Mexicans Wake Up From WCup Nightmare

[Folami David]

With a resounding victory against New Zealand, Mexico woke up from a nightmarish World Cup qualifying campaign, giving fans a reason to cheer again and likely saving sponsors millions.
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The Mexicans are traditional favourites to breeze through qualifiers in their CONCACAF regional group, but El Tri gave their football-mad nation a fright by winning just two of 10 games in the six-nation final round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
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They finished an embarrassing fourth, only earning a spot in the intercontinental play-off against New Zealand after the United States, their bitter rivals, saved them by defeating Panama with two last-gasp goals in the final match.
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Their poor form angered fans, with a poll last week showing 55 percent of Mexicans did not think they should compete in Brazil next year.
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Even legendary striker Hugo Sanchez said his younger peers didn't deserved to go to the World Cup.
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Experts, meanwhile, warned that broadcasters and sponsors would lose hundreds of millions of dollars if El Tri missed the World Cup for the first time in a quarter century.
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But Mexico looked like a different team against the All Whites, trouncing the New Zealanders 5-1 in front of a packed 105 000-capacity Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on Wednesday.
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With such a big goal difference, it will require a major feat from New Zealand, ranked 79th in the world by Fifa, to turn things around in the second leg of their play-off in Wellington on November 20.
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While newspapers ran ebullient headlines – "World Cup in Sight" celebrated the sports daily Record – some observers lamented that Mexico risk forgetting that they have been a shadow of the teams that played in 14 of the last 19 World Cups.

[femifemzy3]

Now they can focus on winning the last game because it would be a very vital one for their dreams of making Brazil 2014