Brazil sends Mexico packing, Italy wins thriller
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Jun 19, 2013
Neymar was the architect, scoring the first goal on a volley in the 9th minute and setting up Jo, who came off the bench and scored in the third minute of stoppage time for the second straight game.
Brazil had the Tri under siege for the first quarter of an hour, but little by little Mexico got into the game and played much better than in its opening game, a 2-1 loss to Italy.
Nonetheless, Brazil is simply in another class, and the result will only intensify the pressure for Mexico to make a coaching change. El Tri now has just one win in 10 games in 2013.
Mexico coach Jose Manuel de la Torre tried to look at the positives of his team's performance.
"Failure? This is not a failure," he said. "Failure is when you stop fighting, we simply did not achieve a goal. Final results are always fair. This one was. They played a good game, the team. This was a very good opponent, and individual talent made the difference for them."
Brazil's win coupled with Italy's 4-3 win over Japan sent Brazil and Italy through to the semifinals and eliminated Mexico and Japan after only two games.
Italy came back from a two-goal deficit to beat in a wild game at the Arena Pernambuco in Recife.
First-half substitute Sebastian Giovinco scored the winner in the 86th minute after Italy had come back from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead.
Japan had slept-walk through its opening game, a 3-0 loss to Brazil, but put the Azzurri under intense pressure throughout the game. The Blue Samurai came back to tie the score at 3-3 and hit the woodwork twice in short succession with a chance to go ahead.
GROUP A:
June 15
Brazil 3 Japan 0.
Goals: Neymar 3, Paulinho 48, Jo 90+3.
June 16
Italy 2 Mexico 1.
Goals: Pirlo 27, Balotelli 78; Hernandez pen. 34.
June 19
Brazil 2 Mexico 0.
Goals: Neymar 9, Jo 90+3.
Italy 4 Japan 3.
Goals: De Rossi 41, own goal 50, Balotelli pen. 52, Giovinco 86; Honda 21, Kagawa 33, Okazaki 69.
June 22
Japan vs. Mexico 2:30 p.m. ESPN/WatchESPN
Italy vs. Brazil 2:30 p.m. ESPNEWS/WatchESPN
Standings: Brazil, Italy 6 points; Italy, Japan 0.
GROUP B:
June 16
Spain 2 Uruguay 1.
Goals: Pedro 20, Soldado 32; Suarez 88.
June 17
Nigeria 6 Tahiti 1.
Elderson 5, Oduamadi 10, 26, 76, own goal 68, Elderson 80; Tehau 56.
June 20
Spain vs. Tahiti 2:45 p.m. ESPN/WatchESPN
Nigeria vs. Uruguay 5:45 p.m. ESPN2/WatchESPN
June 23
Nigeria vs. Spain 2:30 p.m. ESPN/WatchESPN
Uruguay vs. Tahiti 2:30 p.m. ESPN2/WatchESPN
Standings: Nigeria, Spain 3 points; Uruguay, Tahiti 0.
7 comments about "Brazil sends Mexico packing, Italy wins thriller".
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Mexico, tons and tons of possession, but no plan to score. The key to scoring is to have a system that gets your best players the ball in a position to score. I've said it over and over, Hernandez is a world class finisher, he just needs one touch close to the goal. The problem is he can't make his own shot. Mexico will need to find a system to get him the ball or they are honestly in danger of not qualifying.
Bill, you are exactly right, I agree with you. Mexico has great players but lacks the intelligence and leadership of a new coach. There is plenty of talent, lack of tactics. Chicharito needs more balls feed to him and he will finish them, just as he does with Man-U.
No presence in the middle of the field, they are missing the creative and ball winning center mids. Torrado and Salcido combination too slow to win anything outside of thier own third of the pitch and also can't provide any type of offense if they actually do win the ball.
Strangely silent around here......?
I was in the stadium in both of Mexico's game and I will be in the stadium on Saturday.
Mexico is suffering because the Coach has chosen to play defensively and well frankly does not work to well for Mexico. Mexico has to attack and push their lines up and pressure the ball even in the other teams third.
In Coach Chepo defense, he did play much more attacking soccer in the Brazil game.
Now, being in the stadium and I can tell you first hand that the pressure the opposing teams have from the Brazilian fans when playing against Brazil is very difficult to handle. I would be very surprised if Brazil does not win the cup.
Moreover, Brazil has a very talented player that showed me first hand how good he is. Unfortunately, he has not showed that talent except when he wants to. I think the pressure to win for Brazil is very strong and the Brazilian players feel that they have to win in Brazil and of course Neymar also feels that way and he expressed that in the game vs Mexico with fantastic setup of the 2nd Brazilian goal.
Chirs what sound you want to hear? This sound http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8E_zMLCRNg or this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGegXDkUoI0. If they don't beat Japan, Chepo gone for sure.
AF, either will do! But as you know, they always have excuses anyway, so the saga will continue......