Seeing Mexico go down so hard today took a little bit of the sting away from the U.S.' loss to Ghana. Mexico is our biggest rival so you never want to see them do any better than we do.
Mexico was in a decent group (A) and they were the runner-up which is admirable. They also recovered from a poor performance in the first match vs. South Africa (a 1-1 draw) and hung with Argentina for almost a full half. To quote former Cardinals and Vikings coach Dennis Green, Mexico is "who we thought they were." They have a couple young studs up front (Hernandez and Dos Santos) but other than that the cupboard is rather bare.
Mexico
Best moment: The flourish they started with against Argentina was impressive but it turned out to be nothing but a fluke. They didn't finish any of the great opportunities and predictably Argentina steamrolled them.
Worst moment: Completely losing their cool after Tevez's goal led to another goal by Argentina later in the first half. Going down 2-0 to this Argentina squad is fatal as the Mexicans found out.
Best result: Beating France 2-0 doesn't look quite so awesome now that we know what frauds France were but with that said, it was exactly what Mexico needed to get out of their group.
Worst result: Getting beaten so handily by Argentina. Mexico had to expect a better performance in their biggest game.
Final tally: 1 win, 1 tie, 2 losses. 4 goals scored, 5 goals allowed.
Best player: Javier Hernandez is going to Manchester United for a reason. He is one of the best young strikers in soccer. He had two goals in the 2010 World Cup, including Mexico's only tally today vs. Argentina.
Worst player: This has nothing to do with ability since he's electric with the ball on his foot but Givoani Dos Santos disappered after the first two matches. Too often today and vs. Uruguay, he'd try to take guys on but he'd lose the ball immediately. As he matures (he's only 21), he has the chance to form with Hernandez one of the best striker combinations in the world.
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