Pablo @

I've been following Celtic's fan forums ever since it was rumoured Juarez would join them. It's been interesting to see how Juarez has seemed to mature into this modern day "10" for Celtic, no so much of a passer but someone who times his runs into the box and creates an extra attacking option. He's been playing there, and the Celtic supporters seemed to be genuinely excited about this play there. Scored two goals already, which is 2 more than he EVER scored for Pumas or Mexico.

It's odd. It's hard to imagine someone going from being a pretty good right back in Mexico, to playing "10" for a pretty big European, but he seems to be doing it well. Here's a link to the Celtic forums where they speak highly of young Efrain:

http://www.talkceltic.net/forum/celtic-chat/87751-...

As you can see, most of their supporters already see him as their main attacking threat in midfield.

Thoughts?

Sorry if this has already been posted, but incase you haven't heard, Pachuca's U-15 squad has made it to the final of the Manchester United/Nike Premier Cup and will face the FC Barcelona U-15 squad for the title. You might be familiar with the competition as it's been featured on GolTv often. Big teams like Barca, Man U, Werder Bremen, PSG, Internacional (BRA), and Porto all sent youth squads to this tournament, so it's great to see a Mexican team like Pachuca get to the final with the biggest goal difference in the competition. Hopefully they win it and keep the name of Mexican youth players at a high level. Hopefully Pachuca can join Chivas, Atlas, and Pumas in consistently producing great young Mexican talent. Here's a link to the competitions website if you want more info:

http://www.manchesterunitedpremiercup.com/

P.S. You may also notice a U.S. squad did pretty well. Alta Loma Arsenal, which from what I understand is in Southern California, so I can assume they're probably full of Mexican-American players too! :)

Tottenham 1-0 Benfica

Giovani played well, could play better. But he did set up the only goal of the game with a BEAUTIFUL heel pass to Bale, who slotted it in. All in all, he moved around well, looked lively and motivated. He started the game so hopefully we can take that at least as a bit of confidence from the manager in Giovani.

Ill try to post up the goal ASAP.

I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but you gotta admit 4-1 away from home is impressive regardless of who it is against. If you watched the first half you know it could have been 5-0 at halftime. Benitez, Quintero, Luduena, Peralta, and El Pony? How you gonna stop that? :)

BQ: Is it just me, or is Telemundo adding a reverb effect to Cantor's GOOOL!!! shout? Just when you thought Telemundo's coverage of Mexican futbol couldn't get worse...

I used to laugh when you guys went on about how fast Chicharito is. Guess you were right! Not that I doubted the guys ability, I think he can potentially be great, but never thought about him this way.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/20...

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=1247673/i...

I'm glad to hear Vasco talking like this. Not enough of us Mexicans assume responsibility for ourselves. He knows what this team means to Mexican's around the world, and he's not shortchanging any of us by saying sh*t like, "we'll try our best". He's taking responsibility and hopefully the players are as confident and aware as Vasco.

Your thoughts?

If we look back in the games Mexico had vs. England, Holland, and Italy, a big party of their game was giving the ball to Rafa at the center line and having him launch a long ball either to the right with Aguilar or to the left with Salcido. It worked great as this would cause Mexico to overload the midfield thus overworking the opponents midfield. A lot of plays came out of this.

In this game however, if you noticed, Rafa would put in a great ball (for the most part) but this time the bounce of the ball was much greater. Therefore, whenever the Mexican player would let the ball bounce, in this game the ball would always bounce way too high, more than normal, and Mexico lost possession.

If you DVR'd the game, go back and take notice. You'll see this had a BIG affect on Mexico's play.

BQ: Wouldn't this make even more sense to start Juarez and right back? He has much better skill on the ball than Aguilar and would make better use of it when he got it. Plus, this would allow Mexico to play someone like Guardado, Barrera, or even Blanco in the midfield thus giving Mexico greater edge in the attack.

If you read this article you get the sense that he realizes that he overreacted to the whole getting cut situation. The interview also confirms that Giovani did in fact want to leave El Tri after all this happened.

http://sport.es/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=44&idi...

All this leads me to believe that both Gio and Jona "no sienten la camisa" and that if Gio performs badly in this World Cup, I say GTFO! They're acting like mercenaries and Mexico doesn't need any of that.

Thoughts?

I honestly wonder how these two feel right now being called up to the US World Cup squad with the current entrenched (not anti-illegal immigration) anti-Mexican climate going on in this country? It must be quite the paradox to find yourself representing at the highest sporting level possible a country that emphatically treats at you like a its proverbial punching bag. Its scapegoat for every ill of the country.

Obviously, I'm not in the position to do this, but if I were them I would consider not playing for the team. Having not heard of them speaking out against these current times, I'm sure they'll just show up regardless. Makes me wonder if they're oblivious to all this, or do they simply not care? You'd figure them actually playing in Mexico would stir up some emotion for them to act upon, but I haven't heard anything from them.

Thoughts?

I sat there and watched after the draw had been announced and figured out why us Mexicans can't ever progress past the final 16.

Did anyone else notice how the only guy who believed Mexico was a favorite in the group was actually an Argentinian/Uruguayan/Israeli? Daniel Braivlosky had to basically defend himself against the actual Mexican pundits, Jose Ramon Hernandez etc... who couldn't stop attacking Mexico's chances of advancing past this group.

Come on! I've read some of the international media coverage from around the world, and it seems foreigners actually have more faith in Mexico progressing than we do in ourselves. What a shame!

Anyone else notice this?

http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2009/09/27/15...

I'm not too sure about this move. Sure it would be nice for him to get consistent playing time before the World Cup, but playin for a garbage team like Xerez could hampernhis progress. A team like that would

immediately expect Carlos to come in and dominate their attack, which I don't think is good for Vela. Don't think he's ready for that. At least he would be playing competively against some

of the best teams in the world.

I do honestly think he will get more playing time at Arsenal this year, he just recovered from his injury and managed to score one goal, and set up another in the Carling Cup. And he was on the bench yesterday against Fulham, if the game was tied or if Arsenal was losing, he probably would have played.

Your thoughts?

This is great! First the cerotes take the lead on the USA, now Brasil is dominating los boludos. Not working out like such a good day for all the Mexico haters.

WTF! Check these highlights out from yesterday's Carling Cup game between Tottenham and Doncaster:

http://www.footytube.com/video/doncaster-rovers-to...

It's clear on these highlights that Gio is on another level to anyone on the field. Granted, Spurs are playing against a Championship side, but come one. Did you see how ridiculous he made that defender look at 4:45? Someone give an answer!

Check out the ratings SPORT gave Barça players against Manchester City:

http://www.sport.es/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=44...

You might notice that Jonathan received the highest rating for Barça (along with Thiago). We know Barça lost and this was merely a pre season game, but check out the comment on him.

Thoughts?

I was at the Barça/Chivas game yesterday and I noticed a couple of things: First, Barça is just at another level to anyone. The game may have ended in a tie, but it was amazing to see how Barça passes the ball around in such tight spaces. Chivas, nor any team for that matter, can compete.

Second: When Padilla came on, he actually looke like he could hang. Touched the ball a couple of times and wasn't pushed off like every other Chivas player was throughout the game, even had that nice run at the end.

But is this dude actually good? I don't watch Chivas often so this is more a question for Chivas fans.

BTW I was in the 3rd row behind Barça's bench, you can actually see my humungous bald head if u watch the game on tv. F*cking Rafa se la paso all game texting, el guey.

I was looking at their line-up for today's game against Chiapas and I was surprised to see that all their attacking players were Mexican. Israel Lopez, De la Torre, Nestor Calderon, Esquivel, and Nava. Specifically young players like Calderon and Nava who are showing a lot of promise. Calderon scored both goals, and not too long ago, one of the commentators on Futbol Picante said he thought Nava could one day be the "9" for El Tri.

Other than Chivas, most teams in the FMF usually leave all their attacking positions for estranjeros, mixing in maybe one Mexican, so for those reasons, I'm glad to see Toluca stepping up and producing quality, young, Mexican, attacking players!

Big ups to Toluca!

Opinions.

I was watching the highlights of Inter vs. Milan, and I noticed something funny: Milan lost AGAIN, and ONCE AGAIN Onyewu was responsible for one of the goals. But don't take my word for it. Check out the first 10 seconds, that's Onyewu playing the role of the immovable turtle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8HaPqovqZs

This is what US "fans" think we should be scared of?

No hate US fans, just pointing out that neither Mexico nor the US is perfect, we'll win some, you'll win some, but don't be punks and accept a defeat when you're handed one.

Every week or so someone posts a question asking about Jonathan Dos Santos, usually people give shaky answers with no source. Here's something for you:

http://www.sport.es/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=44...

It's nice to hear from a source in Barcelona that Jonathan is still on track to do something special. Honestly I was starting to worry that he may be lost amongst all the talented young players in the Barça cantera. Looks like he may even get some shots with the first team, which means he could also get a shot with El Tri in time for the World Cup, if we qualify.

Your thoughts?

Sorry if someone already posted this but in case u haven't heard, Cristian Jimenez from Pachuca was called up to the Argentina squad for the WC qualifiers by Maradona.

What are your thoughts?

I know a lot of u really like the guy and hoped he would play for Mexico, but finally now he can play for his nation of birth.

And also, don't u think it's a pretty big deal that a country like Argentina would call up a player from the FMF, considering they have tons of players playing in the biggest leagues in Europe?

If anyone can post a link that would be cool, I'm sure it's on Mediotiempo or something.

Isn't it funny how this time last week Chelsea supporter's were on their high horse mocking Barcelona players/supporters when they simply stated the obvious, Chelsea's cowardly Camp Nou performance? Now, with the table's turned, they start complaining about the referee.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1711/chelsea/2009/05/0...

Fair play to honest Chelsea supporters, but you can't have it both ways. When Barcelona mentioned that Ballack should have been sent off in the Camp Nou, or that Henry was pulled down in the box, or that Abidal was sent off only because Anelka apparently thought the French Olympic Diving trials were being held Stamford Bridge...

You lot complained then because of our "loser" excuses, what have you now?