Suarez: El Tri Need To Wake Up
(Soccer365.com) - Chivas USA defender and former Mexico captain Claudio Suarez says his national team should stop looking down on their American counterparts because it makes them easier to defeat.
The USMNT has won eight of the last 11 meetings between the rivals, and El Emperador says his countrymen often beat themselves – especially when the roster is largely MLS-based, as it was for last Wednesday’s 2-0 failure in Phoenix – before they even step on the field.
"They are on par with Mexican players and players all over the world," rated Suarez, veteran of 174 international matches. "Maybe that's something Mexico can't accept, but they need to be more open to the idea."
"When you play (in MLS), back in Mexico they think you are on vacation and that it's very easy to come play here in the United States."
"They don't know this league or these players, and that's why I think the Mexican players were surprised by the American players because they hadn't seen them before and weren't familiar with them," reasoned Suarez.
"In fact, several American players were a lot quicker to the ball than the Mexicans, and they just took it to them."
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Comments
He's right. Skillwise, the Mexicans are way better than the Americans. They just don't respect the Americans enough to take them seriously and guard them closely, and look what happens. Marquez says that the USA were opportunistic, and they were when the ball bounced off the ref and fell to Donovan, but the point is Mexico has to make sure that when the US is opportunistic, they need to play harder to shut down the USA's opportunities. They haven't done this for a while, and that is why Mexico keeps losing to the USA.
Posted by: Adam | February 14, 2007 03:59 PM
in a meaningful game the USA does not beat Mexico
Posted by: giova * * * * | February 14, 2007 04:36 PM
They do and have in both of the most meaningful matches they have played recently:
2002 World Cup knockout stages - US 2 Mexico 0, USA advances to the quarter finals and Mexico goes home.
2005 US 2 Mexico 0 clinching qualification for the World Cup.
These are about as meaningful as games get, though I will certainly grant you that Mexico has been the more skillful team of late and looked better in Germany. They simply just don't match up well against the US. They squander chances and lose concentration just long enough for the US to capitalize here or there.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 14, 2007 05:05 PM
Haha, souhldn't you be charging for that kind of knowledge?!
Posted by: Gabby | February 16, 2012 01:03 AM