Loss to Honduras exposes Mexico's weaknesses

	Mexico's Ramón Morales (bottom) fights for the ball against Honduras' Julio César de León during El Tri's 2-1 loss. Nick Laham/Getty Images
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Mexico's 2010 World Cup campaign is in trouble.

After two CONCACAF Gold Cup games, Mexico has shown little to back up coach Hugo Sánchez's goal of winning a World Cup. In fact, games against Cuba and Honduras have shown that Mexico's days of handling regional rivals with ease are long gone.

On Sunday, a 10-man Mexico squad lost to Honduras 2-1 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The loss was significant for several reasons. It was the first time in Gold Cup history that Mexico lost a group match to a CONCACAF rival. In 2005, Mexico lost to South Africa by the same score in their first tournament match, but never before had a regional rival toppled Mexico this early.

Perhaps more troubling, though, was the way Mexico lost. Even when both sides were at 11 apiece, Honduras' athleticism and aggressiveness gave the Mexicans problems. Carlos Pavón was a load to handle as was Carlos Costly, who scored both goals. In the back, Samuel Caballero was a beast and seemingly got to every ball that went his way.

Mexico, however, is supposed to be the side that dictates the pace and rhythm of matches. Polished on European pitches, Tri defenders are supposed to be the ones clearing balls out of the penalty area. Instead, the Mexican defense was sieve-like in its ability to thwart the Hondurans.

Honduras played with the motivation, desire and winning mentality that Sánchez promised Mexico would show with him at the helm. Honduras went after the three points while Mexico tried for a result.

Worse, Mexico fielded a strong lineup -- perhaps its strongest -- to face Honduras. El Tri had its biggest guns on the field to start the game: Clausura 2007 leading scorer Omar Bravo, Tri hero Cuauhtémoc Blanco and rising star Andrés Guardado all led the attack while Stuttgart duo Ricardo Osorio and Pavel Pardo as well as PSV defender Carlos Salcido added veteran experience to the side. The latter trio finished as champions with their respective European clubs.

Missing was defender Rafael Márquez, who was on the bench for Barcelona's 2-2 draw against Espanyol on Saturday. Though Mexico is better with Marquez in the lineup than without, surely the defense could have performed better with their Spanish ace manning the backline.

With Salcido, Osorio and Chivas duo Jonny Magallón and Ramón Morales on the back and the experienced Gerardo Torrado in the defensive midfield, Mexico seemed primed for a strong defensive effort on Sunday. Even with Blanco on the field, Mexico struggled. Blanco, who scored Mexico's only goal on a first-half penalty kick, was sent off four minutes into the second half when he took offense to Caballero's taunt -- a mock kiss to Blanco's ear -- and elbowed the Honduran defender in the stomach.

Honduras exposed what has been Mexico's biggest weakness under Sánchez. In eight games under El Pentapichichi, Mexico has exactly one shutout -- a 4-0 drubbing over an undermanned Iranian squad on June 2. Since Sánchez's first game against the United States on Feb. 7, Mexico has been scored on 10 times.

World Cup veterans such as Americans Landon Donovan and Jimmy Conrad, Ecuadorian Edison Méndez and Paraguayan Roque Santa Cruz have taken turns beating either Oswaldo Sánchez or Guillermo "Memo" Ochoa. Additionally, relative unknowns have also scored against Mexico such as Venezuela's Daniel Arismendi, Cuba's Reyner Alcantara and Honduras' Costly, whose goals Sunday were both skillful displays of talent on his part.

The worst goal of all that Mexico has given up under Sánchez, though, was Oscar Cardozo's strike against El Tri on June 5 in Estadio Azteca, a goal that sunk Mexico to defeat at Azteca for just the second time since 1981.

That loss could have been written off as a fluke, perhaps even a reminder that Mexico need not merely show up to get a result but rather put effort and play with guile and picardia in order to win games and strike fear in rivals. But this Mexican team has so far sleepwalked through both matches, still waiting for an alarm clock to go off and wake the supposed sleeping giant.

Instead, that loss is a fairly accurate reflection of the state of El Tricolor, and not coincidentally mirrors Mexico's other failed Azteca effort of the past 25 years. In 2001, Mexico lost a World Cup qualifier to Costa Rica in Azteca. The squad was led by Enrique Meza, who is considered by many Mexican pundits as El Tri's worst coach of the last decade. Meza's Mexican teams were trademarked by a lack of intensity and did not play with any sense of urgency.

Four days after losing to Costa Rica, Mexico lost to Honduras 3-1 in San Pedro Sula in what was Meza's last game in charge.

Soon after, Javier "Vasco" Aguirre arrived from Pachuca to save El Tri from sinking into the CONCACAF abyss. In his first game in charge, Mexico beat the U.S. 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier. His second match was a 1-0 win over Brazil in Copa America, and El Tri went on to reach the tournament final against Colombia and qualify for the 2002 World Cup.

This time around, though, there is no knight in shining armor waiting for Mexico.

Sánchez is it. This is the man who promised so much and has yet to deliver much of anything. This is Mexico's supposedly strongest team led by a man who is supposed to be unequivocally the best Mexican coach at the moment.

And this is rather worrisome.