depends. The raw ingredients are there to be successful. The 'Golden Generation' that won the U-17s World Cup in 2005 in Peru needs to finally establish itself. Players like Giovani Dos Santos, Hector Moreno, Carlos Vela and Efrain Juarez have huge potential but have had a frustrating couple of years. If they can get playing regularly in Europe and with Chicharito thrown in the mix, there's no reason why Mexico can't do as well as Uruguay did at the last World Cup.
Please could you tell us a little about your website and your plans for the future in football?
I run a blog - mexicoworldcup.blogspot.com - and a Twitter - @mexicoworldcup - all about the game here in Mexico. They were featured by the Guardian during the last World Cup. I plan to keep up the blog, keep doing bits of work for Manchester United and other media organisations and hopefully in the future get some work writing about Mexican football in a U.S. newspaper or website.
(END)
I hope you enjoyed that insight into Mexican football, I certainly did. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tom for taking his time out to enlighten us. As usual thanks for reading.
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