Preview (2nd Stage): Argentina vs Mexico

Argentina is far better than anyone expected or gauged prior to the tournament. They have been scoring at will and their young lineup which includes Lionel Messi is showing enormous aggresiveness in attack, and a rampage during the group stage. With a draw and two wins which includes a 6 goal output in one of them, people deep inside are expecting a string of shots and goals scored in the tournament.

A tricky opponent is when your against a birthday celebrant — Juan Riquelme.

It would be overstatement to say that Juan’s birthday is going to factor but instead I’d say celebrants are usually more upbeat, happy and excited than on normal days and celebrating it on the field might add to a little luck going his way.

Anyways, it seem Riquelme is positive on their chances against Mexico: In an interview with Yahoo he says focus is the key to winning.

Your next game is against Mexico in the second round. What do you know about them?
They’re a hard side to play against. They usually perform very well and they play attractive, open football. They made life hard for us last year in the Confederations Cup and we need to be very focused against them. We have to make sure we don’t make any errors because if we do, we’ll be on the plane home. We’re confident we can get it right though.

Fonseca is calling the Almighty once again to help them get past Argentina. I am a religious person and when someone like Fonseca puts his trust up there; you better watch out. He has this to say:

How did you feel about being named Budweiser Man of the Match against Portugal?
I was absolutely delighted to tell the truth. I’m very grateful to God, my family, my brother who’s up in heaven, the fans and my team-mates because without them I wouldn’t have done it. It would have been even better if we’d won but, even so, it’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. It’s just a dream to play in the World Cup, score a goal and be named Man of the Match.

Your next opponents are Argentina. How do you feel about facing them?
Argentina will be tough, but we’ve never had an easy opponent in the second round. We’ve played against them a few times and have done really well against them recently. We’ve got every confidence things will go well on Saturday.

This is going to be an exciting match where both teams have a real good chance to win. Who will smile at the end of the game will primarily depend on who has the focus in 90 minutes. A single mistake is all it takes to get booted out.

Below is the lineup for each teams:

Argentina: 1. ABBONDANZIERI Roberto, 2. AYALA Roberto , 3. SORIN Juan (C), 5. CAMBIASSO Esteban , 6. HEINZE Gabriel , 7. SAVIOLA Javier , 8. MASCHERANO Javier , 9. CRESPO Hernan , 10. RIQUELME Juan , 13. SCALONI Lionel , 18. RODRIGUEZ Maxi

Mexico: 1. SANCHEZ Oswaldo, 3. SALCIDO Carlos, (C)4. MARQUEZ Rafael, 5. OSORIO Ricardo, 8. PARDO Pavel, 9. BORGETTI Jared, 11. MORALES Ramon, 15. CASTRO Jose Antonio, 16. MENDEZ Mario, 17. FONSECA Jose, 18. GUARDADO Andres

Forecast: Argentina 2 – Mexico 3

[tags]FIFA World Cup, World Cup, FIFA World Cup 2006, Argentina, Mexico, Knockout[/tags]