7 News Belize

Belize's Defence & Mexico's Offensive Futility
posted (June 16, 2008)

And that leads in to the game. Belizeans across the country – and across the world were locked in to Televisa at 2:30 pm local time to see the match. Some hoped for a miracle, others prayed for anything other than a humiliation. We got a mix of both. Here’s a brief re-cap of a game dominated by Belize’s defence and Mexico’s offensive futility.

Keith Swift Reporting,
The national football selection defended the red and blue with physicality and defensive tenacity. But Mexico completely dominated possession. The midfield defence was soft, creating the opportunity for many shots on goal, but keeper Shane Orio had a world class performance.

Belize had few offensive opportunities like this one in the 7th minute. But the story was defence and at the half – it was nil – nil. And 4 minutes into the second – Belize’s Victor Morales was injured.

He limped off and Belize continued to struggled with its possessions - leaving openings like this. And it was in the 66th minute that Mexico’s Carlos Vela scored a goal following a set kick after a hand ball.

Celebration in the stands but the game continued on at a grinding defensive pace. In stoppage time Jared Borgetti scored on this penalty kick. Saving face somewhat for the Mexicans and breaking the hearts of Belizeans who had hoped for a more respectable one nil finish.

A few points, first Mexico didn’t get any scores out of its offence: the first was off a set kick, and the second was off a penalty kick in stoppage time. Mexico’s surprising offensive futility has been the subject of many articles about the game that we came across on the internet. The exact number of fans who attended was 51,105. For context we note that in other World Cup qualifiers played yesterday. The USA shelled Barbados 8 to nil, while Canada beat St. Vincent 3 to nil.

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