Mexico continued to prove why they deserve to be rated
as high as they are by clinically dismantling an under-manned
and under-talented Hungarian squad 2-0 at Chase Field
in Phoenix, Arizona on Wednesday night in front of 32,466
largely pro-Mexico fans. The Hungarians actually came
out eager to attack in the opening minutes of the game
and looked to be a formidable opponent for the Mexicans
until Hungarian Rosa Denes was given a red card in the
10th minute for a needless and reckless challenge at
midfield. After that, the Hungarians bunkered down deep
in their own third and allowed the Mexicans to knock
the ball around with ease for what seemed like minutes
at a time.
If Mexico were looking forward to a game where they
could get everybody involved and get everyone plenty
of touches, Wednesday night was it. In fact, most of
the Mexican players probably don’t even want to
see a soccer ball for a while, after holding it, without
too much effort, for the majority of the match.
An unmarked Francisco Fonseca opened the scoring in
the 32nd minute when he powered home a free header off
a corner kick and defender Joel Huiqui snuck behind
the Hungarian defense to poke home the second goal of
the match in the 51st minute to put the game out of
reach and send the Hungarians off to a weekend match
in Miami without much to look back on.
Despite the disappointing result, Hungarian coach Lothar
Matthaus was relatively upbeat after the match, but
also realistic about his team’s performance. “It
was a one-way game, but we started very well, we had
two or three chances before the red card. I am happy
with our team,” he said. “When you have
a team without experience, no big leader, no players
that have played many games with the national team,
you have to focus on the defense because Mexico plays
very well.”
- Mark Lincir, Senior Editor, 90:00
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