Mexico will either end a year of unimaginable
chaos with a huge sigh of relief or with utter heartbreak for El Tri’s fans and
the biggest crisis yet for the Mexican Football Federation. The outcome will be
decided in a two-legged playoff for World Cup qualification against New
Zealand, the first leg of which takes place at the Estadio Azteca on Wednesday.
Meanwhile the All Whites reached World Cup 2010 finals after beating Bharain in
the play-offs. But this time they face quite strong opponent so , their
progress is highly questioned.
Mexico will seek
to put their nightmarish FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign behind them
as the Mexicans are usually overwhelming favourites against smaller football
nations like the All Whites at their imposing, 105,000-capacity Azteca Stadium
in Mexico City.
Javier
Hernandez suspended for 1st Leg against New Zealand, Mexico might find it hard in
front of the goal. The new coach Miguel Herrera will make some defensive
improvement after tremendous defensive lapses against 2-1 defeat to Costa
Rica. All Whites will be without skipper Winston
Reid [West Ham] who injured his ankle on West Ham training season.
Mexican coach said Mexico would seek
to exploit New Zealand's loss of its captain, defender Winston Reid,
who was ruled out of the play-off with an ankle injury suffered playing for his
English Premier League club West Ham. But New Zealand striker Rory Fallon said the All Whites' familiarity with the
intercontinental play-off system could be to their advantage.
This time,
the All Whites face a much stronger side that played in 14 of the last 19 World
Cups. New Zealand have
appeared in only two World Cups: Spain in 1982 and South Africa in 2010.
It’s expected to have a great fight. Watch
it live don’t miss the drama of last stage of qualifying round for road to Brazil
2014.
