Week 38: Main Report – Mexico’s World Cup Chances

[print_link] | Subscribe: Main Report Each week on languagecaster's podcast we feature a main report and on this week's show we continue with our World Cup countdown by taking a look at Mexico's chances in the tournament. We ask our Mexican football expert Juan Pablo Camargo how he thinks Mexico will fare this summer. You can listen to the report by clicking above and can read the transcript below. Introduction Continuing with our preview of the South Africa World Cup we have an interview with our Mexican football expert Juan Pablo Camargo in which he tells us all about his country's chances at the World Cup. He focuses on coach Javier Aguirre, discusses some of the players to watch out for, gives us an overall tournament prediction and he starts off by talking about Mexico's chances of getting past the first round. Group Stage Juan Pablo: We are in Group A with South Africa, France and Uruguay. Damian: What do you think? JP: I think it's a tough ... group, not because of France because of South Africa, they're playing home and Mexico usually behaves weirdly in the World Cup so they might panic... they might freak out of playing the first game of the World Cup but I think we are definitely going to make the second round. DF: OK, so you think their chances of qualifying are pretty good? JP: Yes, Uruguay qualified like, against ... they didn't qualify in the South America ... play-off they had to play Costa Rica in CONCACAF to get a spot and historically Mexico always beats Uruguay. And also against France I'm not that worried because in the last three or four World Cups in the group ... in the group stage, Mexico has always played well against the big teams like Italy and the Netherlands. We haven't lost games against the big teams in the last three World Cups. The Manager DF: Can you tell us something about the manager of your team? Who's the manager of the Mexican national team? JP: The manager is Javier Aguirre. He was the manager in Korea/Japan World Cup and then he went to Spain to Atlético de Madrid he.. ah no, first he went to Osasuna and he got Osasuna in the Champions League for the first time in history and then he went to Atlético de Madrid and also he got Atlético de Madrid again in the Champions League spot and then he has to basically come back to Mexico and save the Mexican team who was really close to not qualify to the World Cup. DF: Of course you had Sven Goran Eriksson, didn't you as your manager. How was that seen in Mexico? JP: That was a weird experience. We think that they... he just went to steal money there and the team did terrible and there's also like... politics in Mexican football are really, really hard so I think a lot of players just basically boycott... Eriksson because there's this belief in Mexico that the Mexican manager should be a Mexican because to do a good thing we need someone who understands our leagues so... The Players DF: So which players should we keep an eye out for in the World Cup? Which Mexican players will be starring for you? JP: You should always keep an eye on Rafael Márquez from Barcelona even though he doesn't really play well in the Mexican team but he scored against Argentina in the last World Cup so I think he will be doing well. We should also keep an eye on the Mexican players that were playing in the Premier League like Carlos Vela, he's not even starting for Arsenal but he's pretty good when he plays in the Mexican squad. Also Giovani dos Santos who was playing in Tottenham and then he went to Galatasaray but he's a young star - he used to play in Barcelona. And now we have a ... my friends from Mexico told me we have this new star called (Javier) "Chicharito" Hernández, he's from Chivas so he's scoring pretty... he's scoring in the league a lot and in friendly matches so I think... I hope he's going to be like ... a big player. Never, never forget about Cuauhtémoc Blanco, he's old but he's always like the driving power of the team and he has a lot of experience and he's like ...other teams respect him so he's gonna' do well too. DF: I must admit I didn't think he was still playing, he's playing in America... in North America yes? JP: Yes, he's playing in Chicago Fire but in the break... actually in the break, he's in a break now so he has to go and play in the second division team in Mexico to be active but now he's, like, more mature so I think he... he's definitely is a very important part of the team. Prediction DF: Now if Mexico don't win the World Cup which team do you think will win the World Cup? JP: I might go for Spain but I think Spain ... also tend to freak out in the last minute so I don't know, I think it's going to be again ... again between Italy, Brazil and the usual teams because I think the competition just helps you to do that, like, to get really easy first stages to get into those ... I really hope it's Spain. DF: Can you see a dark horse threatening? JP: Mexico! Thanks Juan Pablo - do you agree with him that Mexico can be the dark horses of the World Cup? Let us know what you think about Mexico's chances by posting a comment below. You can read more about all things Mexican football at Juan Pablo's excellent blog http://www.futbolmexico.mx/