Group D
Mexico 3, Iran 1Ricardo Lavolpe's critics howled when he put two foreign-born players on Mexico's World Cup roster.
Fortunately for El Tri, Lavolpe didn't change his mind.
Brazilian-born midfielder Zinha scored one goal Sunday and set up another in Mexico's 3-1 win over Iran in the Group D opener for both teams.
And forward Guillermo Franco, a recently naturalized native of Argentina who plays for Villarreal in Spain, assisted on the first of Omar Bravo's two goals.
Both players cautioned against reading too much into one result.
"It's just one match, nothing more," said Zinha, who is also known as Antonio Naelson.
Franco agreed.
"Now we can relax a little bit," he said, speaking through a translator along with his teammate. "But we should not take it easy and be too confident."
Still, their play provided at least momentary vindication for their Argentine coach.
Lavolpe's inclusion of Franco on the roster especially angered supporters of flamboyant and abrasive striker Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who appeared in the last two World Cups but managed only a total two goals.
But on Sunday, Franco helped Mexico take a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute.
Franco took Pavel Pardo's corner kick in the box and headed it to Bravo for an easy tap-in at the far post.
Zinha replaced him to start the second half and figured in both of Mexico's goals in the final 15 minutes.
In the 76th minute, after a bad clearance from Iran goalkeeper Ebrahim Mizrapour and a muffed pass by defender Yahya Golmohammadi, Zinha gathered in the ball at the top of the area. He slotted it up the middle to Bravo, who scored for a 2-1 lead.
Then, three minutes later, Zinha's header on a feed from forward Francisco Fonseca made it 3-1.
That might quiet some of Lavolpe's critics.
But back home in Mexico City, some still wondered what the pairing of Blanco with captain Rafael Marquez might have produced.
"With Rafa Marquez's passing and Cuauhtemoc, it would have been great," fan Abelardo Barreto said.
RSS