Mexico Athletics

That long stretch of freeway connecting Pacific Palisades to Tijuana presents diverse sights and landscapes for a driver's viewing pleasure during a long trip. But Dodger pitcher Tim Leary, who made this commute at least once a week last winter in an old pickup truck, was not in it simply for the aesthetic experience. With a pregnant wife to support, college classes for which to study and a foundering baseball career to revive, Leary merely drove.

On a shameful night years ago in Tijuana, Manuel de los Santos bet, and lost, his mask. It was the lowest moment in Santos' career as a wrestler and small-time impresario in lucha libre, the bloodier, Mexican counterpart to America's World Wrestling Federation. Sure, a savage cut from a chair battle left one thumb shorter than the other. And one night he fell from a ring and cracked his elbow when he landed on a discarded chicken bone. But to lose his mask was to lose something of himself.

It's a colossus, a concrete monstrosity rising up from a parking lot like something left behind by the Mayas or Aztecs. Inspecting Azteca Stadium up close for the first time is like the first visit to Hoover Dam--the human eye can't take it all in. Your neck gets a workout as your head swivels. Inside, from the top row, it looks as if--provided you could remove the half-closed roof and then find a crane big enough--you could lower the Rose Bowl and fit all of it inside Azteca.

Mexico's modest resurgence under Coach Javier Aguirre, which began with a 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory over the United States in Mexico City on July 1, can achieve real substance today. A victory over Colombia in Bogota in the final of the Copa America tournament would mark the return of Mexico as one of the soccer powers in the hemisphere after a yearlong run of bad results.

Brazil's Ricardo Raimundo suffered a broken rib Tuesday night during a halftime scuffle between his team and Mexico in a wild soccer semifinal at the Pan American Games. The game also ended in controversy. With Brazil leading, 1-0, with about a minute left in overtime, the match was stopped when a member of the Mexican coaching staff ran onto the field to confront the referee and tripped Brazil's Nelson Kerchner.

There is nothing subtle about the pressure on the Mexican World Cup team. As the team left Mexico City for the United States and its quest to reclaim its country's soccer pride, Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari addressed the team: "I am sure that you rely on the confidence that comes from having prepared well and, fundamentally, you count on the aid and enthusiasm of all Mexican fans."

Dave Walsh's truck rumbles past women dragging laundry through crumbling shacks, past children playing in last night's garbage. Far from Dodger Stadium, he pulls into the parking lot of a weathered stone structure where the breeze is chilly and smells faintly of sulfur. Walsh grabs his Dodger duffel bag, kicks through the gravel, walks up a ramp and spreads his arms. "This is it," he says, looking at the baseball field below. "This is home."

Visitors to Jorge Hank Rhon's office at Caliente Race Track are relieved to see that his Rottweiler dog and pet cheetah are no longer there. The Rottweiler would sit for hours, staring holes through people. And the cheetah always looked hungry. The shock factor of the office menagerie has been reduced considerably. Parrots in cages are like bookends for Hank's desk. Behind the desk, in a tank, is a collection of eels.

In the medals race that has been waged by the region's two sports superpowers, the United States and Cuba, there has been a tendency to overlook 37 other countries from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean that also sent athletes to compete in the Pan American Games.

As the United Soccerphobes of America hunker down behind their living room sofas, bracing themselves for a month-long onslaught of strange foreigners with no last names, 0-0 ties and a sport that strikes them as nothing more than 90 minutes of foreplay before the riot, an icebreaker has been sent north across the border. His name is Jorge Campos, and he shouldn't be hard to spot. He will be the one in the phosphorescent orange togs splashed with yellow, green and purple zig-zagging stripes.

Major League Soccer is increasingly worried about losing its Latino fan base, which has eroded noticeably since the league's launch in 1996. But instead of signing more top-level Central or South American players, the league is resorting to staging doubleheaders involving clubs from those regions. When the Galaxy played the Dallas Burn at Dallas on Saturday, for example, the Cotton Bowl match was followed by a game between Mexican clubs Tigres and UNAM Pumas.

A cornered rat, it turns out, can deliver a nasty bite. Just ask the U.S., which was defeated, 1-0, by Mexico on Sunday in a World Cup qualifying game played in front of a loud, supportive and near-capacity crowd of 100,000 at Azteca Stadium. Game day arrived with the Mexicans fearing the worst. The front page of the sports section in the El Universal newspaper here Sunday morning featured a full-color drawing that took up almost half the page. It depicted a showdown of sorts.

Rinus Michels was always known as a no-nonsense coach, one who expected--indeed, demanded--nothing but perfection from his players. It was this quality that allowed the Dutchman to keep control of such personalities as Johan Cruyff and Ruud Gullitt, and why he was able to lead the Netherlands to the runner-up spot in the 1974 World Cup and to victory in the 1988 European Championship.

Carlos Pavon scored three goals Wednesday night to help Honduras demolish the once-powerful Mexican soccer team, 3-1, in a World Cup qualifier at San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Mexico Coach Enrique Meza quit immediately after the game, the sixth consecutive loss for a team that had been No. 4 in FIFA's world rankings only three years ago.

Costa Rica defeated Mexico, 2-1, Saturday to move into second place in regional World Cup qualifying play, ending Mexico's 20-year undefeated streak at its home stadium in international play and handing the team its first home loss in a Cup qualifier. Mexico forward Manuel Abundis headed in a corner kick from teammate Victor Ruiz past Costa Rica goalkeeper Erick Lonnis in the sixth minute at Azteca Stadium for an early lead.

Josh Wolff has scored important goals in his brief career--in Major League Soccer, at the Sydney Olympics and even for the U.S. national team. But on a bitterly cold Wednesday night in front of a sellout crowd of 24,624 at Crew Stadium, the 24-year-old Chicago Fire forward outdid himself. Wolff scored the first goal and assisted on the second by Earnie Stewart as the U.S.

It's the home opener of Mexico's world series. A no-name tenor is belting out the Mexican national anthem through a scratchy loudspeaker. A phone company executive is preparing to throw out the first ball. An army of bookies is working the stands, bleating out the odds on the first pitch. And the Mexico City Red Devils--a team whose average salary is $12,000 a year--are about to take the field for the Mexican League championship.

It certainly wasn't the most romantic proposal, but Brian Appell simply had to ask. "Olga, dear," Appell, an exercise physiology buff, said to his wife early one morning. "May I take your pulse?" One minute--and 38 heartbeats later--Brian Appell had his answer: His wife was born to run. Never mind that she had no athletic background. Her slow heart rate, Brian figured, signaled potential success. That was five years ago.

Wednesday night's World Cup qualifying game was the 20th time the United States and Mexico have played in qualifying, with Mexico holding a 13-3-4 advantage. The results: *--* Date Site Result May 24, 1934 Rome USA 4, Mexico 2 Sept. 4, 1949 Mexico City Mexico 6, USA 0 Sept. 18, 1949 Mexico City Mexico 6, USA 2 Jan. 10, 1954 Mexico City Mexico 4, USA 0 Jan. 14, 1954 Mexico City Mexico 3, USA 1 April 7, 1957 Mexico City Mexico 6, USA 0 April 28, 1957 Long Beach Mexico 7, USA 2 Nov.

There is no truth to the rumor that Jorge Campos will run onto the field at Crew Stadium tonight dressed in a bright orange electric blanket and trailing a long cord. "Maybe it will be better tomorrow," Mexico's shivering goalkeeper said after practice Tuesday morning. Not much chance of that. It's going to be colder tonight, and temperatures dipping below freezing are a distinct possibility. Just to make things even more uncomfortable for Campos and company, snow flurries are predicted.