Mexico fear that a first goal at this World Cup from Argentina’s Lionel Messi in the second round today could dash their hopes of revenge for their defeat by the same opponents at the same stage four years ago.
Argentina, who won the 2006 meeting 2-1 after extra time, and Mexico meet at Soccer City outside Johannesburg looking for a place in the quarter-finals against England or Germany.
Barcelona club mates Messi and Rafael Marquez, who scored Mexico’s early opener in that match in Leipzig, come face to face again after the Argentine came on as a substitute near the end of normal time on his 19th birthday.
PHOTO: AFP
“We know it’s difficult to get the ball off him, he’s so quick and can change direction or pace at any time,” Marquez said on Friday. “[Argentina] have the best player in the world.”
Messi has never been on the losing side in three meetings with Mexico and scored a superb goal in the 3-0 victory at the 2007 Copa America and another in a 4-1 win in a friendly in San Diego, California, two years ago.
Yet to get off the mark in South Africa although he has created a string of chances and hit the woodwork twice, Messi’s sole World Cup goal to date was in the 6-0 rout of Serbia and Montenegro in 2006.
Coach Diego Maradona, when comparing his impact in 1986 to Messi’s now, reeled off a list of Argentine scorers at the Mexico finals and said “I came to the team’s aid when they needed me,” suggesting Messi will do the same.
Argentina’s attack have been scintillating and with Mexico also expected to retain a three-man attack, it should be as good an encounter as that four years ago when Hernan Crespo equalized and Maxi Rodriguez volleyed an extra-time winner voted goal of the tournament.
“Defensively, [Argentina] are not the best, they have a great attack, but their weakness is on the flanks. We must plan the game properly to play our best,” Marquez told reporters.
Jonas Gutierrez, likely to return on the right of Argentina’s defense after serving a suspension, said he was comfortable whether he had Juan Sebastian Veron or Rodriguez playing in front of him.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier