Modest Mexico move closer to target (News Feature)

By Barry Whelan Jun 18, 2010, 11:00 GMT

Polokwane, South Africa - Mexico are eyeing a place in the last 16 of a World Cup for the fifth time in a row after the 2-0 victory over France but coach Javier Aguirre is taking nothing for granted.

'We still have another 90 minutes to play to obtain our goals,' he said, looking ahead to the team's final Group A match, against Uruguay, on Tuesday in Rustenburg.

A draw will be enough to progress and even a defeat would be possible depending on the result of the other match between hosts South Africa and France in Bloemfontein.

Former Atletico Madrid coach Aguirre, known as El Vasco (The Basque), has steered the team out of a difficult period in his second spell in charge to give home fans real hope El Tri could be one of the surprises of the tournament.

It did not always look that way during qualification in the CONCACAF zone when the team only just made it into the fourth and final round on goal difference.

A bad start in the final round then cost Sven Goran Eriksson his job and the federation turned again to 51-year-old Aguirre who had taken over in similar circumstances ahead of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

Aguirre, a former midfield international who played for Mexico at the 1986 World Cup, has a mixture of experience with the likes of Rafael Marquez, Gerardo Torrado or 37-year-old Cuauhtemoc Blanco, and eager youngsters such as Carlos Vela, Giovani dos Santos or Manchester United-bound Javier Hernandez.

The latter came off the bench to score the first against France and Blanco, who also came on during the second half, converted a penalty for the second.

Against Uruguay, Aguirre will have to make some changes as defender Efrain Juarez will be suspended after a second booking and Arsenal forward Vela is expected to be sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Mexico's best-ever performances in the finals came as tournament hosts in 1970 and 1986, when they reached the last eight on both occasions, but Aguirre is not thinking of emulating that just yet.

And although the Mexicans will need just a point to go through, the coach is also unlikely to change his attacking approach.

He prefers a three-man attack which was modified somewhat against France to leave Franco further up, with Vela and dos Santos working back to help nullify the French threat from midfield.

'We play using this system and we all know each other,' he said.

'We try to be audacious and get forward. We do run risks but we have to play with the best players available,' he said.

Aguirre was pleased that his players kept their shape and composure even when the French were pressing early in the game, and with how the team was able to improve as the game went on, especially after Hernandez opened the scoring.

'We really needed to play well together after the bad second half against South Africa,' he said, looking back at the 1-1 draw with the hosts in the World Cup opening game.

'We needed to do well against the runners up at the last World Cup. We knew we would have to play really well.'

Aguirre meanwhile insisted his players would be keeping their feet on the ground and would be reacting no differently than they did following the draw with South Africa when the team sat down to watch videos of the game and analyse their performance.

'This was the match today but tomorrow is a different story. We are very modest in victory and in defeat,' he said.