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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2005 
La Volpe Delight in Mexico Shock
 Eric Kirschbaum - Reuters
| | La Volpe is enjoying his third win over the world champions as Mexico coach. |
Ricardo La Volpe was utterly delighted that his Mexico team beat world champions Brazil 1-0 in the Confederations Cup on Sunday - adding that being Argentinian had nothing to do with his elation.
Asked if his nationality made the victory that secured a semi-final place more special, La Volpe played down the connection. "Well, I've been the coach of the Mexican team for three years and it is very satisfying to see we are growing and able to beat the very big teams."
"We're getting better yet we play with the same style. We play the same way whether its against a small or big country. It's the same for our players if we are playing against the Dominican Republic or Brazil."
The victory also means Mexico have gone 19 matches without defeat since losing 4-0 to Brazil in the Copa America almost a year ago. La Volpe was pleased about that too. "We've achieved this record because we've adapted our style of play according to the opposition in every situation."
La Volpe was actually enjoying his third win over the world champions as Mexico coach because his team beat Brazil twice in the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup, their passport to this tournament. The secret to beating Brazil, he explained, was to match them physically and work very hard to cut off their supply lines.
"Against a team that has good players like Kaka and Ronaldinho the important thing is not to give them too much space. Since we have a 5-3-2 system we will have players on the left and right sides. We had to leave them as little space as possible. We had a great build-up in the centre and we had to resort to very short passes. The physical effort of our players was immense. It worked out in the long run."
Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who based on some Brazilian records was in charge of his 100th international, but according to others was handling the national team for the 97th time, was full of praise for the way Mexico played.
"They made it a very difficult match for us. They are in except physical condition and they have very good coordination on the ball as well. Very good ball skills. At the same time we had several opportunities that could have been converted and changed the game but we simply didn't convert them. We couldn't go through the middle and in the second half we tried, but certainly but didn't succeed."
"This is not a disaster. We played against a team that defended very well. They have not lost for a year since we beat them and some of their players are going to their third World Cup next year. This is an experienced team."
Mexico are top of their CONCACAF World Cup qualifying group and in pole position to reach the 2006 finals in Germany. Mexico goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez, named man of the match by FIFA, added: "I'm very happy because we beat a great rival and that shows Mexican soccer is on its way up."
Asked about all the renowned Brazilians playing in Europe while few Mexicans ply their trade abroad, Sanchez added: "It proved that the Mexican players have the same ability to be playing in Europe like the Brazilians. It was such a Latin atmosphere in the stadium. It just shows that the Mexicans are people who make the effort to travel to come and cheer us. The ambience was delightful." |
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