@lmur,
lmur wrote:
Question for Fbaezer - how has your national media treated the Round of 16 defeat, particularly given that the first goal should not have been allowed to stand?
Only yesterday I wrote in my column that Italians have made more of a fuss about the (Italian) referees' mistake than Mexicans. Italians talk about the FIFA Mafia claiming
omertà (mafia silence) to the referees.
Part of the mild reaction is, perhaps, because we don't claim that we invented the game, even if the Mayans and Aztecs...
In Mexico, of course, everyone pointed out the mistake, but -since the referee was a foreigner and we really prefer destroying ourselves- a lot of blame was put on the players, for losing concentration after the bad call, and the coach, for sending the wrong players into the field.
The mood here was gloomy even before the match, only 58% thought we'd win. The loss against Uruguay hurt a lot, because we usually defeat them and the coach made some obviously wrong decisions (sending old Cuauhtemoc Blanco as a starter and captain, as a homage to his long career, and ineffective veteran Guille Franco instead of young ace Chicharito Hernandez).
Guille Franco can be thankful of the errors by the Italian referees, the huge mistake by defender Osorio and Aguirre's delusion that Bautista -the "surprise" player against Argentina- could compete at WC level. Franco had been selected, even before the match, as The Scapegoat.
