Javier Aguirre<\/span> He spoke at a press conference at Azteca Stadium on Wednesday.<\/p>\n“I didn’t know about that,” he said of the winless streak, “but I’ll tell the guys about it. It’s a good reason to tell them we need to go out there and win games. Let’s hope we can break that streak tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
Thursday’s match will be a rematch of the opening match of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The match ended in a 1-1 draw with Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
Aguirre, who is in his third stint as Mexico’s coach, has led his team to play their best soccer in years, going undefeated in seven games. El Tri’s last loss was against Paraguay in November.<\/p>\n
“This could be a great day for us. Whatever happens, it will be a celebration that will last for decades,” said Aguirre, who played for his country in the 1986 World Cup, when Mexico missed the opening match but reached the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully we can start on the right foot like we did back then,\u201d he added. “The players know that too. Tomorrow could be a historic day for many of them because it is unlikely that they will experience another World Cup at home.”<\/p>\n
Mexico lost the opening game in 1930, 1950, 1954, 1958 and 1962, and tied in 1970 (at home) and 2010.<\/p>\n
Some of these tournaments started at the same time on opening day, such as the 1930 Uruguay tournament, where France defeated Mexico 4-1 and the United States defeated Belgium 3-0.<\/p>\n
In the 1986 World Cup, defending champions Italy played their tournament opener against Bulgaria in Mexico City, drawing 1-1. The Mexican team played their first group stage match two days later, defeating Belgium 2-1.<\/p>\n
old rival<\/h2>\n
On this day, Aguirre faced Hugo Bruce, a former Belgium national team player who is currently the South African coach.<\/p>\n
“I vividly remember walking on the field with confidence against Belgium. I was confident that the game would not be bad. We understood the challenge that Belgium posed, and the South African coach who played in that game learned from the experience,” Aguirre added.<\/p>\n
Bruce, who was appointed in May 2021, led South Africa to their first FIFA World Cup appearance in 16 years and a third-place finish at the 2023 African Cup of Nations.<\/p>\n
“It’s certainly a big challenge to play in front of 87,000 Mexicans, but I will tell the players to concentrate on the game. The Mexicans (supporters) in the stadium will not play, they will only shout, sing and dance,” said Brus. “We have to concentrate on the game and if we can do that without getting bothered by the noise from the Mexicans, we will have a good game tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
After losing to Mexico in 1986, the Blues and Belgium bounced back to reach the semi-finals. Mexico lost to Germany in a penalty shootout in the round of 16.<\/p>\n
“We don’t have the pressure of hosting,” Bruce said. “We are preparing very well for tomorrow’s game.”<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP World Cup coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEXICO CITY (AP) \u2014 Mexico When you play on the first day of , you usually hit a wall. world cup. Out of the past seven meetings, El Tri has lost five and drawn two. Mexico will get another chance on Thursday when they host South Africa in their opening game. Tournament game with 48<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-35976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"\n
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