JOHANNESBURG // Javier Aguirre's young, diminutive and attack-minded team is redefining the term "Mexican wave". Before their first group game against South Africa earlier this month, Carlos Alberto Parreira, Bafana Bafana's World Cup-winning Brazilian coach, labelled Mexico's tactical 4-1-2-3 set-up as "unique" and said it made them "one of the most dangerous sides" at the tournament.
In front of a far from impartial crowd at the sold-out Soccer City, El Tri played in the World Cup curtain-raiser as they had in previous friendlies against England and Italy: wave upon wave of fast, free-flowing attacks, born from the back and culminating in creative interplay between their forwards. Ineffective finishing and a monumentally motivated South Africa saw Mexico manage only a solitary goal, but there was no denying that, despite the sea of yellow shirts in the stands, the Mexicans' formation and football philosophy had refused to change; they could have just as easily been playing at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Against Argentina tonight, for the first time in the tournament, they meet an equally attack-minded team built around creativity. Mexico are chasing revenge; Argentina knocked them out in the second round of the 2006 tournament. "I have a thorn in my side from four years ago and hopefully [today] we can take it out," said Rafa Marquez, the captain who scored his side's only goal in the 2-1 defeat. "We are better than that Mexico team. Argentina have the best player in the world, Leo Messi, and that makes them more complete.
"But we will try to change all that. Defensively, they are not the best. They have a great attack, but their weakness is on the flanks." Marquez is not the only critic to spot vulnerabilities in Argentina's defence. But while Diego Maradona, the Argentina coach, confirmed his side will be without Walter Samuel, the injured Inter Milan centre-half, he remains confident his side can book a place in the quarter-finals. "They have not been as impressive as ourselves as we had a tougher group to negotiate," Maradona said. "But it's a matter of respect; we're going to respect Mexico and they should respect us." If 2006 is repeated, Mexico's exciting young team will be waving again; waving goodbye to South Africa. @Email:gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
Key battle Lionel Messi v Rafa Marquez: Teammates at Barcelona, Marquez, the Mexico captain, will have some inside knowledge on how to stop Messi. Tactics While Argentina's attacking talents are immense, defence is their weakness and Mexico have a host of pacy forwards who can exploit that. Previous meetings The most significant was Mexico's 2-1 extra-time defeat at the same stage of the 2006 World Cup.
