Mexico-China match in Seattle is a huge success
SOCCER DAILY
With a big crowd and exceptional TV ratings, it bodes well for MLS team there next year . . . with the right players.
There were three lessons to be learned from Mexico's 1-0 victory over China in a friendly international played in Seattle on Wednesday night -- and one was not the fact that Cesar Villaluz actually does know how to put the ball in the net.
First, Joe Roth, the majority owner of Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders FC, clearly needs to look to Mexico when he begins building his team for its 2009 launch. Wednesday night's crowd was a stunning 56,416 -- the fourth-largest in Seattle soccer history -- and most of the fans wore green and white.
If Roth signs a Mexican player or two of note, many of those same fans will return.
Second, Jesus "Chucho" Ramirez looks the part of a national team coach. The dark suit, white shirt and tie he wore were in stark contrast to predecessor Hugo Sanchez, who favored blue jeans and golf shirts.
Clothes do not make the coach, but Ramirez, currently El Tri's interim coach, already has proven his worth on the sideline by winning the FIFA Under-17 World Cup with Mexico in 2005. "Welcome Home Champion Del Mundo Chucho Ramirez" read one Spanglish sign hanging from the stadium's upper deck.
Third, if that's the best lineup China's coach, former Yugoslavia international Vladimir Petrovic, can put on the field, don't look for China to be anywhere near the Olympic medal stand in Beijing come August, or to have any hope of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The Chinese players spent the majority of the game packed into their own half of the field, trying to hold Mexico at bay. Even when they had possession of the ball they were too timid to do much with it. While the Chinese teamwork was good, individual flair and inventiveness were notably absent.
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In the second minute of the match, Villaluz squandered a glorious scoring opportunity, getting past Chinese goalkeeper Song Zhenyu, only to have his goal-bound shot kicked away by an alert defender.
It was reminiscent of Olympic qualifying in Carson earlier this year, when Villaluz and others missed chance after chance against Haiti and ultimately failed to qualify for Beijing, costing Sanchez his job.
It also offered Telemundo's veteran play-by-play announcer, Andres Cantor, the chance to ask, tongue-in-cheek: "Are we at the Home Depot Center or Seattle?"
Villaluz made up for it with a well-taken goal in the 14th minute.
