Hello there my fellow PESheads, today we will be travelling to the land of the Mariachi taking a look at another country steeped in footballing tradition.
This time it's...........Mexico (El Tricolor)
The Mexican governing body of football was created in 1927. Tthe first tournament they participated in was the 1928 Summer Olympic games held in the Netherlands where they were consequently thrashed by the Spanish 7-1 , their only goal coming from striker Juan Carreño.
In 1930 Mexico participated in their first ever World cup finals which were held in Uruguay, the tournament was a disappointment crashing out after losing all three matches conceding 13 goals in the process.
On a sad note Juan Carreño who had the honour of scoring their first ever World cup goal, passed away at the tender age of 31 from an appendicitis.
Mexico would not appear in another World Cup until Brazil 1950 where they were once again outclassed losing all three matches against Brazil, Yugoslavia and the Swiss, the main problem was that although they were the easily the strongest nation in North America they could no compete with the European and South American Nations.
Mexico did achieve success at the 1965 CONCACAF championships held in Guatemala winning the tournament for the first time, they would later go on to win the tournament another 8 times.
The 1970 World Cup was hosted by the Mexicans and they enjoyed a relatively successful tournament, playing all their games at the Azteca Stadium in front of 100,000 + spectators, defeating Belgium and El Salvador and drawing against THE USSR they reached the quarter finals where they came up the might of the Italians. Two goals from forward Luigi Riva helped Italy to a 4-1 win. The Italians would finish the tournament as runners up to Pele's Brazil. Still this was major improvement on past showings.
In 1986 they once again hosted the finals this time due to Colombia who had originally be awarded the tournament backing out. Once again after beating the Belgians (again) the Iranians and drawing against Paraguay they passed to the second round where they faced Bulgaria, goals from Manuel Negrete and Raul Servin saw the Mexicans to a 2-0 win. That set up a quater final clash against West Germany , the Mexicans held their own for 120 minutes finishing 0-0 the game went to penalties where they lost 4-1.
In 1990 they did not take part in the finals due to being disqualified after the "Cachirules" scandal, basically they used over aged players in the qualifying rounds of the 1989 world youth championships.
After the appointment of the Argentinan Cèsar Luis Menotti in 1991 the the Mexicans started to improve and in the 1993 they finished runners up to Argentina in the Copa America. Since then they have continued to qualify for World cups and have brought us many memories, from Jorge Campos with his extravagant shirts to the fantastic Cuauhtémoc Blanco who in brought us the Blanco Bounce when he bunny hopped through two South Korean defenders while keeping ball between his feet it was an audacious piece of skill. Check out this great vid of him in action..
https://youtu.be/2XXSNO2PIRQ
PLAYER PROFILE
Luis de la Fuente was also know as "la pirata" the pirate due to his father owning various ships. He was one of the first Mexicans ever to play abroad when in 1934 he signed for Spains Racing Club de Santander, he would soon return to Mexico though after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil war.
Skillfull, technically gifted attacking midfielder he could thread passes through the eye of a needle and was also incredibly dangerous in the air. For the national team he scored 7 goals in 9 matches and is widley regarded as one of the countries greatest ever players. In 1954 and after a 21 year carrer playing in four different countries he retired and 1972 he sadly passed away from a heart attack. He is buried in Veracruz in front of the stadium which also carries his name Luis"pirata" Fuente Stadium a great homage for a great player.
Now let take a look at them ingame.
Now before I did my research on these guys if you'd have asked me to name my favorite ever Mexican players I would have probably gone for the obvious choices like Hugo Sanchez, C Blanco, J Campos. I knew little or nothing about the guys from the 30s and not really much from the 70s/80s neither so this has been a great eye opener for me. It's been a pleasure to read and learn all about the likes of De la fuente, Raúl Cárdenas and Benjamín Galindo just to name a few.
This is what Ratmundos file is all about, it's not just about playing matches it's also about awakening the gamers curiosity into finding out about the player, who was he?, what era was he from?, who did he play for? etc. This file is for the serious old school gamer like me, I've probably learnt more about international football in the last 3 weeks than I had in 20 Years. Love it!!
MEXICO
Formation 4-1-3-2
Star Player= Hugo Sanchez, quick, skillfull ,deadly in the air and famous for his bicycle kicks he was the complete striker. He played 58 times for the national squad scoring 29 goals. See some of them here...
https://youtu.be/i43DT1eNuGc
Flair Player= Luís de la Fuente , already written about him above, probably the most skillfull player in the team. Wait until you try him ingame he's incredible.
Impact Player= Carlos Manuel Hermosilla "el grandote de Cerro Azul", striker who at 6 foot 2 is probably the tallest in the team , he's great for when you need to be a bit more direct. With a heading rating of 92 and physical contact rating of 90 he is a real handful for opposition defenders. Great bench player.
Suprise Player= Benjamin Galindo "el maestro" . Attacking midfielder with a great ball control rating of 90 and dribbling of 87 , although he's not the fastest his explosive power makes him so dangerous. I've scored some beauties with him already. See a couple of them here....
https://youtu.be/THe5WbBSGEQ ,
https://youtu.be/oeQ4ZDQT5kk
Personal Favourite = Although I would have picked Galindo as my favourite he made it into the suprise catagory so I've gone instead for Cuauhtémoc Blanco, magnificent forward who's dribbling and ball control skills set him apart. So dangerous up front with Hugo Sanchez they compliment each other perfectly. A real joy to play with.
Strengths= Mobile, very quick, on their day can take on the best, have great options on the bench attacking wise if needed.
Weaknesses =Full backs love to get forward and that can leave them vulnerable to the counter attack, not the tallest so high balls can cause a problem.
Conclusion= Well that's another nation done and it's been another delight, Ratmundo has really done an excellent job capturing the feel of the team and the player builds are spot on. Ratmundo I salute you.
"Vamos Mexico"
Donatoson rating= 8.5/10
Next up........Spain
Needless to say the team were papped oot after a 7-0 gubbing & back on the plane home before the gallons of sweat on their brand new wooly strips had time to dry :laugh:
