Mexico Remembers; Europe Shall be Reminded

[The RingMaster]

Introduction

You may remember the story; although it seems no-one ever remembers the prelude. Aleksander (Zander) Zitero’s football career did not start until he was plucked from the doldrums at the comparatively veteran age for a rookie - 21. It did not end until he was cruelly dragged back down.

Growing up in Mexico can be tough. It seems like a bustling epicentre of life, a micro chasm of busy central American life, perfect for experiencing a different culture and way of life - while retaining the soul of a city break. Yes, we’ve all read the brochure. However, if you dare to stray to the outskirts of whatever grossly overpopulated city you happen to be residing in you find a scene, which, if put in the brochure, would not fill many trans-Atlantic jets. It is in this scene that we find the teenage Zander Zitero - waiting for his father to return to their two room - for want of a better word - hut, identical to the scores of others in this tiny area of land - Mexico City Suburbia. When his father returns he will have a carrier bag of fruit, bread, and other necessities - this was to last a month. As we see the Zitero family - Mother, Father, Son - was not blessed with much; they were blessed however, with the extraordinary talents of the son.

Fast forward weeks, days, months, years of the same routine, with the Zitero family literally struggling to survive, yet always keeping the hope in their hearts that their Son may (for himself, his parents were completely selfless) make the grade at a level higher than the local team he has been shining in, an make a great fortune, and live the life they are torn apart they could never provide for him. Time, however, was running out Zander Zitero was 21.

Finally a scout spotted the talent which had managed to somehow elude the perception of so many others. “Good things take time; Great things happen immediatelyâ€. Within two weeks Zander Zitero was plying his trade in Acapulco for Club de Fútbol Acapulco in the in the Mexican First division (2nd tier down) and what an impact the young man was having (now he had been discovered 21 was no longer a hindrance) Zander Zitero stood out from day 1 in what was a distinctly average Acapulco side, with goals and assists from his position in ‘the Hole’. All of a sudden some of the big name clubs in Mexico were wondering just how this young man evaded their nationwide scouts, and were looking to bring this young man to their club to fill the sacred No.10 jersey, great things were on the horizon for Zander Zitero, yet his heart still ached for the one thing that was not there with him.

Zander Zitero’s parents were immensely proud people, and when their son finally got his break the decided they would continue to live in the way they were accustomed to. Zander knew where to find them if he needed them, but they were adamant that there is no way on God’s earth that they would gain in anything from their son’s success - parents living off their son’s - Unthinkable

Almost as unthinkable as the situation Zander now found himself in: He was in front of a bank of photographers in the 104,000 capacity Azteca stadium holding aloft his America (Mex) shirt with the number 10 printed on the back, with Zitero just above it. He was the golden boy of Mexican football, at 22 success had come quickly, but he was a prodigious talent and more was to come. The transfer fee paid to Acapulco was the equivalent of £2,000,000 and his weekly wage was the equivalent of £20,000 per week. His parents would have to better their lifestyles now, he would insist on it.

When he reached his parents hut there was the usual damp, the usual squalor. However, there was a dreariness, a depression in the air that was unspoken and invisible. After growing up in such a dangerous, horrendous environment you learn to read invisible signs, and upon first entering the hut and looking in his father’s eyes Zander was literally winded as he read the signs - his mother was dead. After the most emotional and private of discourses, of which I have not the life experience to speculate what was said, Zander emerged from the hut with knowledge that could either destroy him or make him stronger: His mother was killed in the crossfire as two rival gangs attacked each other - the army was drafted in, several innocent bystanders were injured or killed from one of the 3 streams of gunfire, his mother was one of those killed. Zander would now either blame himself for not insisting his parents move out of this place; or he could understand that it was simply a mindless tragedy which could not be avoided. With the help of his father he managed the latter.

Zander and his father made a pact. Zander would not give his father monetary help, but he would use his star status to get him a job in the city, in a safer environment, and he could still make his own way. He and his father went their separate ways, and after this pre-season trauma for the 22 year old the whole of Mexico waited to see how Zander would react.

The next three years answered that question: 42 Assists; 37 Goals. 32 Caps; 12 Goals; 1 Copa America; 1 Gold Cup; World Cup 4th Place. Any doubt was long forgotten, the 25 year old was hot property. “Brazil had Pelé; Argentina had Maradona; We have Zitero†they said on the streets.

Unsurprisingly the Mexican lend-in-the-making was of to Europe. Italian giants Lazio paid the equivalent of £13,000,000 on a 3 year contract for the playmaker who was making tongues wag all over the World. However, the magic didn’t quite shine through in Italy, defences were tight and they knew his strengths, his reputation had proceeded him, the big teams got their best destroying midfielders to stick with him for 90 minutes, and the less talented teams kicked him off the park, added to this (or perhaps because of this) he suffered lots of niggling injuries and suspensions due to his increasing frustration at the rough treatment meant he was labelled ‘Temperamental’, ‘a flop’, ‘enigmatic’, and most hurtful to him ‘not good enough’.

After 3 years in Italy, Zander headed back to Mexico to see his father and to discuss further career options - of which there were many, as he had still been delivering for Mexico throughout his ill-fated spell in Rome. Little was he to know this spell in Mexico was to be more ill-fated.

Zander conducted discussions in the Mexicano Hotel in Mexico City with many clubs but it was England that most lured him, and while still in Mexico he signed a £13,000 p/w contract to play for Chelsea in the next season - he was looking forward to it, at 28 he was at his supposed peak. He was off to tell his father the good news.

11 p.m Mexico City. Everyone knew Zander, he was a Mexican legend despite his failing in Italy, people were asking for his autograph, he was laughing, he was joking, he was lying face down on the concrete with his skull cracked. To this day the motive is unclear, jealousy is presumed as the reason. With living conditions the way they were in Mexico it seems not everybody loves somebody who is well of and does not have a financial care in the World.

The crack in the head healed, Zander would have been comparatively happy if the attacked had stopped there, but as Zander looked at his legs it was clear the attacked hadn’t. Aleksander ‘Zander’ Zitero - potentially the greatest Mexican footballer to have ever lived - would never play football ever again.

The British press had a field day with the story, dragging up the death of Zander’s mother, gangland connections, drugs, fights, anything that was in anyway related to Zander’s upbringing - and writing it in such a way that it seemed like Zander sought out these pastimes as opposed to - as was true - having them all around him as he grew up in the slums. As the first line of this introduction suggests: all of Europe remembers the tabloid stories - nobody cares about what went before.

Maybe they’ll care about what is still to come.

[The RingMaster]

Introduction

You may remember the story; although it seems no-one ever remembers the prelude. Aleksander (Zander) Zitero’s football career did not start until he was plucked from the doldrums at the comparatively veteran age for a rookie - 21. It did not end until he was cruelly dragged back down.

Growing up in Mexico can be tough. It seems like a bustling epicentre of life, a micro chasm of busy central American life, perfect for experiencing a different culture and way of life - while retaining the soul of a city break. Yes, we’ve all read the brochure. However, if you dare to stray to the outskirts of whatever grossly overpopulated city you happen to be residing in you find a scene, which, if put in the brochure, would not fill many trans-Atlantic jets. It is in this scene that we find the teenage Zander Zitero - waiting for his father to return to their two room - for want of a better word - hut, identical to the scores of others in this tiny area of land - Mexico City Suburbia. When his father returns he will have a carrier bag of fruit, bread, and other necessities - this was to last a month. As we see the Zitero family - Mother, Father, Son - was not blessed with much; they were blessed however, with the extraordinary talents of the son.

Fast forward weeks, days, months, years of the same routine, with the Zitero family literally struggling to survive, yet always keeping the hope in their hearts that their Son may (for himself, his parents were completely selfless) make the grade at a level higher than the local team he has been shining in, an make a great fortune, and live the life they are torn apart they could never provide for him. Time, however, was running out Zander Zitero was 21.

Finally a scout spotted the talent which had managed to somehow elude the perception of so many others. “Good things take time; Great things happen immediatelyâ€. Within two weeks Zander Zitero was plying his trade in Acapulco for Club de Fútbol Acapulco in the in the Mexican First division (2nd tier down) and what an impact the young man was having (now he had been discovered 21 was no longer a hindrance) Zander Zitero stood out from day 1 in what was a distinctly average Acapulco side, with goals and assists from his position in ‘the Hole’. All of a sudden some of the big name clubs in Mexico were wondering just how this young man evaded their nationwide scouts, and were looking to bring this young man to their club to fill the sacred No.10 jersey, great things were on the horizon for Zander Zitero, yet his heart still ached for the one thing that was not there with him.

Zander Zitero’s parents were immensely proud people, and when their son finally got his break the decided they would continue to live in the way they were accustomed to. Zander knew where to find them if he needed them, but they were adamant that there is no way on God’s earth that they would gain in anything from their son’s success - parents living off their son’s - Unthinkable

Almost as unthinkable as the situation Zander now found himself in: He was in front of a bank of photographers in the 104,000 capacity Azteca stadium holding aloft his America (Mex) shirt with the number 10 printed on the back, with Zitero just above it. He was the golden boy of Mexican football, at 22 success had come quickly, but he was a prodigious talent and more was to come. The transfer fee paid to Acapulco was the equivalent of £2,000,000 and his weekly wage was the equivalent of £20,000 per week. His parents would have to better their lifestyles now, he would insist on it.

When he reached his parents hut there was the usual damp, the usual squalor. However, there was a dreariness, a depression in the air that was unspoken and invisible. After growing up in such a dangerous, horrendous environment you learn to read invisible signs, and upon first entering the hut and looking in his father’s eyes Zander was literally winded as he read the signs - his mother was dead. After the most emotional and private of discourses, of which I have not the life experience to speculate what was said, Zander emerged from the hut with knowledge that could either destroy him or make him stronger: His mother was killed in the crossfire as two rival gangs attacked each other - the army was drafted in, several innocent bystanders were injured or killed from one of the 3 streams of gunfire, his mother was one of those killed. Zander would now either blame himself for not insisting his parents move out of this place; or he could understand that it was simply a mindless tragedy which could not be avoided. With the help of his father he managed the latter.

Zander and his father made a pact. Zander would not give his father monetary help, but he would use his star status to get him a job in the city, in a safer environment, and he could still make his own way. He and his father went their separate ways, and after this pre-season trauma for the 22 year old the whole of Mexico waited to see how Zander would react.

The next three years answered that question: 42 Assists; 37 Goals. 32 Caps; 12 Goals; 1 Copa America; 1 Gold Cup; World Cup 4th Place. Any doubt was long forgotten, the 25 year old was hot property. “Brazil had Pelé; Argentina had Maradona; We have Zitero†they said on the streets.

Unsurprisingly the Mexican lend-in-the-making was of to Europe. Italian giants Lazio paid the equivalent of £13,000,000 on a 3 year contract for the playmaker who was making tongues wag all over the World. However, the magic didn’t quite shine through in Italy, defences were tight and they knew his strengths, his reputation had proceeded him, the big teams got their best destroying midfielders to stick with him for 90 minutes, and the less talented teams kicked him off the park, added to this (or perhaps because of this) he suffered lots of niggling injuries and suspensions due to his increasing frustration at the rough treatment meant he was labelled ‘Temperamental’, ‘a flop’, ‘enigmatic’, and most hurtful to him ‘not good enough’.

After 3 years in Italy, Zander headed back to Mexico to see his father and to discuss further career options - of which there were many, as he had still been delivering for Mexico throughout his ill-fated spell in Rome. Little was he to know this spell in Mexico was to be more ill-fated.

Zander conducted discussions in the Mexicano Hotel in Mexico City with many clubs but it was England that most lured him, and while still in Mexico he signed a £13,000 p/w contract to play for Chelsea in the next season - he was looking forward to it, at 28 he was at his supposed peak. He was off to tell his father the good news.

11 p.m Mexico City. Everyone knew Zander, he was a Mexican legend despite his failing in Italy, people were asking for his autograph, he was laughing, he was joking, he was lying face down on the concrete with his skull cracked. To this day the motive is unclear, jealousy is presumed as the reason. With living conditions the way they were in Mexico it seems not everybody loves somebody who is well of and does not have a financial care in the World.

The crack in the head healed, Zander would have been comparatively happy if the attacked had stopped there, but as Zander looked at his legs it was clear the attacked hadn’t. Aleksander ‘Zander’ Zitero - potentially the greatest Mexican footballer to have ever lived - would never play football ever again.

The British press had a field day with the story, dragging up the death of Zander’s mother, gangland connections, drugs, fights, anything that was in anyway related to Zander’s upbringing - and writing it in such a way that it seemed like Zander sought out these pastimes as opposed to - as was true - having them all around him as he grew up in the slums. As the first line of this introduction suggests: all of Europe remembers the tabloid stories - nobody cares about what went before.

Maybe they’ll care about what is still to come.

[The RingMaster]

July 2003

Most footballers have a tough time when they have to give up the game, after all it is what nearly every boy dreams of doing as a career. One can only imagine what it feels like to have your dream career snatched from you as it was entering it’s prime.

However, as we have learned, Zander Zitero has endured many things in his life and always come out on the other side, and now, as we look to the future Zander is once again looking to come through another disaster and make the best of things. By giving back to the club that gave him so much.

Aleksander Zitero is the new manager of the club where he became the Mexican legend he is today - America (Mex). Although the 31 Year Old Zitero who was capped 67 times for Mexico has no experience in management the board of directors believe his experience in World football as well as God-like status he holds in Mexico can help to motivate the players and bring success to the Central American Giants.

[The RingMaster]

July 2003

When Zander Zitero used to receive the ball, on the sacred turf of the Azteca, there was a hush: 104,000 people all silent in anticipation of some new piece of magic; a goal or an assist for them to marvel at - it was a type of hushed awe. That same hushed awe was present as Senor Zitero entered the players lounge in the Azteca to meet the group of players he is hoping to lead to glory.

Some of the younger players were, inevitably, nervous, so the seasoned pro’s made the introductions: Duilio Davino, Pavel Pardo and Cuetemoc Blanco - who hold a combined 191 Caps for Mexico - introduced the new man in charge to the first team squad. Although to be honest in the last 3 years Zander had spent in Mexico he had seen a lot of football so he hardly needed introduced to the players from one of the biggest teams in Mexico:

Goalkeepers

Alberto Becerra (Age 24 / Mexican: Uncapped): For the last three years Becerra has been understudy to 36 year old Alberto Rios, It remains to be seen if that will change this season - his age is most definitely a tick in his box. Best Attribute: Communication

Alberto Rios (Age 36 / Mexican: 31 Caps): Has the quality to keep the number one jersey but if he becomes a liability, or is too prone to errors and his age shows then Becerra shall gleefully take his place. Best Attribute: Experience

Defenders

Alberto Macias (SW/DC) (Age 33 / Mexican: 5 Caps): Alberto has been backup for the last while at America and that will be no different in my reign, he is an able deputy, nothing more. Best Attribute: Willingness

José Antonio Castro (DR) (Age 22 / Mexican: Uncapped): Jose looks like real quality, I’m surprised there have been no international caps for this right back, although that should change if he - and consequently, we - have a good season with him at the forefront. Best Attribute: Pace mixed with Youthful Exuberance

Ãngel Gonzalez (DR) (Age 21 / Mexican: Uncapped): This guy will be backup for Castro, hence I really hope Castro doesn’t get injured, this kid looks poor and I’ve never understood how he made the grade here. Best Attribute: Luck?

Carlos Infante (DL) (Age 21 / Mexican: Uncapped): Carlos will begin the season as second choice left back but has the quality to put the man that follows under some real pressure. Best Attribute: Steady

Israel Martinez (DL) (Age 22 / Mexican: Uncapped): As we have said, Israel will be first choice left back but will have to keep his performances representative of his ability otherwise Israel may have to surrender his territory ( ) . Best Attribute: Great Long Shot

Ãlvaro Ortiz (D/AM LC) (Age 25 / Mexican: 3 Caps): Ãlvaro’s a great guy to have in any squad, has the attitude and ability to play in a number of positions, and for this fact he will be a vital part of the squad this season. Best Attribute: Versatility

Duilio Davino (DC) (Age 27 / Mexican: 75 Caps / 1Goal): Duilio is a wonderful player, a great defender and eventually a great captain - the eventually is in there because he decided having a broken leg would be a real swell way to greet the new boss - see you in 7 months Duilio. Best Attribute: Natural Born Leader

Ricardo Rojas (DC) (Age 29 / Chilean: 23 Caps): Ricardo is another good defender, not in the Davino class but he will certainly do a good job. I would have loved to see Rojas and Davino form a great centre-back pairing for the whole season but no-can-do and we‘ll have to look around the market for someone with the class to play Mexican Premier League football along side Rojas at the back in the meantime. Best Attribute: Dominant Defender

Raúl Alberto Salinas (DC) (Age 24 / Mexican: Uncapped): Raúl will be a good solid squad player, capable of doing a job when called upon and players like that are invaluable over a season. But he and I both know he cannot fill Davino’s boots and I will have to look to the Transfer market. Best Attribute: Reliability

Midfielders

Juan Mosqueda (DM R) (Age 18 / Mexican: Uncapped): Juan does not look a very good player at all, nor does he look like he has the potential to become a good player. Nevertheless we’ll keep him as part of the first team squad and see how he develops - chances are you wont be seeing his name in too many match reports. Best Attribute: Pass.

Pavel Pardo (DM RC) (Age 26 / Mexican: 85 Caps / 2 Goals): Pavel will undoubtedly be at the base of the diamond I am planning on playing. He has a wealth of experience as well as being a very, very good player. He’ll be vice captain behind Cuatemoc. Best Attribute: Class Combined with Workrate = Rare

German Villa {DM C) (Age 30 / Mexican: 72 Caps): A very able replacement if Pardo is not available, as you can see German has plenty of International experience himself as well as having played over 240 games for the club. Great to have this kind of competition over the role at the base of the diamond. Best Attribute: Bravery

José Raymundo Valencia (M RLC) (Age 18 / Mexican: Uncapped): I’ve brought this kid up from the Under 18’s because he looks like a real prospect as well as being very versatile. When you consider Mosqueda was already in the first team squad when I arrived José is fully justified with his place in the squad. Best Attribute: Determination

Ignacio Torres (AM R) (Age 19 / Mexican: Uncapped): Ignacio looks like another good prospect but it worries me that he is really the only out and out right winger I have - I’m just not sure he has the quality at this moment in time to deal with two gruelling Championship stages a year.Best Attribute: Pace

Chuy Mendoza (AM/F L) (Age 24 / Mexican: 9 Caps / 3 Goals): At least this man makes sure I do not have the same worries on the left as I do on the right - Chuy has all the attributes to carry the fight to the left flank from his position on the left of the diamond, he’ll be a big player this season, I’m sure of it. Best Attribute: Good Ol’ Fashioned Winger

Christian Patino (AM/F L) (Age 27 / Mexican: Uncapped): An able deputy for the much more talented Mendoza, and he has the talent so that I can now stop worrying about this area of the field - two good left wingers already part of the squad. Best Attribute: Pace

Attackers

Sergio Blanco (F RLC) (Age 21 / Uruguayan: 1 Cap): Sergio is only on loan at us from Montevideo Wanderers for a year, nevertheless we will look to make good use of him in his time here, he can play up front or in midfield so his versatility should mean he will see a good deal of football this season. Best Attribute: Acceleration

Diego Encarnación (F RC) (Age 17 / Mexican: Uncapped): I’ve brought Diego up from the Under 18’s to make sure he gets his share of football over this season to aid his development, as, with the right nurturing I think this kid could be special. He’ll act as back-up for the strikers this season - although if a crisis hits he has the sheer ability to play in the Hole. Best Attribute: Heart of a Winner

Cuauhtémoc Blanco (F LC) (Age 30 / Mexican: 41 Caps / 16 Goals): Blanco will be America (Mex) captain in the absence of Davino, as well as being the most important player on the field - he will play in the hole and he will have orders to help build the play when it is developing centrally, but when the ball is with the wingers he’s to push up and make a third striker - In theory he should get plenty of goals and assists this season. Best Attribute: Genius

Franky Oviedo (F C) (Age 29 / Colombian 22 Caps / 2 Goals): Franky will be a busy boy this season, he will be the first choice backup for Blanco in the hole as well as also being high up in the pecking order of out and out strikers - so he’ll be playing a lot of football with no real consistent position, I hope he can handle it. Best Attribute: Flair

Oscar Ariel González (S C) (Age 28 / Argentinean: Uncapped): The first real out and out striker we’ve come to. Oscar is good in the air and is a decent finisher, and if it comes to it I will play him up front, however his overall game is quite poor and ideally I would like to get a more complete striker in to partner and complement Navia’s game. Best Attribute: Aerial Prowess

Christian Zepeda (S C) (Age 18 / Mexican: Uncapped): Another kid I plucked from the Under 18’s. Christian is raw and his overall game leaves a lot to be desired, however he is lightening quick and is a lethal finisher, and with our lack of predatory strikers he may be a dark horse to grab a few goals this season. Best Attribute: Swift and Lethal

Reinaldo Navia (S C) (Age 25 / Chilean: 15 Caps / 1 Goal): Navia is first choice striker by a country mile, has fantastic striking attributes: pace, finishing, heading. I’ll be looking - both in the squad and in the transfer market - for someone with the capabilities to partner Reinaldo.Best Attribute: Clinical

Zander looked around all the players he had called into the players lounge - they were his first team squad. He could see stars, he could see stars in the making, he could see journeyman - he could not yet see a team, however that is the purpose of Pre-season. Zander Zitero was well known in World football and because of this America (Mex) had plenty of offers for freindlies from all over the globe. Zander decided he didn’t fancy going back to Europe so offers from Spanish, Dutch and English clubs were rejected, nor did he want to stay in Mexico so offers to play in pre-season tournaments (some to celebrate his own career) were rejected - so he decided he would take up the offer from the NY/NJ Metrostars of the US of A to play a match in their magnificent Giants stadium as well as having a 5 day training camp to build solidarity.

However, before (or perhaps during) the trip to America Zander Zitero will have to think seriously about new players. He has decided he needs a centre back, as well as a right-winger, and perhaps a new striker I the £1.6 Million budget stretches that thin.

But for now let us leave the players lounge and leave the new manager discussing the forthcoming season with his first team squad. We shall meet them again in New York.

[OMDave]

Nice to see a Mexican story, and one that starts out this promisingly

[The RingMaster]

Ta for the Kind words OMDave

July 2003

New York, New York (C‘mon, you all know the words)

Zander Zitero has a purpose in management, of course his first goal is to achieve as much success with his beloved America (Mex) as possible, however he has bigger fish to fry - he has a legacy to rebuild. As we have seen from looking at Zander’s upbringing: his family were very proud and honourable people - good people, although at times it was impossible to escape the evil around them. Zander has taken these traits from his parents, and this is why the degradation of his reputation in Europe by the media is so hurtful to him. The thought of being remembered as a gang member, a drug taker, a thief, a delinquent is just unacceptable and feels like a dagger through the heart every time he thinks of the very concept.

This is why Zander Zitero has gone into management, he will eventually get into management in Europe and start writing his own legacy, a legacy of a career built up through sheer dedication to football while others were resorting to crime and drugs, before being tragically cut short, before he bounced back to become a successful coach. That is a legacy he could happily live and die with.

But that us leave the future where it belongs: in the future, and head to New York, with Zander Zitero in the Dressing room of the Giants stadium (surrounded by people untouched by the lies of European journalism; people who still look at him with a glint in their eye signifying they are looking at a living legend) giving some final words of instructions to his players before they head out to face the NY/NJ Metrostars.

There were no new faces in this dressing room, although we, the reader, can rest assured that Zander has been doing his utmost to rectify that situation, and we should expect announcements regarding new faces soon. In fact the dressing room is actually missing a few key players: Pavel Pardo, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, and Alberto Rios are all away playing in the Gold Cup, and if Mexico make good progression in that tournament those three players will miss the first game of the season: The PrePre Libertadores Phase (a group phase which decides the Mexican team to make it to the Copa Libertadores) match against Morelia.

Even considering this fact, the ever-patriotic Zander Zitero could not bring himself to will an early exit for Mexico, and conveniently just before kick-off in New York he heard that Mexico had beaten Canada 2-1, with Blanco getting the ultimately decisive goal. He let out a broad smile and told the lads the score, there were cheers all round, and Zander Zitero sent the lads out in high spirits.

9/7/03

(Friendly) / NY/NJ Metrostars Vs America (Mex) / Giants Stadium, New York

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - Salinas, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Villa ( c), MR - Torres, ML - Mendoza, MR - Torres, AMC - Oviedo; SC - Gonzalez, SC - Navia

The opening stages of this match were certainly a sign of things to come as both sides had relatively clean cut chances, which were screwed wide and rather raw, pre-season-esque fashion, as you might expect. The other noticeable fact being the distinct lack of marking by both sides, and focusing particularly on America (Mex) this was leaving plenty of space for Oviedo to exploit his relatively free role floating between midfield and strikers.

With both sides seemingly exchanging tips on how to defend really badly the major surprise was that the match almost made it to half time with a blank score sheet. Almost. Not a surprise however was the scorer of the goal when it came in the 44th minute, as Franky Oviedo did exactly what the coach asked of him: getting up and making a third striker, and it paid off as he - unmarked - got his head on to a Torres cross to make it one-nil, sending the surprisingly his 17,913 crown into a state of mild applause.

Only into the second half into his first match in charge and Zander Zitero was already ground breaking - No changes, clearly looking for some continuity, which he got. Only three minutes into the second half Chuy Mendoza got to the bi-line and cut back a great ball to the penalty spot where a gleefully unmarked Oviedo claimed his second of the game.

That second goal represented a watershed in the match with America (MEX) seemingly deciding the game was over as a contest. Thus for the next forty minutes Zander Zitero’s side looked distinctly average. With the only player looking good being Becerra - succeeding in retaining America’s two goal lead, until the 60th minute when Salinas rather clumsily brought down Sergio Alejandro Galván in the box. A booking was distributed - as was the penalty, in to roof of the net, by Galván himself.

This set up a frantic last half hour with Metrostars going for broke for the equaliser but stuggling to break down Zitero’s Yellow Mexican wall - would the Alamo be to obvious a cliché? Culminating in a great period of injury time….

Metrostars finally broke through America (MEX)’s defence, and Brian Phillips went one on one with the keeper, and he even had support, he could have easily played the ball to his left for a tap in and a last gasp equaliser. Instead Philips acted the way Americans act best - Unilaterally, and blasted the ball over the bar. Then, as so often happens in football Zitero’s side nailed the sucker punch: a long ball put Gonzalez and Navia 2 on 1 with the last Metrostars defender, and with the rest of his team chasing the equaliser Navia simply played the ball to Gonzalez, taking the last defender out the game, and one on one with the keeper Gonzalez showed the composure Brian Phillips had sadly lacked moments earlier.

The Ironic twist fairy then turned up and Galván, with a hopeful effort from 20 yards, got the goal Metrostars had been hunting for - unfortunately it was now rendered nul and void, and Zander Zitero’s first game as a manager ends in victory.

NY/NJ Metrostars (Galván pen 59, 90) 2 - 3 America (MEX) (Oviedo 44, 48; Gonzalez 90)

After five days training in America, culminating in the victory over the Metrostars, we can be sure Zander Zitero now has a better idea over his players, formation, and hopes for the coming season.

However, one aspect of club affairs not yet resolved are the incoming transfers, and with squad relatively bare of proven quality players that will be very important. Mind you, one look at the smile on Zitero’s face as he sits at the front of the coach back to Mexico tells us: When we next return, Zander Zitero shall be parading new signings on the hallowed turf of the Azteca.

[The RingMaster]

July 2003

Let us float serenely through the congested streets of Mexico City, this is no longer the same scene we read about in the prelude. We are now in the brochure, members of that ‘bustling city; perfect for a city break’ As we rather rudely listen in on the conversations taking place on the streets they seem to all be about football; no surprise there, this is a football crazy city. However today it seems rather more crazed than usual, there is a perpetual buzzing, a talk of stars, “it can’t be†they say. Let us search out the epicentre of this ripple.

It is not difficult to find what we are looking for. As we look over and past the buildings on the right hand of the street and let our vision stray into the near distance we can see the dominating presences of the Azteca, this is our destination. As we approach the main entrance we take a moment to bask in the majesty of the venue, but let’s not stall too long, because the curiosity is beginning to gnaw.

Being - as we are - an invisible spirit here to witness one man‘s struggle to clear his rebuild his good name, we have no trouble gaining access to the stadium. As we move through the corridors, gradually following the signs to pitch side, we see more and more of a media presence, all of which seem to be on mobile phones. It seems many journalists are bugging many editors about what we will see when we make it to pitch side.

Finally, after much poetic floating around the gargantuan Azteca Stadium we make it to the point where many-a hail Mary has been said, and where many-a butterfly has ascended from the stomach - the Tunnel. However, we do not emerge for the tunnel in the name of sport and in front of 104,000 people; we emerge from the tunnel in the name of curiosity in front of…… that is what we are here to find out.

As we emerge from the tunnel we see Zander Zitero on the far left with four new signings, all holding up their brand new America (MEX) shirts in front of a bank of photographers. No doubt Zander is having flashbacks at this moment. Today is the 20th of July. The transfer window opens today. The odds were always going to be short that Zitero would unveil some new signings. However the odds on signing the man on the far right of the four new signings would be a great deal longer, about two extra zeros I imagine. And In the name of dramatic tension lets go from left to right (and as we did when introducing the squad lets take a brief foray into the mind of the manager to get his views on the players).

Juan Manuel Azuara (AM/F R) (Age 21 / Mexican: Uncapped): J.M is Good clean competition for Torres and was picked up on a free (always a good thing), he will also serve to make our right wing position look a lot more respectable. On first glance he looks a really exciting player, one to get the fans of their feet. However there is a fine line between skill then delivery and showy then zilch. Best Attribute: Dribbling

Luiz Carlos (D/DM LC) (Age 31 / Brazilian: Uncapped): I am thoroughly delighted with this purchase, he looks an accomplished defender as well as being very able in midfield. Luiz also adds some much needed experience to our young squad. Another one to have the big tick beside his name from having been bought on a free transfer.Best Attribute: Dominating

José Julián de la Cuesta (D LC) (Age 20 / Colombian: Uncapped): At £600,000 from Spanish side Cádiz José Julián represents a glorious bargain. At first he was not to keen on the move however the Almighty dollar swayed it, nevertheless I think he’ll be a megastar here and will definitely be a member of our back four; although where? I’m not sure. Best Attribute: Just an All Round Stunning Defender

Romário (F C) (Age 37 / Brazilian: 84 Caps / 69 Goals): I think it is fair to say, as I looks at the blinding impact of all those flashbulbs, this signing has caused a fair bit of excitement. First of all: Romário can still easily cut it at this level and I have no doubt he will be a revelation this season at America (MEX). Secondly, after being deemed surplus to requirements at Fluminense he only cost us £45,000 so it hardly represents a massive monetary risk. Not that I see him as a risk anyway, from now until June 2005 Romário will Own Mexico. Arriba. Best Attribute: Like Blanco - Genius

Let us leave the comparative serenity of Zander Zitero’s mind and enter the chaos of a big news day in Mexico City. We’ll leave the way we came in, past the photographers still clicking; past the journalists still talking; and noting the continued buzz of excitement emanating from the Azteca. Things are taking shape. Good thing too, because when we next join America (MEX) we will be in Chicago as they play the first PrePre Libertadores Cup group match, Zander Zitero’s first competitive match as a coach.

[Guest Argyfwng]

Nice start, I know next to nothing about Mexican football so I've already learned a few things.

[PMLF]

Good story so far.

And LOL at the signing of Romário.

You are playing CM 4 (not CM 03-04), right?

Qualify Las Ãguilas to Copa Libertadores.

[The RingMaster]

*Argyfwng: Thanks, and no doubt I’ll be learning a lot myself as the story continues.

*PMLF: Good to have a connoisseur of all things South American to keep me right as I continue (hopefully) towards the Libertadores. And you just wait until Romário starts banging them in. I am playing CM 03/04 by the way.

July 2003

Chicago

As we enter the buzzing America (MEX) dressing room in the Soldier Field, Chigago, we witness Zander Zitero facing back and forth like a caged tiger. Only the limp he still exhibits detracts from that aura of greatness he still possesses. He is giving the final instructions to his eleven players whom, he hopes, will get the ball rolling on, again, what he hopes, will be a successful season.

We shall pre-empt the teams and make our way down the tunnel ourselves. As we look at the 26,000 strong crowd it is clear how important this match is to the supporters of these two clubs - it is the first step to hopefully participating in the biggest trophy of them all - the Copa Libertadores. However, one can’t help but think there would be a better atmosphere if this match was being held in Mexico, granted each team in the group only plays each other once so the matches have to be in a neutral venue, but why not a neutral venue in Mexico?

A bit extra for the reader regarding the PrePre Libertadores phase: There are two groups of four Mexican teams, Zitero’s America (MEX) are in group A - where all the games will be played at The Soldier field. All group B’s games will be played at the Rose Bowl incidentally (we can only presume Group A lost the toss). Only the winners of the two groups will move on to the next stage of qualifying for the Copa Libertadores. Which we shall discuss when, and if, America (MEX) are participating in it.

But now we must cease our prattling, as the flares, the rising decibel levels, and the rapidly beating drums tell us the two teams are now making their way out onto the field.

23/7/03

(PrePre Libertadores Phase, Group A) / Morelia Vs América (MEX) / Soldier Field, Chicago

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - de la Cuesta, DR - Castro, DC - Luiz Carlos, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Villa ©, MR - Torres, ML - Mendoza, MR - Torres, AMC - Oviedo; SC - Romário, SC - Navia

Zander Zitero’s caged tiger routine clearly had an effect on his players as, for the early part of this match, they were the only side in the game. In a pleasant polar change from the second half against the MetroStars it was wave after wave of América pressure with Oviedo and Romário both coming close to breaking the deadlock.

The deadlock, however, was not to remain unbroken for too much longer as América finally turned their substantial pressure into a goal on the twelfth minute; and a beautifully worked one too. Luiz Carlos, from the back, played the ball to Castro who advance down the right flank; he played a beautiful one-two with Torres which took two defenders out the game and took Castro to the angle of the box, and from there he dinked a delightful cross to the back post where Navia gleefully rose to open his account for the season with a simple header. Champagne football.

From that point onwards, the second half was a much more even affair, with América seemingly happy to sit on their one goal lead while launching the odd attack into Morelia territory; and Morelia, for their part, not exhibiting enough quality to threaten the America goalkeeper, Becerra. Due to these two factors the second half rather fizzled out, and to amplify the point: the loudest cheer actually came when nothing was going on in the game (we would later find out that it was because Mexico had beaten the USA 2-1 to reach the gold Cup final - a brace from Blanco seems to bode well for the season to come).

Zitero made one change at half-time: Bringing on José Manuel Azuara in place of Ignacio Torres; Morelia, however, simply made a change in attitude.

The change in the balance of the game as the second half progressed was plain to see for the 26,000 in the stadium; Morelia had come out the dressing room with a new verve, with a purpose. Whereas America (MEX) were simply being driven further and further back, to the point where Franky Oviedo - the player in ‘the hole’, the out ball - was residing on his own ‘D’.

Now, as in the first half, a goal seemed inevitable, only now it was for the team in the rather fetching red and yellow strip, the only fear on their part would be that they would perhaps be unable to penetrate the yellow wall ahead of them - those fears were allayed in a devastating 3 minute spell. The goal did finally come on the 66 minute mark - as we have said: it was inevitable, and perhaps a more experienced manager would have done something to stop the rot. Antonio Gonzalez was the man who got the equaliser, rising higher than Rojas and heading in from a Mauricio Alejandro Molina corner.

That man Molina, clearly a set-piece expert was on hand again, on the 69th minute to - this time directly - score for Morelia. José Julián de la Cuesta perhaps showed his naïveté by diving in and giving away a foul 25 yards out. The Colombian international - only on loan at Morelia from Envigado of Colombia - stepped up and curled a beauty past a stricken Alberto Becerra. A slight clinch of the teeth betrayed Zitero’s calm exterior - he knew with only 20 minutes left this would be tough; and he knew with only three games in the group a defeat would be very hard to recover from.

As is often the way, a team which defends for a long period of time simply cannot recover, in the remaining 20 minutes Morelia continued to have the better chances, with only Navia coming close for Zitero’s side, flashing an effort over the bar from 25 yards. All in all Zitero’s first game in charge ended with a defeat and with his team limping to the finish line.

Morelia (Gonzalez 66; Molina 69) 2 - 1 América (MEX) (Navia 12)

Voices are beginning to become raised in the dressing room, this defeat has pierced the bubble of infallibility which surrounded Zander Zitero - he is now a manager, subject to the same criticisms as any other manager in the field. Come, let us leave he dressing room and drift out of the stadium; and for that matter out of Chicago - we are heading to Kansas, for that is where we shall next meet Zander Zitero, attempting to unwind by watching his beloved Mexico.

[Daz the Imp]

This is a cracking start.

Keep it up mate

[The RingMaster]

*Daz the Imp: Thanks a lot, and allow me to return the compliment on your San Marino story, great read.

July 2003

Kansas City

As we drift from the sky into the Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas, we note that we are a little tardy, the action has already started. Just before we drift over to join Zander Zitero in the presidential box mixing martini’s with the other Mexican dignitaries let us dwell upon the action as it seems, after only five minutes, things are at a fever pitch.

Zitero’s prize holding midfielder, Pavel Pardo, has just rather clumsily barged the Brazilian genius, Kaka, down inside the box, with the referee left with no choice other than to point to the spot. An entertaining game of handbags ensued, except for the fact Gerardo Torrado doesn’t play handbags - and he proceeded to punch Belletti in the face. Torrado rightly received his marching orders and trudged of the field only 6 minutes after he’d bounded on to it.

Even after all that Adriano showed the composure that will surely see the 21 year old Inter striker become one of the best hit men in the World by calmly slotting home the penalty.

We now move away from the Brazil team celebrating the goal; we drift away from pitch side and up towards the stands of the magnificent home of the Kansas City Chiefs; and we continue to drift along until we enter the presidential suite. We see lots of powerful, domineering men in finely cut suits laughing and joking over their criminally expensive drinks bought by money made by their criminally…. criminal deeds. There is an air of money and power and corruption in this room, I mean Zitero is a wealthy man, but he just doesn’t feel comfortable rolling in these circles - you would have to assume, as we look around the suite, that is why he is not here.

Our Zander has decided to go and hang with the riff-raff - his riff-raff. The constant stream of autograph hunters don’t bother him at all - better than watching the game, Mexico are being decimated, God only knows how it’s still 1-0. Zander’s just happy to be out of that room with those suits. That is no way to watch a football match.

This surrounding also makes Zander feel more comfortable with his own thoughts, and there have been plenty of those to process over the past few days, but, first and foremost in his mind has to be his side’s second half capitulation against Morelia. He is especially worried about the right hand side, in the short time he has been in charge Zander has realised his options in that area consist of: an inexperienced prospect and a one-trick pony. Granted, he signed the latter, but hell, it’s his first job. Mind you, as we read the man’s expressive body language again, his coy smile tells us he may have that area sorted by the time he flies back to Chicago to play Santos Laguna.

Ah yes, Santos Laguna. Another subject taking residence at the forefront of Zander’s thoughts. This match is now a must win match if America (MEX) are to hold any chance of making it into the Copa Libertadores 2004, and even as he looks at Rios warming the bench; Pardo giving away a penalty; and Blanco hardly touching the ball, he will be glad to have them all back. Poor Zitero, he’s supposed to be relaxing and he is regressing into work mode.

As we can see, Zander is finding out rapidly that management is a 24/7 occupation and in all honesty he wishes he could just fast-forward this exhibition of Brazilian dominance and get back to work.

Zander’s not doing himself justice though, because as we - safe in the knowledge we wont miss anything; as it finishes 1-0 - now travel back, in the blink of an eye to Chicago, to América’s training camp, we see the work Zander has done while he’s been away as we meet the cause of Zander’s coy smile.

Chicago

Francisco Javier Esteche. This Paraguayan (22 Caps) right (or central) midfielder has been signed for a measly 70K from Paraguayan giants Olimpia and becomes Zitero‘s 5th signing of the season. And as we see him write the final signature on the contract we can bet we will see him at some point in the proceedings against Santos Laguna.

No more supersonic travel across the USA for us. We’ll stay patiently right here in the windy city for a few days, as we await Zander Zitero’s first must win match as a manager against Santos Laguna.

[The RingMaster]

July 2003

Before we enjoy today’s football feast let us delve, once more, into the mind of Zander Zitero and get, as we have done with everyone else in the squad, his view on his latest purchase.

Francisco Javier Esteche (AM RC) (Age 29 / Paraguayan: 22 Caps / 4 Goals): For £70,000 this man is a fantastic capture. He has all the attributes to be a massive success here as well as possessing wealth of experience at International and club level. Hopefully Esteche will play to his potential and I will never have to worry about the right wing of América (MEX) ever again. Best Attribute: Creativity

As we leave the cranial area of our subject, another side note of interest (although not related to today’s match) is that Sergio LaVolpe was sacked as manager of Mexico after the match against Brazil. Seems a little harsh but that’s life.

Speaking of ‘that’s life’, only a few weeks into his reign Zander Zitero has a must win match to contend with. Although one pleasing thing is that, as he looks at his eleven combatants, Pavel Pardo and captain (for the next 6 months) Cuauhtemoc Blanco are amongst them ready to face Santos Laguna - and they are big additions to the team.

As we drift, as we like to do, down the tunnel and on to the field it is noticeably empty in the Soldier field - only 6660 people in fact. Still the cheer as the teams are read out for “Number 20.… Francisco Esteche†is particularly audible (although Zander is slighty more worried about names like “Number 58... Jared Borgettiâ€, “Number 10.… Fabian Estay†or “Number 9.…. Sixto Peraltaâ€).

Also audible is the cheer as the two teams make their way onto the field. After a 5-1 defeat to Monterrey for Santos Laguna, America (MEX) have to be the favourites for this encounter - but that is irrelevant, what it does mean is that both teams need a win; a draw will see them both eliminated. So the sparsely populated Soldier Field is anticipating an open encounter.

30/7/03

(PrePre Libertadores Phase, Group A) / Santos Laguna Vs América (MEX) / Soldier Field, Chicago

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - de la Cuesta, DR - Castro, DC - Luiz Carlos, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Pardo, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco (c ); SC - Romário, SC - Navia

With two of the best Mexican players in the World back in the side there is no doubt Zander Zitero expected a much improved performance from his team. From the very start America (MEX)’s attacking vigour is clear for everyone to see, much of the time attacking with 3 up front and two pushed on wide players, which created havoc for the much more cautious Santos Laguna side.

The pressure paid off after only eleven minutes when Chuy Mendoza did brilliantly to get to the bi-line and whip in a delicious ball onto the head of Reinaldo Navia, his header was well saved - although he really should have scored - but it was of no consequence as Blanco tapped home the rebound anyway to put América (MEX) 1-0 up in this must win match.

As we have seen in the previous two America (MEX) matches, when the men in yellow have went ahead they have suffered from tensing up, going defensive, and becoming encamped in their own half. This is clearly something Zitero has noticed and rectified. América, even after opening the scoring, continued to play as f they were chasing the breakthrough, and this prerogative paid dividends only four minutes later, again after great wing play. The Santos Laguna defence committed the cardinal sin and gave the crosser time and space, and Esteche delivered a wonderful cross right into the corridor of doubt between defence and goalkeeper; where Navia made connection with a brave diving header to bullet América into a two goal lead.

Even with the two goal lead América (MEX) showed no signs of settling back to defend, this was a team on a mission, and at that moment, the only team that was going to score a goal. It took until the half hour mark for the inevitable third to come for América, but it was a goal most definitely worth waiting for. It came through a wonderful triangle between the three forwards: with Blanco playing a nice ball in to Romário on the edge of the Santos Laguna box; Romário then played a beautiful ball with the outside of his foot which scythed through the brittle Santos Laguna back line; Navia, for his part, stayed onside nicely and latched on to the through ball before lashing the ball into the roof of the net like the natural born finisher he is.

Santos Laguna were now exhibiting the mannerisms of a boxer, leaning on the ropes, willing the bell to ring. Unfortunately for Santos Laguna the ‘bell’ was fifteen minutes away and a fourth before half time looked likely. Laguna actually nearly made it to half time, not quite though, for a moment of sheer brilliance denied them even that small victory. Blanco, dictating the play as usual had the ball about 25 yards out, looking for that decisive pass; nothing was on, however, so he decided to have a pop. As clean as you like, the ball flew off his left boot and curled into the corner of the net, giving the left hand post a little kiss as it went - leaving poor Lucchetti wondering what he’d done to deserve conceding 9 goals in a game and a half. Sheer, unfiltered brilliance by Blanco.

The second half - as you might expect - did not live up to the fireworks of the first half. Most noticeable was the fact Santos Laguna did not even make an attempt to make a fight of it, and because of that (and the apparent glaring chasm in ability) the match fizzed out into something of a bi brother taking the **** out of his little brother spectacle.

Great performance, but short odds on Senor Luis Fernando Tena (Santos Laguna coach) being the first manager in Mexico to get the sack methinks.

Santos Laguna 0 - 4 América (MEX) (Blanco 11, 45; Navia 15, 33)

Contrast the mood in the same dressing room to that against Morelia - amazing. Jubilation has replaced desolation; optimism is where pessimism once was. However, one man, ever down to earth is Zander Zitero, he is grounded in the knowledge that to have any chance of winning this group they have to beat a very handy looking Monterrey side who have won both their games and have 6 points. And even before that…………

Yes, before that, due to ludicrous scheduling, América (MEX) must travel back to Mexico City, play their first league game, before travelling back to Chicago to play Monterrey. Nonsense. Nevertheless let us take our leave of the dressing room and burn the image of all those celebrating footballers into our skulls, for in the World of football you never know when you’ll see that scene again.

Let us drift to the south, safe in the knowledge that when we next meet América (MEX) it will be in the exciting and euphoric setting of the opening day of the season in the Azteca, Mexico City.

[The RingMaster]

August 2003

As we drift up one of the five roads that will take us to the magnificent Azteca Stadium it is worth taking a moment to bask in the atmosphere of the Opening day of the season. As we look around we witness a sea of yellow shirts, it seems every América (MEX) supporter has their colours on. We can also not many of them have names and numbers on the back; there are some ‘10 - Blanco’, a few ‘9 - Romário’ but the glaring majority of those replica shirt bear ‘10 - Zitero.

There is also the bustle of many stalls to notice. The smell of fresh, piping hot food comes our way, but we must ignore and drift on. We pass the match day programme stall, on the cover there is that old picture of Zander Zitero holding up his América (MEX) shirts with the number ten, and superimposed behind him are his 5 new signings, and the text roughly reads as ‘a New Beginning’.

As we drift closer to the stadium it is easy to see an example of how so many replica shirts got on so many backs, with a stall selling all sorts of replica shirts, you can get he three we mentioned, or a Mexico shirts with ‘10 - Zitero’ or a 1994 Brazil shirt with ‘9 - Romário’. There is also a cute Mexico shirt with the number 100 on the back, and where the name should be it says ‘next to’, and below the numbering it says Pardo, signifying how close 90 Caps Pavel Pardo is to the 100.

We could dwell amongst this carnival-like scene all day if we wished, but there is football afoot, and we must make our way into the stadium. We float into the ground the same way we did when we witnesses Zitero’s new signings, but this time instead of going straight to pitch side we take a different turn, and lo-and-behold we are in the América (MEX) dressing room.

It is a much more mellow atmosphere than Zitero’s first three games in charge, there are more nerves about because this is the first home game of a new era, and it is important to do well. Nevertheless Zander Zitero is up at the blackboard giving out clear, and concise instructions to the eleven starters, the same eleven that started against Santos Laguna. Players are going through rituals, some are laughing and joking, some are quiet in contemplation, some are talking to God, anything to make them feel comfortable before the imminent kick-off.

“……………number 45, José Julián de la Cuesta……………â€

That is the last player to be read out, the teams will be coming out any minute, let us take our leave of this place and make our way on to the pitch.

As we emerge from the tunnel the scene is dazzling, there are 75,000 people here, it seems they are all wearing the yellow of América (MEX), there are flares are going of, there are drumbeats being created and there is a constant stream of chanting. As we reach the centre circle and look around us we can suddenly see why people played football before the prestige and financial rewards. This is a sport that evokes such 120% pure, unfiltered passion in this arena that any person with a heartbeat would want to be a part of it.

Last season the average attendance was around the 40,000 thousand mark, and over this season it may level off to that, but for now, as the teams make their way on to the pitch, in front of 75,000 fans let us simply enjoy the spectacle.

3/8/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #1) / América (MEX) Vs Atlas / Azteca, Mexico City

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Pardo, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco ©; SC - Romário, SC - Navia

One cannot help but be inspired by walking out to the sight of 75,000 people decked out in your teams colours, cheering for you, and willing with all their might for you to win. And there is no doubt that inspiration played some part in the start América (MEX) made to this game. A mix of inspiration, motivation, and tactical orders had made América come out of the block like a steam train, and a shot which whistled past the post after 34 seconds by Pavel Pardo set the tone for the opening exchanges of the encounter.

Astoundingly América (MEX) created another 3 chances before finally breaking the deadlock on 4 minutes. It came through a lovely pass by Blanco which gave Navia a couple of yards of space in the box; and still with a lot to do, Navia finished with aplomb, drilling the ball into the bottom corner to a deafening roar from the home faithful. The season had well and truly begun.

Even with the wonderful start made by the home side it was clear that Atlas would put up more of a fight than Santos Laguna had done in Chicago. A couple of handy efforts from distance made it clear that this would not be an easy 90 minutes. In fact for the 5 minutes after the goal it looked like Atlas were a good bet the get back on level terms - until a moment of complete and utter madness.

Atlas defender Omar Blanco played a simple ball back to his goalkeeper, a bit too much pace, but still containable. The Atlas keeper, one of the best one keepers in Mexico incidentally, José de Jesús Corona took a wild swing at the ball and somehow - and this is a talent in itself - managed to slice the ball behind himself and into the net. Truly unbelievable and now América had a two goal lead when the smart money would have been on a 1-1.

Rather understandably that goal rather took the wind out of Atlas’ sails, I mean after such a promising response to the first goal such a fluke second must have been shattering. Hence, when the third came against the disheartened Atlas it was no surprise, although it was a cracker nonetheless. A dubious foul on Romário had given América a free kick about 25 yards out, although there were many candidates the home debutant Esteche stepped up and curled a majestic free kick over the wall and into the net.

The Azteca was bouncing. This opening 22 minutes of the season had been beyond their wildest dreams, and it has to be said, the score line most certainly flattered the home side. Not that anyone was complaining. The first half wound down to half time with both sides seemingly happy to trade long distance efforts until the half time whistle.

The second half saw Atlas do what Santos Laguna did not - come out and go for the jugular. And for this reason the second half was an exciting affair. Atlas came out with 4 up front and for long periods pinned back the hosts; but lady luck was most definitely smiling on Zitero’s side as Peruvian legend Roberto Palacios amazingly hit the bar twice in the opening 15 minutes of the second half.

Things just weren’t going Atlas’ way and they were getting desperate, throwing more and more men up front, and so it was no real surprise when América caught them on the counter attack. After an Atlas corner a long kick from Becerra found the three América forwards 3 on 2 with two despairing Atlas players; Blanco and Romário worked the ball beautifully to give Navia the chance and he did not dissapoint, firing home with his usual emphatic swing of the right foot to give the home side an undeserved and unassailable 4-0 lead.

Atlas, to their credit, kept pushing and got their reward only five minutes later when Carlos Maria Morales took advantage of some lax marking to get his head onto a Palacios corner to cut the deficit.

América were becoming sloppy and were letting runs go unchecked, and giving away chances. This lead to an inevitable second goal for Atlas. It came after Morales was played through by Gerardo Torres; Morales, clean through, was cynically chopped down by Becerra who somehow stayed on the field; only to be beaten by the ensuing penalty by the excellent Palacios.

With a whiff of an astounding draw in their nostrils Atlas went absolutely gung-ho for the last ten minutes; but the América defence, with a wake up call from those two goals, stood firm; in fact, in injury time America got another goal on the counter attack. With literally everybody other than Corona in the América box for a corner all Romário had to do was to wait in his own half (where, of course you cannot be off side) for Becerra to pluck one out the air. Becerra did, and launched the ball to Romário who - after something resemble a 50 yard shootout - slotted the ball into the net. Romário’s usual exuberant celebration saw him whip off his shirt to reveal a T-Shirt with the slogan, roughly translated as, ‘who’s laughing now PMLF?’.

América (MEX) (Navia 4, 66; Corona o.g 10; Esteche 22; Romário 90) 5 - 2 Atlas (Morales 76; Palacios pen 80)

The opening day at the Azteca could not have gone much better, we note while looking at the smiling faces in the home dressing room, and now, as much as the travel is irritating and disruptive, Zitero’s side can travel to Chicago in confident mood to face the excellent Monterrey side who won their first game of the season 3-0 away from home.

[The RingMaster]

August 2003

After such an emphatic victory, however fortuitous it was at points, the last thing Zander Zitero or his América (MEX) squad wanted was a trip back to Chicago. Nevertheless the match against the form team in Mexico - Monterrey is a vital fixture, and a must win fixture if América (MEX) are to harbour any Copa Libertadores dreams for 2004.

However, before we fast-forward to that decisive day in Chicago let us dwell over the desk of Zander Zitero, in his Azteca office and take note of his further transfer activity. These dealings, however, are not incoming, these transfer dealings will take players away from the Azteca - although the majority of these dealings are only for loan periods. One deal that is permanent is Carlos Infante’s move to fellow Mexican First Division side Querétaro for 100K; following the arrivals of Luiz Carlos and José Julián de la Cuesta, Infante has been rendered an obsolete tool and so the £100,000 received for the left back will be seen as good business.

Other pieces of paperwork on the bosses desk tell us that Zander Zitero has had to fight hard to keep a hold of Pavel Pardo - rejecting bids up to £3,000,000 from teams like Bordeaux, Southampton, Lyon and Heerenveen for the inspirational defensive midfielder.

People who are on their way before leaving for Chicago are four loan moves away from the Azteca for a season. Three of these names will not be familiar to the reader, although Zitero is hoping that the loan spells and consequential first team football will turn Daniel Molina, Manuel Saldana, and Jonathan Rosas into names that will roll off the tongue as easily as Blanco and Pardo as our tale progresses. Also farmed out on loan is - as we remember, not the managers favourite - Juan Mosqueda, it remains to be seen what the future holds for that young man.

With the transfer window now well and truly shut on our needy little fingers we can now turn our attention to América (MEX)'s continuing campaign to make it into the biggest competition of them all, the Copa Libertadores.

[The RingMaster]

August 2003

Chicago

Ah, here we are, back in the windy city, Chicago, Illinois. And as much as we, and the manager, and the players would love this match to be in a stadium in Mexico where the stadium would be bouncing with a capacity support of die hard fans you can’t change the rules.

The opposition, Monterrey, as we have said several times already look to be one of the best sides in Mexico this season. Their three results from the three competitive fixture they have played read: 5-1, 2-0, and 3-0. So, without wanting to overdo the whole ‘underdog’ vibe, América (MEX) will have a tough time tonight.

Before drifting into the stadium to witness this match let us take a look at how this group stands - bearing in mind that only the winners will progress to the next stage of qualifying for the Copa Libertadores 2004:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | Monterrey | | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 6 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | América (MEX) | | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 3 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Morelia | | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 3 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Santos Laguna | | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 9 | -8 | 0 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

With us now fully aware of the task ahead of América (MEX): knowing that only a 2-Goal or more win see them progress, let us drift into the Soldier Arena just in time for kick-off.

6/8/03

(PrePree Libertadores Phase, Group A, Final Fixture!) / América (MEX) Vs Monterrey / Soldier Field, Chicago

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Pardo, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco ©; SC - Romário, SC - Navia

Even in front of a measly 10,000 people - most of which with no idea as to the significance of this fixture - it was clear to see that the players were aware of what an important game this was. In the first ten minutes Monterrey produced the best chance with a great cross by Jesús Arellano finding the head of Alex Fernandes; unfortunately for Monterrery the Brazilian could only head the ball into the grateful arms of Becerra.

The tension continued as the clock ticked on, with it becoming evermore clear that the opening goal would be vital. Hence, when it finally came Zander Zitero was delighted it came from an América player. Romário to be precise; the Romário strike came from a lovely counter attack involving Martinez and Blanco, culminating in a great cross for the diminuitive Romário to head home and claim his second goal for the Mexico City giants.

It is fair to say that Monterrey were suffering from knowing that even a 1-0 defeat would see them through; they were playing like a team that did not know whether to play-to-win or defend and take a 1-0 defeat. Even considering this fact the match was by no means one way traffic and Guillermo Franco of Monterrey especially was causing all sorts of problems. All in all, approaching half time, this was still a tense, even match, and nobody could imagine what was to come in the next five minutes.

Just five minutes before the half-time whistle América (MEX) doubled their lead through captain Cuauhtémoc Blanco. Again - as has been such a feature so far this season - the front players linked up superbly with Navia playing a quick pass to Romário who slid the ball into Blanco, timing his run into the box to perfection, and rounding the goalkeeper with hypothermic coolness to put América (MEX) into a score line that would see them win the group.

Monterrey seemed shaken by the sudden realisation the were no longer in pole position in the group, and all of a sudden they went rather too attacking and became rather dishevelled and unorganised in defence when they should have been holding on for half time. Monterrey paid the price for their premature state of panic just three minutes later, as Navia made a great run - unchecked - and was found by a World class 40 yard cross field pass by Pardo; The Chilean hit man, one on one with the keeper, made no mistake by slotting the ball past Ricardo Martinez from 10 yards to put América (MEX) into a remarkable 3 goal first half lead.

Yet, that was not the end of the torment for an otherwise good Monterrey side who had lost their way in the latter stages of the second half. Right on the stroke of half time Esteche whipped in a great corner straight onto Navia’s head (and it is hard to even hazard a guess who was supposed to be marking him; there was no-one in his vicinity).Navia, to his credit, made no mistake in powering his free header emphatically into the top corner.

Teams, Managers, Supporters and Impartial observers are united in disbelief as to how América (MEX) can be leading 4-0 at half time of a match that was so even for so long.

The second half saw complete monopolisation of the attacking play by Monterrey as they chased 3 goals. However the half time period had obviously been used by Zander Zitero to organise defensively and for that reason the team in Yellow proved very hard to break down.

Again, as in the first half, Franco was the main threat for Monterrey and any shots that made it through the yellow wall usually came from the Number 10. However those efforts were usually saved by the excellent Becerra.

In the end Monterrey could not get even 1 goal back and América (MEX) claimed an amazingly flattering 4-0 win. To give you an idea of just how flattering - Becerra won man of the match. Nevertheless, in the end the only thing that really matters is that America (MEX) will leave Chicago with their hopes of participating in Copa Libertadores 2004 very much alive.

América (MEX) (Romário 17; Blanco 40; Navia 43, 45) 4 - 0 Monterrey

Before we head back to Mexico, let us see how the group stands after that remarkable 90 Minutes.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | Q | América (MEX) | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 6 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Monterrey | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 6 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Morelia | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 4 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Santos Laguna | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | -8 | 1 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

Incedentaly, the winner of Group B of this PrePre Libertadores Phase were Tigres, who - with both teams on 6 points going into the last game - defeated Toluca 2-0. So Tigres will accompany América (MEX) to the next phase of qualifying for the Copa Libertadores.

But let us, as hard as it is, put the race to participate in this fine competition to the back of our mind as we must now travel back to Mexico as the domestic calender is now preparing to get in to full swing.

[The RingMaster]

August 2003

Upon returning from Chicago - still in with every chance of participating in Copa Libertadores 2004 - morale was very high in the América (MEX) camp. It maybe an incredibly tedious cliché but: if you had offered this start to Zander Zitero a couple of weeks ago he would have taken it gladly.

Despite América (MEX)’s excellent start it must be remembered that in football you are only as good as you’re last result, and everything that has been good about the season will suddenly pale into insignificance if América (MEX) fail to keep up their good form against Tigres in a few days time.

However, before we concentrate on that league fixture, as we again loiter in the Managers office, we can see that interest in Pavel Pardo has reached fever pitch and Zander Zitero has decided to stop it once and for all. After a particularly derisory offer of £2,200,000 plus Goran Bunjecevic from Tottenham boss Jaques Santini, Zaner Zitero has decided to offer Pavel Pardo a new contract that will see him at América (MEX) until 2008; this contract will also see Pardo’s wage rise from 3,000 per week to 14,000 per week If Pardo accepts this contract - Zitero hopes - that should end all the speculation.

[The RingMaster]

August 2003

First of all, before we dash headlong into the evenings football, let us rest safe in the knowledge that Pavel Pardo happily accepted a new deal so - barring Roman Abramovich deciding he fancies a little Mexican destroyer - Pardo will be an América (MEX) player for the foreseeable future.

It is ironic that after so much concentration on the PrePre Libertadores Qualifying Phase, we now face the other team that made it to the next stage of qualifying. Not only that - and this is not ironic, just scary - they made it by winning all three games in their group, so they will provide a really tough task for the high flying América (MEX) side.

This fixture represents our first - Mexican based - away match of the season, and thus provides a new test for the inexperienced América (MEX) manager. Although, as we pass the away dressing room, we can see that the set up of the team is the same as it would be if this match was being played at the Azteca. Time would tell whether this was clever, brave, or naïve.

With that thought in our minds let us drift down the tunnel to the pitch side and set the scene which the players will soon run out to. 36,000 people, all decked out with their Tigre kits have packed into Tigre’s home ground for their first home game of the new campaign, there is a spectacular tefo display with yellow and blue streaks stretching over two tiers, there are flare which are omitting visually stunning streaks of yellow and blue smoke, and we are not even mentioning the sheer noise - and this is a crowd who will accept nothing other than a home win. And as the two teams emerge from the tunnel the realisation of the task in hand must have been hitting Las Ãguilas.

10/3/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #2)/ Tigres Vs América (MEX) / Estadio Universitario de Nueva León, Monterrey

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | América (MEX) | | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 3 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | | Tigres | | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 3 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Pardo, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco ©; SC - Romário, SC - Navia

In the majority of the games this season involving América (MEX), they have been the team to come out and set the tone of the match and create the early chances. However, this was their first away match and the pattern was turning out very differently. All the early pressure in this encounter was coming from Tigre’s and América (MEX) were being forced on to the back foot.

It was clear that being under the cosh is not a role América (MEX) are comfortable with and it took only 5 minutes for the host’s to open their home account for the season. A nicely worked move saw Walter Gaitan get some space on the left hand side; the former Boca man proceeded to whip in a great ball for Jesús Olalde to head home.

In a strange way that goal may have been a good thing for América (MEX) because Tigre’s calmed their pressure slightly and it gave América time to regroup - time they evidentially used well, as by the quarter hour mark the had the chance to equalise from the penalty spot. He decision itself was slightly dubious, with it being given for a push in the box on Navia; something that goes on all the time, but technically is a foul. Young de la Cuesta stepped up to face the penalty, the goalkeeper, and the home crowd. José Julián de la Cuesta blasted the ball to the keepers right hand side, however Campagnuolo guessed right and parried it…. straight back to the young Colombian who tapped the ball, with relief written all over his face, into the empty net to make it 1-1.

The next event in the match really was really the catalyst for everything that was to occur in the next 60 minutes. Right on the half hour mark José Antonio Castro decided that it would be a real hoot to throw an elbow at Walter Gaitan - who had been destroying him on the left by the way - and he was rightly sent off. Gaitan (a.k.a Lazarus) managed to get to his feet straight after Castro received his marching orders, when moments earlier he was ready to be carted off to the Morgue and the family were picking flower arrangements.

The sending off meant Zitero had to play one up front (Navia) and replace Romário with Salinas. The one up front situation became ever more of a handicap just moments later when - and let’s hear it for his 181 Caps folks - Claudio Suarez rose highest to head home a Saavedra corner and send the home crowd (already pumped up after the sending off) into delirium.

Just two minutes after Suarez’s header the match was put out of América’s reach as an Irenio through ball split open the brittle América (MEX) defence; and Andres Silvera latched onto it to fire the ball past the shell-shocked Becerra.

Poor Becerra was to get a lot more shell-shocked in the five minutes before half time as the América (MEX) defence descended into chaos and conceded two more goals. Firstly, on 40 minutes, Walter Gaitan’s first half tormenting of the América (MEX) culminated in a sweet strike from the edge of the area that found it’s way to the bottom corner, past a despairing Becerra. And then, right on the stroke of half time, Silvera grabbed his brace; rising ahead of de la Cuesta to head home from another Saavedra corner. In the second half América (MEX) would be playing for their decimated pride.

Over the half-time break Zitero made his final two changes: Patino for Chuy Mendoza and young Christian Zepeda for the isolated and ineffective Navia.

It is fair to say that América (MEX) have been the team to watch this season if you want to see good, attacking football, however they paid for their attacking-or-bust style in this game and were now trying to salvage some dignity from the wreckage of this fixture. In truth, against the backdrop of a taunting home crowd in celebration mode it was very difficult for Zitero’s men to rally themselves; although they did manage a consolation in injury time, with Christian Zepeda taking advantage of sloppy marking to steal a few yards in the box; Blanco found him with a neat ball in and the young man made no mistake in claiming his first senior goal for the club. Always a silver lining.

Tigres (Olalde 5; Suarez 30; Silvera 32, 45; Gaitan 40) 5 - 2 América (MEX) (de la Cuesta 15; Zepeda 90)

Only a few weeks into Zander Zitero’s reign and we have already witnessed two 5-2 scorelines; it seems his managerial career will be as exciting as his fleeting playing career. Mind you let’s not dwell to long in this place, otherwise we may be dragged down by the depression enveloping the away dressing room.

We, on the other hand can see the bigger picture: A good young player made a good impact and it was an even match until a moment of crass stupidity. We will now travel to Veracruz ahead of América (MEX)’s next fixture, and hopefully when we next rejoin Zander Zitero’s team they will exhibit the same confidence that we, the reader, still retain.

[The RingMaster]

August 2003

There was really no other word for América (MEX)’s mutilation against Tigres other than - Devastating. However, the old football adage goes that the best thing to get over a crushing defeat is another match in close proximity If that is truly the case then América (MEX) are in luck, because just three days after the Mauling in Monterrey they line-up for some weekday football.

It is fair to say that América (MEX) would have preferred to be back at the Azteca as they try to recover their league form, but nevertheless an away game against Veracruz is what the calendar has thrown up, and it is what América (MEX) must now contend with, albeit without the idiotic Castro, who‘s place will be taken by Angel Gonzalez, against the team who sit third in the table, having won both matches and not conceded a goal.

As we drift over the Estadio Luis “Pirata†Fuentes we can see that Veracruz’s good start to the season has captured the public’s imagination, with over 33,000 people crammed into the simplistic, square arena. And that crowd is just about at fever pitch, with the two teams taking the field and kick-off fast approaching.

13/8/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #3)/ Veracruz Vs América (MEX) / Estadio Luis “Pirata†Fuentes, Veracruz

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Veracruz | | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 6 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th | | América (MEX) | | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Gonzalez, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Pardo, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco ©; SC - Romário, SC - Navia

After such an emphatic defeat at the hands of Tigre’s it is no surprise that América (MEX) came out the more cautious of the two sides; and to their credit it worked, with the first quarter of this match being very dull indeed, with both sides trading yellow cards and the odd long range effort; of which Archie (?) Flores of Veracruz came closest.

On the half hour mark América (MEX) created their best chance after an Esteche cross caused a scramble in the Veracruz area, the ball popped out to Pardo; who crashed the ball off the top of the bar and out from the edge of the penalty area.

On the stroke of half time all of América (MEX)’s good work was almost undone as a piece of slack marking - again - at a corner saw the big Veracruz centre-back, Joel Sanchez, given a free header 6 yards out; his header somehow thundered off the post and bounced to safety, leaving a very relieved América side to happily head inside for the break.

At half time, with Reinaldo Navia having another poor game, Zander Zitero decided, in the name of fairness, to give Christian Zepeda the chance he had earned in his fleeting appearance in the last game. The next 45 minutes would tell how he would fare in a match where everything is still to play for.

The second half begun with Veracruz very much in the ascendancy, especially with Matute Morales proving a real handful from midfield - and forcing 2 quality saves from Becerra in the first 5 minutes of the second half. Another chance came and went for Veracruz as a hopeful long ball was not cleared properly and the awkwardly bouncing ball gave Walter Jimenez a chance from the edge of the area, but his half volley flew wide of the post.

After 20 minutes of Veracruz dominance Christian Zepeda finally got his chance to take the spotlight, as Blanco played a delicious reverse through ball to the 18 year old just inside the box; Zepeda held off some grasps at his shirt to get a shot off, which went straight into the arms of Damián Grosso. But remarkably the referee showed amazing courage in pulling the play back for a tug on Zepeda’s shirt. It was a remarkably brave decision and it gave América (MEX) a vital chance to break the deadlock. José Julián de la Cuesta stepped up again, the man who, technically, missed his last penalty, and with a swing of his left foot he banished those memories and sent Grosso the wrong way to give América (MEX) an invaluable lead.

América (MEX) seemed to gather confidence and momentum from that opener and only 4 minutes later they managed to double their lead through Romário. Esteche played a beautiful ball up the right wing to after a great run made by Zepeda; Zepeda, in turn, done well to reach the bi-line; and his hanging cross was headed towards goal by the surprisingly towering figure of Blanco, and when his header was parried, Romário showed his predatory instincts to make it 2-0.

Things were falling apart for the home side and things only got worse when the inspirational Matute Morales - already on a booking - was sent off after petulantly kicking the ball away. As Morales trudged down the tunnel, all of Veracruz’s hopes of a comeback went with him. For the last ten minutes the match was something of a non-event - to the delight of Zander Zitero who now had a very, very respectable away win under his belt.

Veracruz 0 - 2 América (MEX) (de la Cuesta pen 67; Romário 72)

[The RingMaster]

Noctember 3456

Zander Zitero wasn’t quite sure how he got to where he was at this moment in time, he wasn’t even sure where he was; but where ever it was it had a bad vibe about it... nothing to worry about though - just the dark, and the rain, and the full moon. Zander, in a state of understandable confusion, attempts to get his bearings; he was in some sort of park, a massive park in the dead of night. The moon was painting him and the surrounding area a disturbing shade of white; around him, all Zander sees, are gravestones. After managing to adjust his eyesight, Zander can see that there are gravestones as far as he can see - he is in a graveyard.

Zander continues, not letting the fact he has no idea how he got into this graveyard slow him down. Our Zander is being drawn to one tombstone, it is strange - the combination of the moon and the trees manage to create an illusion by way the this tombstone is circled by a ring of light. It is not even the ring of light which tells Zander to makes his way towards the tombstone; there is just something in his heart that tells him he must see this tombstone, this apparently generic 1 of 1000 tombstone.

As Zander approaches the beckoning tombstone he sees a single dead lily; so thin and brittle that it was almost invisible. Soon Zander’s focus had been taken from the lily to the tombstone itself; and the tombstone, after beckoning Zander Zitero this far, proceeded to stab an icy dagger into his heart and bring him to his knees:

“Here lies Aleksander Zitero.

Thief, Drug Dealer, Delinquent.

Scourge of Mexico.

Disgrace to the proud name of Ziteroâ€

At this moment - shaking, with the warm tears streaming down his face the only thing stopping him from turning into a block of ice - Zander Zitero heard cackling, it had been in this place all along, but before it was distant - now it was right behind him. Zander - a petrified wreck - slowly turned round; Zander, who was still on his knees facing the Earth, slowly brought his eyes up to meet the figures before him.

The figures before him do not have names, they can hardly even be described. They were…. things; they had the bodies of human’s, but the head’s of vultures, smiling vultures; smiling, laughing vultures. And in their human hands they carried Dictaphones and notepads and pencils; mobile phones - just ready for that big story - were visible in their jacket pockets; jackets which were clothing their human bodies. Nevertheless, the heads gave them away - vultures they were. One of which was beginning to speak to him as he rose tentatively to his feet.

In a high pitch squawk one of the things stated concisely “get in†and nodded his head in almost comical fashion to the area behind Zander; Zander turned around in horror, the grave where he was kneeling moments earlier was now a gaping, welcoming hole in the ground just waiting for him. “Get in†one of the creatures squawked more impatiently. “No, oh God, no, please†Zander pleaded, but it was no use, and as he turned round to face the creatures once more, he saw - through the distortion of his tears - that an axe had materialised in one of the creatures hands; and without giving Zander a chance to speak it planted the axe into his chest cavity. A small mercy would have been for Zander to die immediately, but no, Zander felt, with horrifying consciousness, himself stumbling backwards and falling into the open grave.

As Zander lay, on his back in his open grave he felt the shadow of one of the creatures cast over him, preparing to finish the job. The creature raised the axe well above his vulture-head, uttered the words “it’s your legacy†and threw the axe with the force of a thousand men down the 6 feet where it split Zander Zitero’s skull in two like a watermelon.

Zander Zitero woke up with a scream, we can presume that was axe splitting his skull open. Oh yes, papi’s got issues - Zander had the Tombstone / Vultures / Legacy dream again, it is a recurring one, although it never does get any more pleasant. It seems there will be many-a ghost to exorcise before this tale has run it‘s course.

[The RingMaster]

August 2003

Zander had been up since about 4 a.m. In all honesty he was glad it was a match day, there is nothing worse than having a whole empty day to ponder over the blindingly obvious meaning of his dreams; at least today he could continue his quest to banish them forever.

After the thoroughly respectable win over Veracruz three days ago, América (MEX) were back on track in the league - and better than that, today they were back at the Azteca. A stadium which Zander Zitero has no doubts will prove to be an absolute fortress over the seasons to come. The visitors to Fortress Azteca today would be Atlante - who were without a win, a point, or a goal prior to kick-off.

Mind you, from the moment he entered the office today there were signs that this match would not be the piece of cake it perhaps seemed on paper. This morning, the ever-enigmatic genius (quickly place your bets; Romário or Blanco) - Cuauhtémoc Blanco decided to make an appearance in the office of Mr Zander Zitero; where he decided to air his concerns that the club may be forced to sell their best players; despite being told that would not happen as the club did not need the money, Blanco - clearly influenced by the ‘Pardo’s offski’ media - made it clear that he has told his agent to find him another club; a more ‘suitable club to join‘, which no doubt meant he fancied one big pay day in Europe before he calls it a day. Typical.

Time would tell if Blanco was just making an idle threat or genuinely on the verge of leaving América (MEX). Although he was right that some players would be moving on, but they will be different players, and for another reason entirely, which we shall go into some other time. For now, however, we must make haste to the Azteca to see if - and if so, how badly - the Blanco situation effects the performance of the team.

17/8/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #4)/ América (MEX) Vs Atlante / Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | América (MEX) | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 6 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 20th | | Atlante | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | -6 | 0 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco; SC - Romário, SC - Navia

As you would expect after two extremely tough games on the road, the América (MEX) team looked very happy to be back on home soil; with them doing the attacking from the first whistle, charging like a bull towards the terrified eyes of the oppositions defence looking for that early goal.

And we will never see the ‘petrified defence’ in effect more than this match against confidence-deficient Atlante. Sheer terror can really be the only logical explanation for the fact that hobbit-like Romário managed to ‘tower’ above a defender on the 5th minute from a Mendoza cross to give América the most blatantly inevitable lead in the history of world football (other than maybe that Sneijder opener against Scotland at the ArenA).

Atlante did well to hold out for another 15 minutes as the wall of highly inept footballers held firm. However, unbelievably Romário, with another header popped up to double the lead. No towering this time though; just good ol’ fashion incompetent marking from a cross allowing the Brazilian (and possibly América (MEX) after this match is finished) legend to nod home at the back post.

The rest of the second half would have been respectable for Atlante, if not for two facts: they failed to get a single shot; they got two men sent off. Nothing malicious though, just similar - in keeping with Atlante’s performance - rather clumsy, oafish second bookings for both Edgar Solano and Abdalá Bucaram.

The second half, with the already very poor Atlante down to nine men, was expected to turn into something of a massacre; and with the tens of thousands of América (MEX) fans baying for blood and giving a metaphorical Roman thumbs-down the men a yellow went a head with the kill.

On the 49th minute, even the resident ****-stirring ex-captain got in on the act; after getting to the bi-line beautifully, Esteche cut a cute ball back to Judas, who slotted the ball into the corner from around the penalty spot - no doubt impressing any scouts in the crowd ready to offer him the 30 pieces of silver he so craves.

Just 5 minutes later the evergreen Romário claimed his first hat trick in an América (MEX) shirt; A lovely through ball by loyal captain Pavel Pardo splitting open the utterly disheartened Atlante defence for Romário to latch onto and slip past Rafael Cuevas who was beginning to wonder what the point was.

Keeping up momentum when 4-0 up is a tough task so after Romário’s hat trick the game went through an understandable phase of hibernation for 20 minutes - in which period Atlante still never managed a shot - before giving the fans a final show. That final show was started by the man who had been the undoubted star of the show throughout - Romário; who again latched on to a through ball, this time played by that No 10 guy, before skilfully taking the ball to one side of the keeper and firing the ball into the consequential gaping hole.

Reinaldo Navia - a notable under performer in the two games away from the Azteca - got the goal that should see him back on the goal trail to finish up the scoring on 80 minutes; after he was the only one that attacked a nicely whipped in ball from Chuy Mendoza to power the ball home from - an impressive distance for a header - 15 yards.

América (MEX) (Rómario 5, 20, 54, 78; Blanco 49; Navia 80) 6 - 0 Atlante

Despite the fact it was against a very poor looking Atlante side, you can’t really argue with a 6-0 win. And nobody in the buzzing América (MEX) dressing room was trying to at this moment in time. Nothing chases the bad dreams away better than a thumping victory that re-affirms you’re belief that you’ll get where you want to be going. Oh yes, Zander would sleep well tonight.

……… Or maybe not. It’s just Mexico has these really tight rules on foreign players, and América (MEX) has a lot so Zander has to kind of have a clearout, and figure out who to……… oh well, no rest for the wicked, eh Zand.

[PMLF]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> who’s laughing now PMLF?’. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am glad Romário is playing so well although I would never sign a playwer that is so old.

I am also glad you qualified your team to Copa Libertadores. The groups will be announced on January 15th.

[The RingMaster]

*PMLF: First of all, great to have you still reading along and hopefully enjoying the story. Wouldn’t usually sign 37 year olds myself, but needs must, and América (MEX) have a surprisingly weak squad, he’s just a stop gap really (although a very good one at the moment). Also, I actually think I have one more phase of qualifying for the Libertadores to go: where América (MEX) and winners of Group B, Tigres go into a group with two Venezuelan teams, and the top two go through to the Copa. At least now I know when the draw for it is - just hope I’m in it. Keep enjoying, views and comments are alwayd appreciated.

August 2003

Zander Zitero really should be on top of the World at the moment; he is just off the back of an emphatic 6-0 win and his managerial career has started better than most people would have imagined. However, there is one aspect where our legendary friend has displayed naïveté - and that is when dealing with the foreigner situation.

In a match squad for a Mexican league you are only allowed 5 foreign players; and with Rojas, de la Cuesta, Esteche, Romário and Navia that represents all the spaces taken up. Hence Zander cannot put any foreigners on the bench - which is why you have not read much about players like Franky Oviedo this season, until now.

Zander Zitero has taken the difficult step of Transfer listing Franky Oviedo, Oscar Ariel Gonzalez and even recent signing Luiz Carlos. Zander Zitero has also terminated the loan contract of Montevideo Wanderers forward Sergio Blanco. The obvious thinking behind these decisions being that there is no point having these players if the laws of the division mean they cannot even get on the bench.

We can be assured that this will not mean that a zero-foreigner policy will be implemented from now on as, for example, Rojas (temporary replacement for Davino) and Romário are not long term first team players and the eventual moving on of them will free up space in the future for real quality foreign players to join América (MEX); but they’d have to be real quality, a stipulation the previous managers have not adhered to, and as a consequence facilitated this clear out.

In the mean time it will give even more chance for young Mexican players like Christian Zepeda, Diego Encarnación and José Raymundo Valencia to shine. The real future of América (MEX).

[PMLF]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> *PMLF: First of all, great to have you still reading along and hopefully enjoying the story. Wouldn’t usually sign 37 year olds myself, but needs must, and América (MEX) have a surprisingly weak squad, he’s just a stop gap really (although a very good one at the moment). Also, I actually think I have one more phase of qualifying for the Libertadores to go: where América (MEX) and winners of Group B, Tigres go into a group with two Venezuelan teams, and the top two go through to the Copa. At least now I know when the draw for it is - just hope I’m in it. Keep enjoying, views and comments are alwayd appreciated. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

In CM 03-04 the Mexican teams (as like in real life don't need to play a preliminary rounds against the Venezuelan anymore. You go straigth to the Group Stage.

Too bad you have too many foreigners and have to sell some of them (especially Oviedo).

[The RingMaster]

That's good to hear mate, and ta for setting me straight. And, yeah, it is a shame I have to sell quality players like Oviedo - let's just hope I get a good price.

[The RingMaster]

August 2003

Considering the last match América (MEX) played was 6-0 victory Zander Zitero should really have spent this week in something of an euphoric state. It is unfortunate that this was the week he had to learn how ruthless you have to be to be a football manager. Breaking the news to 4 people that they don’t have futures at one of the biggest clubs in Mexico - only months before participating in the biggest continental competition around - is tough stuff, and to be honest Zander Zitero had not enjoyed it one little bit.

One piece of good news had gone someway to balancing out his mood, news from the *ahem* Mexican Football Federation is that the two group winners of the PrePre Libertadores phase - Tigres and América (MEX)- will go straight into the Copa Libertadores; as oppose to having to go into a 4 team group with two Venezuelan teams - of which the top two would make it into the Libertadores, as was the way in the past.

Once more, however, we - and Zander Zitero - must put the Copa Libertadores in the back of our minds; as must we put those unfortunate transfer listed players, because América (MEX) have been on their travels, and we find ourselves in Pachuca.

Pachuca’s Estadio Hidalgo beckons us inside. We can see that the player’s have already congregated in the tunnel area. As we look at the players in the dark blue and white kits there are not too many household names - Harald Lozano would probably be the best known player outside Mexico, but there can be no doubts that Pachuca have quality sprinkled all over the pitch; whether household names or not.

Pavel Pardo leads out América (MEX) for the second game running after Cuautémoc Blanco stated he had instructed his agent to find him a more suitable (£) club and was stripped of the armband, nonetheless the enigmatic forward is two or three players back in the line, waiting to once again fill his ‘hole’ position. In fact the team is unchanged from the last match - as has been the case for much of the season; with Zitero clearly believing a consistent line-up to be the key to success this season.

As the two teams emerge to a deafening reception we would soon see if Zitero’s consistent line-up could get a result in Pachuca.

24/8/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #5)/ Pachuca Vs América (MEX) / Estadio Hidalgo, Pachuca

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | América (MEX) | | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 7 | +9 | 9 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th | | Pachuca | | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 4 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco; SC - Romário, SC - Navia

The opening spell of this fixture was certainly an eventful period, although none of the events would have particularly pleased Zander Zitero. Pachuca came out of the block by far the quicker, as you might expect from the home team, and took only 2 minutes to come close to breaking the deadlock. Marinho Ledesma finding himself free in the box about 10 yards out - but from a tight angle he could only hit the side netting.

A few long range efforts came and went for Pachuca before América (MEX) suffered a real loss - with Reinaldo Navia having to be stretchered off. It will only be known after full time or not whether the injury is serious, but is certainly a big loss for the next 80 minutes of this game. It was nearly a double blow as only 2 minutes after Zepeda replaced Navia Pachuca nearly scored; Harold Lozano getting a free header from a corner and flashing wide from 5 yards when he really should have scored.

There was no doubt relief from Zander Zitero when América eached 20 minutes without conceding; and there must have been comparitive orgasmic joy when the men in yellow actually made it out there own half. Indeed, a ten minute spell of pressure followed where Blanco and Zepeda had decent headed chances, both from Chuy Mendoza crosses and Pardo shot over he bar from the edge of the box.

However, right at the end of this period of sustained pressure the breakthrough finally came. América (MEX) scarcely deserved it but if you don’t take you’re chances when you are on top you pay for it - Pachuca had just had those sentiments re-affirmed. It came through another great free kick from Esteche, perhaps bettering the one he nailed on opening day at the Azteca - from around 25 yards Esteche showed great composure in the hostile atmosphere to calmly curl the ball over the wall and past the statuesque figure of Miguel Calero.

For the rest of the half América showed limited ambition, choosing instead to make sure they got to half time ahead - which they succeeded in doing. But there would be no celebratory atmosphere in the away dressing room yet; the players and manager alike had seen enough in the half to suggest that this game was far from over.

This opinion that the match was not over was emphasised in the first ten minutes when Pachuca got in three very handy efforts - all on target; the best of which came from Eduardo Oetling, who curled the ball beautifully towards the bottom corner from the edge of the box and forced a stunning save from - now undoubtedly - the América (MEX) no.1 (he’s no.12 actually, but you know what I mean) Alberto Becerra.

With Pachuca at the height of their pressure you would presume that América (MEX) would be looking to hang on for their life - but no, when the opportunity came the men in yellow were counter attacking with all their vigour; and that is how the most unlikely 2nd goal came about, only minutes after Becerra’s wondersave. The swift counter attack came after Rojas nicked the ball away from Ledesma well and fed Pardo; Pardo’s nice ball up to Blanco put Zepeda and Blanco in a 2 against 3 situation and they worked it beautifully; with Zepeda making the perfect run and Blanco finding the perfect pass to put the 18 year old clean through; and the rest was always a forgone conclusion - this kid is a natural finisher and lashed the ball past Miguel Calero.

So far this performance was straight out of the ‘away performance textbook’ and Zitero clearly thought this game would now be a case of hitting Pachuca on the break; and so he brought on the sprightly, pacy young Diego Encarnación for Romário who had played 7 consecutive games for the full 90 minutes and one can only assume he must have been starting to feel the burn by now.

Pachuca continued to press forward and push more and more men up the field - and América continued the clever tactic of having Blanco, Zepeda and Encarnación always up the field as an out ball and a great opportunity for counter attacking. The willing Ledesma came close a couple of times from the edge of the area, but in all honesty not much came close to actually piercing the narrow back four, with Mendoza and Esteche acting as wingback, and with Pardo in front of the backline.

4 minutes from the end, with Pachuca’s desperation most evident, América’s counter attacking tactic worked to a tee. Blanco and co. found themselves 3 on 3 with the same poor three players that were sliced open by Blanco and Zepeda on 55 minutes; and they were to be shredded again. Blanco played Zepeda through at an angle at about the edge of the box; a little dink in to the box would have found Encarnación free around the penalty spot, but Zeped decided to have a shot; his shot was rather clumsily parried by Calero - straight into the path of Diego Encarnación who, from 12 yards, grabbed a dream debut goal.

Pachuca 0 - 3 América (MEX) (Esteche 30; Zepeda 55; Encarnación 86)

Considering the shot count read 10-6 in favour of the home side, many would suggest this was a slightly fortuitous victory for América; but, in truth, this was a tactical battle which Zander Zitero won hands down. He had his side well drilled from the start to keep a clean sheet, and when they got the break through he made his side even harder to break down while keeping the capacity to counter attack, and, hence still score goals.

For the first time Zander had shown the tactical know-how to show he could make it in Europe. One day.

[The RingMaster]

August 2003

While América (MEX) are in good form, and looking like they’ll be challenging high up the table we should perhaps looks a little bit closer at the structure of the league: Basically there are two stages - an Opening Stage and a Closing stage, both comprising of 19 games, and to be honest you’re best to just consider those two stages as two different Championships, so in theory every year you have two chances to win a championship - whether it be opening or closing stage (It may seem like a foreign concept but it‘s dead simple - instead of one big championship in a season, á la Europe; in most countries in this part of the Word they have two littler Championships). To win the league it is not as simple as just coming top - oh no. The top 8 teams in the league go into a knockout tournament, and the winner wins the league.

While we’ve been gibbering over the structure of the league, time has been racing on and - only three days after their textbook away win against Pachuca - América (MEX) are back in Mexico City; back in the Azteca to host Jaguares.

Given América (MEX)’s recent form and their barnstorming performances at the Azteca so far this season not too many people were betting on Jaguares to leave the mighty Azteca with anything other than a sound beating. That, however, is not a sentiment being echoed by Zander Zitero as we drift quietly into the home dressing room. As we look at the blackboard we can see that the team will line-up with the usual diamond formation, a tactic that has seemed to work very well so far this season. As we look at the Starting XI scribbled up on the board we see that Number 44 - Christian Zepeda has been given his first start of the season (one look into the Directors box and we’ll see Reinaldo Navia in a plaster cast after being stretchered off against Pachuca, he‘ll not be back for a month).

There is also plenty of respect being given to the Jaguares side in this dressing room, as we bring our eyes along the blackboard, past the América (MEX) formation and starting eleven, we can see that players like Salavador Cabanas and Lucio Filomeno have been singled out - we can also see the probable Jaguares 4-4-2 formation on the blackboard. All precautions to make sure América (MEX) don’t slip up when they emerge from the tunnel any moment from now.

27/8/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #6)/ América (MEX) Vs Jaguares / Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | América (MEX) | | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 7 | +12 | 12 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Jaguares | | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 10 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco; SC - Romário, SC - Zepeda

América (MEX) started the game in surprisingly sluggish fashion, with none of the swashbuckling football our the reader has come to expect from Zitero’s side. Nevertheless they did create a couple of chances; one cutback from Mendoza to Blanco was hit straight at the keeper; and the ever-willing-to-shoot Pavel Pardo smashed and effort just wide of the post.

With América (MEX) clearly not firing on all cylinders Jaguares began to gain in confidence and after a lull in the game they came back the strongest; Cabanas played a lovely one-two with David Rangel which brought Cabanas into the box; his subsequent shot had Becerra beaten, but not the post, and the ball bounded out of the danger area - with América (MEX) shaken in the knowledge they were the width of a post from going behind.

Jaguares’ pressure seemed to spur América onto one last pr-half time push and they really should have went in ahead. A beautiful through ball by Esteche found Romário in space in the box, and with the defenders charging to close down the shot the Brazilian used all the experience of his years to fake the shot and cut the ball along to Zepeda, and in acres of space only 8 yards out the youngster dragged the ball horribly wide.

América (MEX) continued to dominate the second half and create the odd decent chance, but it was clear they were missing that flair, that exuberance that had defined their previous matches; and as time dragged on a 0-0 looked on the cards.

On 60 Minutes Zitero replaced the ineffective Zepeda with Encarnación, after the youngster failed to build on the promise of his substitute appearances on his first start. Zitero’s hope was now that his other young forward could inject a bit of life into the game.

In all honesty Encarnación was well marshalled and didn’t really get a kick until the closing stages when a Romário shot was deflected over to him on the angle of the box; Encarnación hit a sweet strike but it was straight down the throat of Omar Ortiz, who had played very well in the Jaguares goal, dealing with whatever has come his way.

As injury time approached it would take a very brave man to bet on either side winning it; it would take a crazy man to bet on Jaguares winning it considering América (MEX) were the only team pushing forward. There are now a lot of wealthy inhabitants of insane asylums. It all comes about because Israel Martinez gives away a stupid free kick near the corner flag when the Jaguares player is going nowhere; the Brazilian substitute - Tiba swings in a great ball and big right back Omar Rodriguez heads Jaguares into 88th minute lead at the Azteca. Sorry, was that a pin dropping?

As had been the case (although the stats showed 8 shots on target) all through the night: América (MEX) just did not have the creativity in injury time to steal back a point from a match they most definitely should not have lost and they succumbed to their first home defeat of the season.

América (MEX) 0 - 1 Jaguares (Rodriguez 88)

A quick peek into the home dressing room after the final whistle and we can sense a cross between dejection and disbelief; ‘there is no way we should have lost that match’ is the general consensus in the dressing room; with the players’ mood not being helped by the vague sounds of Jaguares players celebrating moving up to a very impressive 3rd place for a team noticeably absent of many star names.

Nevertheless the good thing is that there will be no time to dwell; at this time in the season the games come thick and fast, and in only three days time we shall bring the curtain down on the month of August with Zander Zitero and his América (MEX) side in the Ironically named Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla.

[SI]

This is great, very impressed

[Wag]

Just caught up with this and I have to agree with SI.

Enjoying this alot

[PMLF]

Thirded. It is a very good story.

[The RingMaster]

SI, Wag & PMLF: Thanks a lot to all three of you guys, it’s always nice to get good feedback and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

August 2003

Zander Zitero is quite a forward thinking person, and it is because of that he can take a bad result and not panic too much. Indeed, in the three days prior to the match in Puebla, Zander Zitero’s reasoning has deducted that the loss against Jaguares could actually be a good thing; something of a wake up call to temper the excitement caused by some of the great performances by Zitero‘s side, because the fact of the matter is: América (MEX) do not have a good squad. That is illustrated by the match against Jaguares: one injury to a striker and they were relying on a youngster; facts like these make it obvious that Zitero has a long job on his hands to make América (MEX) a real force in Mexico and in South American continental competition - and in the mean time any success is simply a bonus.

Then after he has achieved that success he can look to rebuild his name in Europe; but’s lets halt, we’re digressing.

As we mentioned earlier, Christian Zepeda came in for Reinaldo Navia in the last game and did not play very well; it is perhaps the case that he is not quite ready for a starting berth; that is certainly what Zander Zitero thinks as he has put the transfer listed (but still undeniably quality) Franky Oviedo into replace Zitero (with Navia out, there is a foreigner space). Also evident on the dressing room bench, ready to head out on to the Estadio Cuauhtemoc turf is Raul Salinas who replaces the suspended Ricardo Rojas in defence.

The culmination of August has seen several fixtures played in extremely close succession, and as both teams make their way out onto the park they will no doubt be looking to end the month, and go into an 8 day gap without a game, with a good win.

30/8/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #7)/ Puebla Vs América (MEX) / Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | América (MEX) | | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 8 | +11 | 12 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 19th | | Puebla | | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 | -8 | 4 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Salinas ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco; SC - Romário, SC - Oviedo

After the match against Jaguares the last thing Zander Zitero would have wanted to hear would be ‘América (MEX) are favourites’, nevertheless they were favourites, and playing the team 19th in the league - away from home or not - the travelling América fans, as well as the ones sitting at home expected a handsome win.

América (MEX) showed some of that attacking verve that was missing against Jaguares straight from the kick-off; with a nice interchange between the two front men culminating in Romário having a decent shot on goal after only 36 seconds.

Oviedo was linking up well with Romário and Blanco, and looking very handy indeed; in fact after the 6th minute you could replace ‘handy’ with an even more flattering term as the Colombian internationalist opened the scoring. Romário played a nice ball down the wing to Esteche; and the Paraguayan wing-King swung in a great ball which Oviedo leapt majestically to head in.

América (MEX) were looking a lot more like the side we witnessed before the blip at home to Jaguares, with the men in yellow playing all the football and creating all the chances; with Oviedo, Romário and Esteche all having chances in the first quarter of the game. This dominance was finally illustrated where it counts after 25 minutes with a second goal for América. This one coming from - the criminally ineffective in the last match - Cuauhtémoc Blanco after the number 10 was fed the ball on the edge of the box; the playmaker simply shifted the ball onto his left foot and finished with admirable composure.

If América (MEX) had just tightened up for 10 minutes and preserved that 2 goal lead there would have been no problem; but one can only assume América underestimated the home side and decided they weren’t a threat to get a goal back. This turned out to be a bad decision and within 2 minutes of going to up they were pegged back by a Luis Ignacios Quinteros header from a great cross by Venezuelan star Juan Arango. After pulling one back Puebla gained the momentum from that point onwards and in a remarkable turn around América (MEX) were the happier to hear the shrill half time whistle of Senor Francisco Javier Caspeta.

In the immediate minutes after the break Puebla continued to be in the ascendancy, pushing América (MEX) backwards, and generally looking the more likely side, without creating too many clear cut chances. However, the direction of the game changed when América won a corner; Esteche swung it in and Chuy Mendoza was bundled over in the box, leaving the referee no choice but to blow for the penalty. At the beginning of the season there was no real order of penalty takers, but young de la Cuesta seems rather keen on the job and seems quite good at it; and our Colombian penalty taker dispatched the ball nicely out of the reach of Oscar Duatt who, to his credit, guessed the right way.

At this point we, for the first time to be fair, evidence of why Pueble are second from bottom of the table; the heads dropped and for the next 5 minutes they let themselves get absolutely pummelled by the wave of yellow attackers; so much so that it was actually rather merciful when Romário blasted in from close range to make it 4-1.

América (MEX) eased off the gas a little bit, although in the remainder of the half the could have feasibly had another 4 or 5 goals against the dejected strugglers, with Romário missing two good chances, Oviedo having a shot well saved, and Esteche hitting the bar with a free kick.

Never mind all that though. The real excitement came on the 90th minute when Puebla striker Eudalio Arriaga - presumably because he was so bored after 90 minutes of not seeing the ball - decided to punch Chuy Mendoza in the face and was sent off; and it was even such a good punch it provoked one of the commentators to proclaim “it was a great punch, too!!â€, gee, in that case, well done Eudalio.

Puebla (Quinteros 27) 1 - 4 América (MEX) (Oviedo 6; Blanco 25; de la Cuesta pen 52; Romário 57)

One look in the away dressing room of the impressive Estadio Cuauhtémoc come full time will tell us the players were celebrating the return of an old friend: attacking, free flowing football, and goals.

However, if we focus on Zander Zitero we can see - as he so often is - he is in deep concentration; we can only guess what is going through his mind; but if we follow Zander’s line of sight across to the Number 8 clutching his bottle of extremely well earned champagne we can presume that he is giving yet more consideration to the future of man of the match winning Colombian Franky Oviedo; a man who’s performance today has dictated that his future might not be so clear cut after all.

[The RingMaster]

September 2003

Our timing is poor. As we drift into Zander Zitero’s office in the Estadio Azteca we can see that the boss is on the phone; but then again the way he had been working in the past few days it would be hard to find a point in the day when he’s not on the phone to somebody. We are certainly not so naïve to think that Zander would be in relaxation mode on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean for the 8 days before América (MEX)’s next match, but it would be fair to say we expected the former Mexican international to have some respite after such a hectic start to the season. This has not been the case.

Zander Zitero has spent much of his time, during this spell without a match, calling around clubs an enquiring as to the prices of some players he considers as targets. As we hover over Zander’s desk we can see some pieces of paper with names underlined, names who we can only presume are targets for Zander Zitero; names such as: Eduardo Rergis, Héctor Altamirano, Óscar Mascorro, and beside these names, in brackets are c. £5 Million which suggests that Zitero‘s enquiries have seen these men priced slightly outside of his range.

As we look further down we can see names crossed out in red pen, presumably because they are now ex-targets; names such as: Ramoncita Morales, Jesús Arellano, Juan Carlos Cacho and César Delgado, all of which have £11 Million + beside their names - suggesting these players price tags will mean they never pull on the famous yellow jersey of América (MEX).

The respective pieces of paper that have the names of the players above on them have been somewhat pushed to one side; we can see his attention has been more focused on the sheet of paper directly in front of his, headed Bosmans. On this sheet of paper we can perhaps see the players most likely to possibly arrive at the Azteca, we can tell this by Zander Zitero’s quaint little happy faces and ticks littered around the names; names like: Inigo Rey, Conejo Pérez, Juan Francisco Palencia, Oswaldo Sanchez, and Claudio Suárez. We can assume that not all of these players will be América (MEX) players next season, but we can also assume a couple of them will be - especially Inigo Rey; we can tell by decorative stars and multiple underlining of this kids name that Zander Zitero is very keen on the 19 year old striker and will be looking to pull out ll the stops to make him an América (MEX) player for the season 2004/05.

However Bosmans do not sign until next June, and cannot be procured until late December/ early January so we can expect more imminent signings for when the transfer window opens in December. That would be the explanation for the literally hundreds of names on the 3 or 4 sheets marked ‘attainable’, however much of these prospective new signings depended on the futures of ‘the Foreign 3’.

Franky Oviedo as we expected has had his future resolved this week - It was decided that he would not play enough football over the two years remaining on his contract to justify keeping him so the Colombian international will move to Morelia when the transfer window opens on the 20th of December for a fee of £800,000. Oscar Ariel Gonzalez has also had his future resolved over the past few days - the average Argentinean simply is not good enough - in the eyes of Zander Zitero - to hold a foreigner spot at this club and he will move to Cruz Azul for a handy £300,000 when the transfer window re-opens Finally, Luiz Carlos, a man who’s very name makes Zander Zitero think back and wonder what he was thinking; has moved to Ponte Preta for £50,000 this week because the Brazilian transfer window has not yet closed.

It is fair to say that the week when there was no football to be played was one of the busiest weeks for Zander Zitero - three outgoing players and countless prospective new signings, although nothing concrete yet. However - as Zander is well aware of as he comes of the phone with the Chairman of Puebla - the transfer window does not open until December and right now the Mexican Opening Stage Championship, and the upcoming match against Toluca is most definitely the top priority at the moment.

[The RingMaster]

September 2003

With vital América (MEX) stars Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Pavel Pardo both feeling a little tired after the Puebla match it was undoubtedly a good time to have an eight day break before the next fixture in the league; a fixture which brings us back to the Estadio Azteca with both América (MEX) and Toluca well rested and raring to go after a hectic culmination of August.

A plus point coming into this match for Zander Zitero is a player called Christian Ramirez, who was frozen out of the América (MEX) team by the previous manager, but the 25 year old centre back has impressed in the reserves so far this season and has been promoted to the first team squad; in truth he looks a better centre back than Salinas, but we will have to see how he copes in the full team; to use a cliché: it is like a new signing.

That virtual new signing we mentioned could be useful today, because as we peer into the home dressing room we can see two notable absentees - Francisco Javier Esteche and Ricardo Rojas - who are away on international duty with Paraguay and Chile respectively. A look at the players stripped and ready for action tell us that Jose Manuel Azuara and Christian Ramirez will step in for those two players this fine Sunday evening.

As the two teams file out of the dressing rooms we can get a better look at some of the more dangerous players wearing red and white. The eye is immediately drawn to José Cardozo - instinctive and quality striker and captain of Toluca, and inexplicably not away with Paraguay with Esteche. It is also clear to see that Toluca will have a very capable engine room; with Israel Lopéz and Rafael Garcia both having good seasons. In fact their is notable quality all over the field which have propelled them to 2nd place in the table.

However as the players make their way on to the pitch, the 50,000 fans creating the astounding wall of sound do not expect to have to worry about Toluca, these passionate supporters will be expecting the home team to make all the running and destroy Toluca like lambs to the slaughter. Somehow Zander Zitero, coming out after his team and taking his place on the bench, knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

7/9/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #8)/ América (MEX) Vs Toluca / Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Toluca | | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 5 | +13 | 16 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | América (MEX) | | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 9 | +14 | 15 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Ramirez ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Azuara, AMC - Blanco; SC - Romário, SC - Oviedo

The ever-expectant fans of América (MEX) may have expected some sort of massacre - as the do every home match, but one look at the league positions of the two sides told you that this match would be a tight affair - as well as the fact that Toluca are defending Champions - and that neither team was likely to run away with it.

Nonetheless América (MEX) did make the more purposeful start, with Blanco looking lively, having a shot from the edge of the box well saved by Hérnan Cristante after 10 minutes. After the Blanco effort the next 10 minutes passed with América (MEX) continuing to look the better side, although failing to create a real clear cut opportunity. However, when the first clear cut opportunity did present itself it was gobbled up hungrily; it was again due to the endeavour of Blanco, who, on a mazy run, got into the box and as he looked to shoot he was crudely scythed down by Erik Espinosa. Inexplicably, captain Pavel Pardo pulled rank and decided to take the penalty ahead of José Julián de la Cuesta, in the end it made no difference as the man with 90 Caps for Mexico slotted the ball into the bottom corner.

With the atmosphere at a peak and América (MEX) playing good football it certainly looked like a 2nd goal would be on the cards. Franky Oviedo, Chuy Mendoza and Romário all came close to grabbing the predicted 2nd goal but squandered their opportunities, and the game ticked towards half time with the score still 1-0.

Luckily Chuy Mendoza managed to atone for his miss earlier in the match by getting the elusive second goal 5 minutes before the break. It was a measure of how much América (MEX) wanted the second goal that Pavel Pardo was even at the bi-line; but after doing well to get there he drove a tantalising ball across the face of goal; legs were outstretched but it evaded everyone until it reached the back post; where Chuy Mendoza slid in to make in 2-0 going into the break.

The second goal had given América (MEX) something of a comfort zone and when the two teams emerged for the second period - with América (MEX) having swapped Romário for Encarnación - there was a noticeable change in attitude with América (MEX) seemingly happy to play out the 45 minutes.

Toluca happily took up the reigns and began to attack, in all honesty América (MEX) defended very well and even considering the ball hardly ever left the home sides half they looked quite comfortable, the hour mark came and went. Nevertheless there was a hush around the Azteca, this was terrible viewing and there was always a danger that if Toluca got one they might get another.

They got one. On the 71st minute Miguel Ãngel Carreón rose highest from a routine Israel Lopéz corner kick which should have been bread and butter for defenders if they were marking tightly enough. The header was emphatic, as was the reaction around the stadium - sheer anger; Toluca now had 19 minutes to score one goal and América (MEX) had brought it about themselves with their negative outlook on the second half when Toluca were there for the taking.

They only needed three minutes. Substitute Enrique Alfaro, playing on the right of the front three Toluca had implemented for this half, rose highest at the back post after a deep cross from the left by Brazilian playmaker Zinho. Without doubt it was a well deserved equaliser and the Azteca was an amazing Amphitheatre of silence.

For the last 15 minutes América (MEX) attempted to kick back into gear but it was far, far too late, and when the final whistle went they trudged off the field to a chorus of very well deserved boo’s - very much a new feeling for the legendary Zander Zitero.

América (MEX) (Pardo pen 22; Chuy Mendoza 39) 2 - 2 Toluca (Carreón 71; Alfaro 74)

Isn’t it amazing how a match can finish as a draw, but yet neither team actually feels like they’ve drawn. As we walk up the corridor where the dressing rooms are, we float into the room on the right; and we see a team who feel like they’ve just won a match, but let’s not hang around too long in case of some sort of elation overdose. If we drift across and into the opposite dressing room we witness a team who feel like they’ve lost a match; they were in complete control and - not due to changes in tactics at half time as it might have appeared - they lost their grasp and have to contend with only getting a point.

In truth there is no justification for one sides elation or the other sides dejection - a draw is a decent result for both side and infact sees them 2nd and 3rd respectively. Nonetheless, if we look forward in the calendar we can see that América (MEX)‘s next two fixtures are away from home, and only 3 days separate them, so one might be inclined to think this was slightly a better result for Toluca than it was for Zitero‘s América (MEX).

[The RingMaster]

September 2003

Amongst players, manager, and fans alike, there can be little doubt that the home draw against Toluca represented one of the worst 45 minutes of Zander Zitero’s reign at América (MEX). More worrying than that was the apparent regression to the tactics of horribly deep defending when in the lead, which we witnessed in Zander Zitero’s first couple of matches in charge.

At least, with a week before the next game, there was plenty of time to work on rectifying the mistakes that were made in that second half; and after a lot of the pressing out-going transfer dealings resolved in the week before the match against Toluca, Zander Zitero was happy to have 7 days to work solely with his players ahead of travelling to Guadalajara.

It was actually a comparatively quiet week with no bids for players, no injuries, Cuauhtémoc Blanco being quiet; just a week of good progressive training ahead of the match against Chivas, which they left for on the Friday. Speaking of which, Francisco Javier Esteche and Ricardo Rojas were certainly popular faces on the coach to Guadalajara as they were most definitely missed in the second half capitulation against Toluca when we could have used some more quality in midfield and solidarity at the back.

Match day. I call this one “Reader in Aweâ€; no? well you should be, as the Estadio Jalisco is perhaps the only stadium in Mexico that can compete with the Azteca in terms of magnitude and atmosphere. Especially today, as despite the fact they are 15th (inexplicable considering they have players like Oswaldo Sanchez, Ramoncita Morales, Alberto Medina and Bofo Bautista) they can still boast a crowd of just under 60,000 people to welcome their side onto the field against Zander Zitero‘s side - clearly expecting their team to come good on this humid Sunday evening.

The Dutch manager of Chivas, Hans Westerhof, had the easiest job in the house, the 60,000 screaming fans populating the Estadio Jalisco were surely doing his team talk for him - no professional footballer worth his salt would need motivated going out to this. Zander Zitero, on the other hand was being a little more measured in his build up to this match; going over the line-up, and the formation and the strategy for the 90 minutes; but as his troops walked onto the deafening battlefield he had a horrible feeling all his words would be rendered nul and void by the passionate home supporters.

14/9/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #9) / Chivas Vs América (MEX) / Estadio Jalisca, Guadalajara

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | América (MEX) | | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 25 | 11 | +14 | 16 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th | | Chivas | | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 16 | -6 | 10 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco; SC - Romário, SC - Oviedo

Due to many of their near rivals playing on the Saturday, América (MEX) had slipped to 6th in the table come kick-off time. The players knew it, too; and the start of the games reflected this with América (MEX) looking the more adventurous of the two sides. In fact they came close to opening the scoring twice in the first ten minutes; first through a de la Cuesta header from an Esteche corner; then a Romário turn and snapshot from just inside the area forced a good save from Mexican No.1 Oswaldo Sanchez.

Nevertheless Chivas managed to ride out América (MEX)’s barnstorming start and came into the game themselves as the half progressed, with the talented wingers on each side - Ramoncita Morales and Alberto Medina - coming to the fore, teasing Castro and Martinez, and whipping in a few dangerous balls which had dealt with well by Rojas and de la Cuesta; the one cross that did find a Chivas head was headed over by Bofo Bautista, who, otherwise was being expertly shackled by José Julián de la Cuesta.

As the second half continued towards it’s climax it was anybody’s guess who would get the opener; but it was clear an opener was coming as the game was very attack minded. In the end the goal came after 37 minutes, and whilst not a classic Zander Zitero was not complaining; it came after a Chuy Mendoza corner was headed towards goal by Pavel Pardo; the diminutive captain’s header was only parried by Sanchez, and the returning Ricardo Rojas got the final touch in the ensuing scramble to put América (MEX) into the lead going into half time .

América (MEX) were clearly warned at the interval not to fall into the defending trap again, and when the teams emerged for the second half it was the men in yellow who continued to push forward; and this time, unlike the first half, the broke through the Chivas rear guard early in the half. It came from a free kick about 25 yards out, at a slight angle, Blanco was standing over it, and to everybody’s surprise Blanco just clipped a nice all to the back post where Chuy Mendoza rose highest to claim his second goal in as many games with an authoritative header.

Unsurprisingly, after that 2nd goal América (MEX) didn’t push forward as much; but the main thing being that they were not defending on their own 6-Yard line. Chiva’s pushed forward, but without any real creativity, they looked like a team withering under the pressure of their league position and their fans and América (MEX)’s defence held firm, with eventual Man of the Match winner de la Cuesta marshalling the back line supremely.

With Chivas’ desperation growing, and with the men in red pushing more and more bodies forward; they were inevitably hit on the counter attack. After the umpteenth Chivas attack weakly breaking down de la Cuesta played a glorious 50 yard cross field pass to Romário leaving much of the Chivas team out of position going for that elusive goal; the Brazilian found a great pass to take both the remaining Chivas defenders out of the game; leaving Blanco a clear run on goal to calmly make it 3-0, and to utterly destroy the game as a contest with ten minutes left, and in doing so beginning a disgusted exodus of supporters from the Estadio Jalisco.

Chivas 0 - 3 América (MEX) (Rojas 37; Chuy Mendoza 50; Blanco 79)

As we drift away from the eerily empty (considering it’s only minutes after full time) Estadio Jalisco, basking in the beauty of night-time Guadalajara, we’re left with a couple of departing thoughts: 1. Isn’t América (MEX)’s away form good, considering they are surprisingly inconsistent at the Azteca, no doubt Zander Zitero will be hoping that continues with a win in the next away match - which is only three days away. And 2. Why are Chivas so poor? They have players that Zander Zitero has on his wish list as well as countless other full Mexican Internationalists, and have a great stadium and support, one must assume that they will start to climb the table very soon.

Nonetheless, we are more concerned with the former of those thoughts (unless you particularly care for Chivas, in which case feel free to dwell on the latter), as we will soon see if Zander Zitero and his América (MEX) charges can keep up their excellent away form in three days when we meet up with them again in 3 days time in the Estadio La Corregidora.

[The RingMaster]

September 2003

It would be a fair assumption, given the incessant phone calls and large sums of money being banded about over the phone, that Zander Zitero spent the three days after the Chivas match making yet more enquiries about possible signings. No doubt we’d find out if those phone calls amounted to anything concrete in the next few days.

In the mean time, the more pressing issue was América (MEX)’s 2nd away game on the trot, although it is very difficult to say that in a distaining tone given Zitero’s men’s away form at the moment.

After such an emphatic win against Chivas you would expect no changes in the América (MEX) line-up; however, as we look at the young, eager figure of Number 14 - Diego Encarnación we can see that Zander Zitero has seen fit to tinker with the team and put the soon-to-be departing Franky Oviedo on the bench for this game. A brave move by the young manager, but a dangerous one if América (MEX) find themselves on the wrong end of a defeat come 90 minutes.

17/9/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #10) / Querétaro Vs América (MEX) / Estadio La Corregidora, Querétaro

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | América (MEX) | | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 28 | 11 | +17 | 19 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | Querétaro | | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 13 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco; SC - Encarnación, SC - Romário

The opening stages of this match were very cautious - to be kind. And to be completely honest in the first 15 minutes there was not a shot on goal to be seen; and as the away side América (MEX) would have to be the more pleased with the dire start to this fixture.

Mercifully the game kicked into life as the half progressed; with Querétaro attacking midfielder Allann Delon proving to be the catalyst, hitting probing passes as well as having a few decent efforts on Alberto Becerra’s goal. It was indeed Allonn Delon’s probing that saw an opening to the scoring on the 25th minute; a beautifully weighted through ball by the Brazilian proved perfect for pacy striker Carlos Ochoa to leave Ricardo Rojas in his dust and latch on to; and when put through one on one with the keeper Ochoa’s initial effort was well saved by Becerra, but with Rojas treading water Ochoa was the first on hand to tap in the rebound.

From then onwards Querétaro had the better of the first half, with Allon Delon and Carlos Ochoa systematically destroying the América rearguard, and there can be no doubt that the half time whistle came as a huge relief for Zitero’s entrenched troops.

By the pattern of the play in the second half Zitero’s team talk was easy to see: ‘if you are attacking Delon and Ochoa can’t get the ball’. América (MEX) were by far the more adventurous side in the second half, creating a couple of good chances, both of which were passed up by Romário. This tactic also left Zitero’s side open to counter attacks, and they could be thankful that bad decisions were made by Querétaro midfielders when the right pass could have meant 2-0 on a couple of occasions.

América (MEX) did, however, get their reward for their adventurous second half outlook just before the hour mark; a nicely dinked through ball by Blanco was absolutely made for the lightening quick Diego Encarnación, and the 17 year old forward latched on to it, accelerated away from the chasing centre back, and when one on one with the keeper he did not panic and slotted the ball past Erubey Cabuto.

América (MEX) now had the wind in their sails and they continued to push forward and look for the goal that would take them into the lead. That goal so nearly came a matter of minutes later when Blanco played a nice ball into Romário; Romário used all his skill to work space for the shot in the box only to see his left footed effort crash off the bar and away to safety.

However, América (MEX) - now clearly the better side - did not have long to wait for the 2nd goal. As the clocked ticked on to 70 minutes Chuy Mendoza made another one of his forages down the left hand side; the Mexican winger got to the bi-line and did wonderfully to cut a beauty of a ball back towards the penalty spot; and whilst defenders and attackers alike were sluggish to attempt to deal with the ball, Diego Encarnación came onto the ball with the confidence that only sheer ability can give you, to nearly take the roof out of the net with an absolute bullet of a finish.

Querétaro made a slight effort to get back on level terms, pushing men forward, but in the second half Delon had been man marked by Pavel Pardo and without him dictating the play Querétaro looked a shadow of the side who had ripped América (MEX) to pieces at points in the first half, and in truth they rather weakly surrendered the game.

Querétaro (Ochoa 25) 1 - 2 América (MEX) (Encarnación 57, 70)

Inside the winning dressing room Diego Encarnación sits, clutching his prize of a bottle of Champagne for winning Man of the Match; everybody - bar none - have patted the Young man on the head or on the shoulder, or at some way acknowledged and congratulated him on his immense showing in the second 45 minutes to win the game for América (MEX) - in all honesty Diego looks slightly embarrassed.

The way the 17 year old clutches at the Champagne as if it were a child, and the way he is almost in tears due to his euphoric state tells us that Diego’s personality as a man is very different from the confident swagger he displays on the football field. One thing is for sure, the media will be building up this kid big-time, and after starting this game as ’a risk’, it will be very interesting to see just how the shy, slightly overwhelmed Diego Encarnación copes with starting the next match as the hottest youngster in Mexican football.

[The RingMaster]

Knew I’d mess up the Stadium Pictures sooner or later

September 2003

Prior to the home match with Santos Laguna Zander Zitero finally confirmed the signing of a player for when the transfer window opens again. Mexican striker Antonio de Nigris will sign for quite a hefty £1,700,000 on the 20th of December from Spanish side Poli Ejido. No doubt if we delve into the mind of Zander Zitero when de Nigris actually arrives at the club then we will find out more about him; but at the moment you can forgive Zander for having his mind more on league matters.

Santos Laguna were next on the card for América (MEX) at the Azteca, where their recent form had been a mere shadow of their form on their travels. Nonetheless, the América (MEX) faithful came in their tens of thousands - no doubt excited by the news that they are to sign a man who was one of Mexico’s hottest properties a couple of years ago - and expecting América (MEX) to card a comfortable home win.

Santos Laguna would be no pushovers though, they have improved a lot since América (MEX) mauled them in the PrePre Libertadores phase, and with a player like Jared Borgetti around the men in the away dressing room will be very dangerous adversaries for Zitero‘s men.

And, yes, it was a week where Diego Encarnación found himself in many-a Mexican sports column, and rightly so after a fantastic performance which turned the game against Querétaro, and as expected he will start his second game on the bounce; with the América (MEX) faithful no doubt looking to see some magic from the youngster. The only change from the team that faced Querétaro is German Villa for the suspended Pavel Pardo.

21/9/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #11) / América (MEX) Vs Santos Laguna / Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | América (MEX) | | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 30 | 12 | +18 | 22 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th | | Santos Laguna | | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 12 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Rojas ; DMC - Villa ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco; SC - Encarnación, SC - Romário

Both sides exchanged niggly fouls, long range efforts and yellow cards in the opening period of this match; again, the flowing football we are so used to seeing from Zander Zitero’s team was noticeably absent in their home ground.

In spite of that fact América (MEX) were still the more adventurous of the two sides and began to dictate the play as the half progressed, before finally making the break through. In a crowded penalty area the referee spotted a foul on Romário and decided to give another rather dubious penalty in favour of América (MEX). In the absence of Pavel Pardo there was no discussions and José Julián de la Cuesta dispatched the ball with venom into the corner of the net.

The match continued to be a scrappy affair, albeit a scrappy affair which América (MEX) were controlling. There was massive disappointment just before half time, as Diego Encarnación was taken off injured to be replaced by Christian Zepeda leaving the crowd in something of an anti-climactic state.

Half time came and went, and the second half continued with no real change in focus from either side, which succeeded in keeping the game a poor spectacle, and up to the 54th minute there had actually only been three shots; there was about to be a fourth.

Fabian Estay made a good run through midfield, and then found a bit of cutting edge where it had been missing in the last nigh-on an hour, by playing a ball into the box and finding the feet of Jared Borgetti, and the man who is arguably the best Mexican striker in the World made no mistake in drilling the ball into the bottom corner to make the scores level.

A few minutes of unprecedented pressure followed from the home side as, in a state of mild panic, they pushed lots of bodies forward; this period of pressure culminated in Romário being put clean through, and the Brazilian tried a nonchalant chip over the keeper; it had the dip, but not quite the direction as in bounced off the upright to the chagrin of the 56,000 bodies in the Azteca.

This seemed to take the wind out of América (MEX) and as the match entered the closing quarter Santos Laguna nearly grabbed the lead when a snap shot by Fabian Estay - who was turning back the years with his performance in midfield - smashed off the underside of the bar and bounced considerably high in the air, before landing in the grateful arms of Alberto Becerra.

The way shots were bouncing off the woodwork it was be a fair summation to suggest fate was not on either teams side; if so then fate got her wish as neither side could get the winner and the match ended with a 1-1 draw; and yet another game without a home win for América (MEX).

América (MEX) (de la Cuesta pen 32) 1 - 1 Santos Laguna (Borgetti 56)

Going a few games without a win at home is nothing extraordinary in itself, but the dumbfounding thing in América (MEX)’s case is the fact they are so good away from home; and as the players look at their morning papers with the league tables at the back, they will see - as they sit in 2nd place - that they could easily be top of this league. Not that being top of the league is all that great - all it really means is you will be more pi$$ed if you’re team does not win the knockout competition that decides the champion because really you were the best team in the league.

It is certainly not any sort of crisis yet, but América (MEX) will have to get their away form sorted out in the near future, otherwise they will severely struggle when the knockout phase of the championship commences (which América look like they’ll be in, as a top 8 finish looks likely).

[PMLF]

De Nigris is a good signing.

Also great victory you got against Chivas (who is owned by Vergara one of the richest people in Mexico and who also owns Saprissa in Costa Rica).

Did you notice that Chivas have no foreigners (except maybe someone with Mexican second nationalty)?

[The RingMaster]

PLMF: I didn't notice that, but I did notice Chivas have some of the top Mexican stars; even with my limited knowledge of Mexican football I know that Medina, Morales, Bautista, Sanchez etc are top quality, and I can't see Senor Westerhof lasting long if thier league position doesn't improve. de Nigris is a slight risk but should be worth the £1.7M, after all he was immense in the Mexican league before - as so many players from this part of the World do - he had his ill-fated spell in Spain.

September 2003

Considering the league stage of the Opening Stage Championship is only 19 games long, every game is now vitally important, especially now the league phase is only a few matches away from entering the home straight. In the eleven games that have taken place in the Mexican first division so far this season we have seen many teams who look technically very good, we have seen teams packed with talent, and we have seen teams getting up the table through sheer work ethic. Now anybody that wishes to keep their place in the top 8 come the 8th of November will have to show another characteristic - [i[Nerve[/i]; which brings us ever so neatly to match day at the Estadio Azteca.

An Estadio Azteca, filled to the brim with expectant and passionate fans who anticipate a home win. Yes, you, our loyal reader, can be forgiven for feeling that we’ve been here before. But this time the América (MEX) players populating the dressing room are determined to show some nerve in front of their own fans and lay this mini-ghost to rest once and for all before it becomes a real worry, and something that could potentially haunt Zitero’s side into the knockout phase of the League Championship.

To help América (MEX) claim this elusive home win they welcome back Captain Pavel Pardo from suspension; although they will be losing Ricardo Rojas to suspension and will be replaced by Christian Ramirez. Fans will no doubt be looking forward to a more extensive look at Diego Encarnación, who was stretchered off in the last match, but only out for a couple of days after a hefty tackle left him a bit sore, with some bruising.

Even without Rojas - himself only a stopgap for Davino - with such a strong eleven players striding purposely out onto the turf of the Azteca, it is, again, difficult for the impartial observer to see past an América (MEX) win when you compare to two teams on paper; but football is not played on paper, if it was then América (MEX) would have a considerably better home record, and the 53,000-strong crown would be a lot less pensive prior to kick-off.

28/9/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #12) / América (MEX) Vs Pumas / Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | América (MEX) | | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 31 | 13 | +18 | 23 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | | Pumas | | 11 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 15 | 18 | -3 | 15 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - de la Cuesta, DC - Ramirez ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco; SC - Encarnación, SC - Romário

Given the spectators nervous states even before kick-off, they would not have appreciated Israel Martinez giving away a clumsy foul on the edge of the area only 2 minutes into the game. Brazilian free-kick specialist Leandro Augusto stepped up confidently; curled the ball beautifully over the wall, leaving Becerra rooted to the spot; but the ball crept just wide of the upright, leaving América (MEX) players, coaching staff, and fans alike, very, very relieved.

With the home crowd completely and utterly silenced after only 3 Minutes and 42 Seconds América (MEX) found it very difficult to build up any real attacking momentum in the early stages; but when they finally did start to push forward it produced immediate rewards. After 20 minutes, and with their first notable attack, América (MEX) managed to alleviate much stress inside the Azteca with the opening goal; it came after a great run by Encarnación which took him to the edge of the box culminated in him hitting a rather weak shot into the first defender; however, luck was on Zitero’s team’s side as the ball deflected into the patch of Blanco, and from 10 yards Blanco fired América (MEX) into a fortuitous lead.

The Azteca was now absolutely jumping, with drums and singing and chanting, and just all round jubilation; and then it wasn’t.

Literally a matter of seconds after América (MEX) got the lead they had so desperately, desperately wanted it was snatched away from them; Joaquin del Olmo won the ball in the centre of midfield and travelled forward with the ball at his feet with players inexplicably backing off him, and then, in nose bleed territory for the 34 year old shot-shy anchorman, he hit an effort from 25 yards which proceeded to fly into the top corner of Alberto Becerra’s net, clipping the post on the way in, - imagine Neil Lennon marauding up the field and spanking a wonder goal into the top corner, that’s what this amounted to - there was an air of ‘what’s next’ around the Azteca.

‘What’s next’ was a dire rest of the half, with both side seemingly looking forward to their half time break and a rest, and some further instructions. The instructions from Zander Zitero were clearly to go out in the second half and win the match.

45 Minutes of sheer pressure began with three efforts on goal from Encarnación, Mendoza and Esteche respectively - all of which made the keeper work, although if any had went in it would have went down as poor goalkeeping by Esdras Rangel. That level of pressure continued as time flew past - all to quickly for the América (MEX) fans - with Romário squandering three guilt edged opportunity; in truth the three chances had a combined distance of about 10 yards and his logic-defying misses left the crowd dumbfounded; and left him a rather unpopular figure when he was replaced by Franky Oviedo with 20 minutes left.

Oviedo’s introduction saw no real change to the pattern, still América (MEX) making all the running, but failing to score; the goal looked a certainty when Amado Israel López was sent off with 15 minutes to go in the match. But, as so often proves the case, this provoked a 9-men behind the ball strategy from Pumas which América (MEX) simply could not break down in the closing stages to the disappointment of their increasingly long suffering home support.

América (MEX) (Blanco 21) 1 - 1 Pumas (del Olmo 21)

This scene of eerie silence is becoming far too regular a sight come full time in the home dressing room of the Estadio Azteca considering that momentum is so important at this stage in the season. A massive plus point would have to be the fact that América (MEX) played very well, and if not for some modest finishing they would have ran out comfortable winners. However, that will be no consolation to the dejected players in the home dressing room at the moment, nor will it be a consolation to the disgruntled paying fans sauntering home after yet another home letdown.

Home Record:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th | | América (MEX) | | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 7 | +9 | 9 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

Away Record:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | América (MEX) | | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 7 | +9 | 15 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

[OMDave]

Superb -very original, and full of interesting stuff about Mexican football. Probably my favourite story at the moment

[The RingMaster]

OMDave: Thanks mate, that’s good of you to say so. I hope you keep reading and enjoying.

October 2003

Considering the inconsistent, downright stuttering form América (MEX) had been displaying at home lately you could be forgiven for thinking an away game would be perfect for Zitero’s side as we approach this vital stage in the Opening Stage Championship; but when you consider the opposition and the events leading up to the match with regards to América (MEX)’s players then it is difficult to harbour too much confidence for the men currently occupying third place.

The ‘events leading up to the match with regards to América (MEX)’s players’ made reference to there is the reason - as we peer in to the visitors changing room - that Zander Zitero does not have a full strength team to rally. José Julian de la Cuesta is out of this match after reaching his yellow card limit, the commanding Colombian defender has been immense this season for América (MEX) and he will be a huge miss for Zander Zitero. Also missing will be Ricardo Rojas who picked up an injury during training before travelling to Monterrey; and he will be joined on the treatment table by prodigious talent Diego Encarnación who will be out for 2 weeks after twisting an ankle in training in the aftermath of two consecutive disappointing home performances by the 17 year old.

However, if we bring our eyes to the edge of the cloud some silver lining is visible, as Monterrey will mark the return from injury of Reinaldo Navia; the clinical Chilean will play up front with Romário in the partnership which proved so fruitful in the early stages of the season.

Despite the silver lining on our metaphorical cloud, there is a chance they could be - very much literally - humbled at the hands of Monterrey. A Monterrey side who looked arguably the best side in Mexico at the beginning of the season, and although their form has slightly tailed off as the season has went on, they still look very good for a place in the top 8, and will no doubt be a threat to win the Championship come the knockout stages; but more pressing at the moment, as the two teams make their way out, is the current threat they possess - through players like Guillermo Franco, Pablo Rotchen and Cesar Adame - which could see América lose their excellent away record (excellent if you’re willing to forget the first away game of the league season………. No, don’t try to remember it, let’s just continue with the story).

4/10/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #13) / Monterrey Vs América (MEX) / Estadio Tecnológico, Monterrey

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | América (MEX) | | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 32 | 14 | +18 | 24 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Monterrey | | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 10 | +12 | 24 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - Salinas, DC - Ramirez ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco; SC - Navia, SC - Romário

One look at the América (MEX) line-up tells you that injuries have left the centre of their defence as a real weakness, with neither Salinas or Ramirez regulars in the América (MEX) team, and with neither of them really good enough to stake a real claim. The strategy to combat this from the outset by Zitero was clearly to have an attacking outlook on the game and in turn nullify Monterrey’s attacking flair. This is undoubtedly a risky tactic on the road, but it appeared to work as in the first ten minutes América (MEX) came close, firstly through Esteche with a curling effort from the edge of the box; then Reinaldo Navia nearly marked his comeback with a goal, and would have if it was not for a smart save from Juan de Dios Ibarra.

After the initial firework from the men in yellow the game entered something of a lull, nevertheless there were efforts on goal; a Pardo shot from distance forced a fairly routing save from Ibarra; before Guillermo Franco reminded everyone he was actually playing when the man with 8 goals so far in the campaign fired wide after a good cutback from Walter Ervitti.

Despite those chances at both ends the match reached half-time at a stalemate. That stalemate looked like continuing given the tone the second half started in: cynical - ‘tactical fouls’ as they are known in Italy where they are rife - reigned supreme with Pardo, Esteche, Ramirez, Mendoza, Franco, Ervitti and Adame all being booked for niggly challenges to stop the opposition progressing in one of the worst 10 minutes of football imaginable.

Monterrey, realising they’d have to take the initiative in front of 35,000 of their own fans at the airy Estadio Tecnológico, then began to take control of the game. Ervitti, playing on the left wing for Monterrey, was causing all sorts of havoc and giving Castro a very hard time. Although, it has to be said, despite their total possession and territorial dominance as the second half progressed chances were still a little thin on the ground, with only a Franco header from a Ervitti cross coming close to breaking the deadlock.

In the last 5 minutes Zitero brought on Oviedo for Romário and Azuara for Esteche to try and spice things up. It was to no avail as América (MEX) continued to look the less likely team; not that Monterrey were looking too likely themselves. All of which meant it was no surprise when the whistle went and the scoreboard still read 0-0.

Monterrey 0 - 0 América (MEX)

In truth this is not a bad draw for either team, and perhaps that is why there was no blood and thunder stuff as the final whistle approached, and why there is no particucular emotion too far on either side of the happiness spectrum in either dressing room. This result sees both sides stay level on 25 points while the team in 8th place - Necaxa - have 18 points, so you can see how, even at this point in the season teams are looking towards making the knockout phase of the Championship.

It is difficult to say this with any confidence of a win any more, but, when we next see América (MEX) we’ll be back on home soil in the Azteca, as they look to further solidify their place in the top 8 come November.

[The RingMaster]

**Important**

October 2003

From reading thus far in this modest tale of a man striving to rebuild his shattered reputation we have learned about Zander Zitero, his players, and América (MEX); but in our roles as impartial observers with no real connection to the Mexican League (that’s why I can live with this mistake; if I was writing in first person as the manager and didn’t know the format of the league I’d look a total prat) we haven’t quite learned as much as we should about the format of the Mexican League.

Don’t worry, most of what you have been told is correct: Two Stages, Opening and Closing Championship; League Phase then knockout; but one thing is different, allow me to elaborate.

Right now this is the Mexican first Division:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | Tigres | | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 29 | 9 | +20 | 29 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Toluca | | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 30 | 12 | +18 | 29 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Cruz Azul | | 13 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 7 | +15 | 27 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Morelia | | 13 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 29 | 15 | +14 | 26 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | América (MEX) | | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 32 | 14 | +18 | 25 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Monterrey | | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 22 | 10 | +12 | 25 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Querétaro | | 13 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 20 | 15 | +5 | 19 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | Jaguares | | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 19 | 14 | +5 | 19 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | Tecos | | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 18 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | | Necaxa | | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 20 | -6 | 18 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 11th | | Santos Laguna | | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 15 | +2 | 17 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th | | San Luis | | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 22 | -10 | 17 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th | | Pumas | | 13 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 17 | 23 | -6 | 16 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th | | Pachuca | | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 23 | -8 | 15 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th | | Chivas | | 13 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 14 | 27 | -13 | 13 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 16th | | Veracruz | | 13 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 18 | -3 | 12 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th | | Atlas | | 13 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 18 | 22 | -4 | 12 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 18th | | Puebla | | 13 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 23 | -11 | 11 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 19th | | Atlante | | 13 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 38 | -29 | 8 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 20th | | Irapuato | | 13 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 28 | -20 | 7 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

Now, the assumption was that the Top 8 teams in the league go into the Knockout phase, but that is not actually the case; this table is just to give you an overall feel of the league. There are actually 4 groups of 5 teams, and the top 2 from each of those groups go into the knockout phase; so with regards to the knockout phase this is more important:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | Toluca | | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 30 | 12 | +18 | 29 |

| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Monterrey | | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 22 | 10 | +12 | 25 |

| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Pachuca | | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 23 | -8 | 15 |

| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Atlas | | 13 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 18 | 22 | -4 | 12 |

| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Puebla | | 13 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 23 | -11 | 11 |

| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | América (MEX) | | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 32 | 14 | +18 | 25 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Querétaro | | 13 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 20 | 15 | +5 | 19 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Tecos | | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 18 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Santos Laguna | | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 15 | +2 | 17 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Pumas | | 13 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 17 | 23 | -6 | 16 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | Tigres | | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 29 | 9 | +20 | 29 |

| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Cruz Azul | | 13 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 7 | +15 | 27 |

| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Morelia | | 13 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 29 | 15 | +14 | 26 |

| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Jaguares | | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 19 | 14 | +5 | 19 |

| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | San Luis | | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 22 | -10 | 17 |

| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | Necaxa | | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 20 | -6 | 18 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Chivas | | 13 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 14 | 27 | -13 | 13 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Veracruz | | 13 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 18 | -3 | 12 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Atlante | | 13 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 38 | -29 | 8 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Irapuato | | 13 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 28 | -20 | 7 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

Now, to be perfectly honest I do not see what the point in these groups are considering teams don’t solely play teams from their group it would surely make more sense just to take the top 8 from the overall standings. Another problem I have with this system is: for example look at Chivas - they will get into the Knockout phase even though they are 15th overall just because the teams in their standings group are terrible; whereas Morelia will miss out because they have two teams that are doing very well in the league in their little group even though they are 4th in the overall table.

Nevertheless, that is how it works; for some reason the league is split into 4 standings groups; the top 2 of each of these groups go into the knockout phase disregarding overall league position.

Of course Zander Zitero, as a manager in the Mexican league, already knows this, and no doubt while we were pedantically prattling on he was busy preparing for the home match against the very ill fortuned Morelia.

I really hope you understood that, thank you.

[The RingMaster]

October 2003

Now that we possess a better knowledge of how this Opening Stage will climax we can continue towards that climax. Zitero’s team welcome Morelia to the Azteca this gorgeous Saturday afternoon - a Morelia side who are 4th in the overall league but because they have Cruz Azul and Tigres (3rd and 1st) in their group of 5 they look like they may miss out on a place in the knockout phase of the tournament.

Nevertheless, if they can defeat América (MEX) their situation may seem just a little bit brighter; and considering América (MEX) have gone 4 matches without a home win that target may not be too unassailable.

Although Zander Zitero will undoubtedly boosted by the returns of Ricardo Rojas and José Julián de la Cuesta to the starting eleven, players who will definitely give the home defence a stronger look about them.

Morelia’s main attacking threat will come from flamboyant Colombian attacking midfielder Mauricio Alejandro Molina, who won goal of the month for September for the pick of the 6 goals he has scored from midfield in his loan spell from Colombian giants Envigado, you may also remember him curling home a free kick when these two sides met in the PrePre Libertadores Phase in Kansas City. A repeat of that result - and hence another home disappointment - is, again, unthinkable to the home fans, the 50,000 who still come in their droves (a fool and their money.....)

8/10/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #14)/ América (MEX) Vs Morelia / Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

(Note: The column to the right of the League position now designates their Group position now that we know how important it is [remember top 2 from each group go into the knockout phase, not top 8 in the overall league].)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Grp | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | 3rd | Morelia | | 13 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 29 | 15 | +14 | 26 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | 1st | América (MEX) | | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 32 | 14 | +18 | 25 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - Rojas, DC - de la Cuesta ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco; SC - Navia, SC - Romário

We seem to say this every second week but: América (MEX) certainly came out the blocks in this one looking like a team determined to set a couple of wrongs right; and came close to doing so with only 4 minutes on the clock when an Esteche cross found a leaping Navia who knocked the ball just over the bar with a looping header, nevertheless it was a promising start for the home team and fans.

The fans did not have to wait too long for the opener though; after 12 minutes Chuy Mendoza found some space on the left hand side of midfield, his deep cross found Romário art the back post and the Brazilian dwarf headed the ball back across the face of goal for Navia to tap in from - at most - 3 yards. Although it was celebrated like a Pardo thunderbolt from 45 yards against Necaxa.

América (MEX) took heed of the subtle messages hidden in their previous matches and managed to realise one goal probably wouldn’t be enough, so Zander Zitero’s side continued to push forward and cam close on two occasion in the aftermath of the Navia opener; once through a Romário volley which flew into the arms of the keeper; and once through another Navia header which, again luckily for Moises Munoz, went straight into his arms.

But the 2nd goal for América (MEX) was not long in coming in what was comfortably their most productive performance since the 6-0 mutilation of Atlante. On the half hour mark Navia received the ball on the edge of the box, the Chilean poacher held the ball up wonderfully before feeding an intricate ball through to Blanco as he overlapped Navia into the box; Blanco then rounded off a glorious flowing move by blasting the ball into the roof of the net.

Half-time came and went, with no noticeable change of pattern, América (MEX) continued to press and continued to make chances; in fact only a couple of minutes into the second half Pavel Pardo - who was having a great game controlling the middle of the park - crashed a fantastic effort off of Munoz’s crossbar.

It was only a matter of time, though, before América (MEX) would add to their tally and it came from the penalty spot after Reinaldo Navia was fouled in the act of shooting. José Julián de la Cuesta stepped up, and as if you didn’t already know the Colombian defender slotted the ball frighteningly calmly into the net. Not that anyone in the América (MEX) camp would be complaining, but: you would expect more of a test from a team 1 point ahead of América going into the game; it did not provail and it was now a case of how many.

Luckily for Senor Rubén Omar Romano’s men América (MEX) were pretty happy with the three; all except from the utterly immense Pavel Pardo who did not stop running all game, and got his reward on the 90th minute when one of his edge of the box strike he tries so often flew into the corner, securing the most well deserved Man of the Match award you will ever see.

\o/

América (MEX) (Navia 12; Blanco 32; de la Cuesta pen 64; Pardo 91) 4 - 0 Morelia

Our patented relief-o-meter which we set up prior to kick-off today is off the chart. This win was long overdue considering what a good season América (MEX) have had on the road and as we look at the high fives and general high spirits that are evident in the home dressing room we can see what this mean’s to the players.

And with some vital matches to come in the knockout phase which kicks-off just over a month from now this will be a welcomed monkey off Zander Zitero’s broad shoulders.

[PMLF]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Now, to be perfectly honest I do not see what the point in these groups are considering teams don’t solely play teams from their group it would surely make more sense just to take the top 8 from the overall standings. Another problem I have with this system is: for example look at Chivas - they will get into the Knockout phase even though they are 15th overall just because the teams in their standings group are terrible; whereas Morelia will miss out because they have two teams that are doing very well in the league in their little group even though they are 4th in the overall table. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There's a playoff match before the knockout stage if a team that finished among the Top 8 overall don't finish among the top 2 in their group.

In this playoff this team will play against a team that finished second in one group but didn't finish in the Top 8 overall.

[PMLF]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PMLF:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Now, to be perfectly honest I do not see what the point in these groups are considering teams don’t solely play teams from their group it would surely make more sense just to take the top 8 from the overall standings. Another problem I have with this system is: for example look at Chivas - they will get into the Knockout phase even though they are 15th overall just because the teams in their standings group are terrible; whereas Morelia will miss out because they have two teams that are doing very well in the league in their little group even though they are 4th in the overall table. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There's a playoff match before the knockout stage if a team that finished among the Top 8 overall don't finish among the top 2 in their group.

In this playoff this team will play against a team that finished second in one group but didn't finish in the Top 8 overall. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

For instance, Chivas could have to play against Morelia to decide who qualify to the knockout stage.

[The RingMaster]

October 2003

Think back to when Zander Zitero revealed his major signings on the turf of the Azteca all those months ago; do you remember the pulse of excitement pulsing through Mexico City, drawing us towards the epicentre, drawing us towards the stadium. That same buzz, that very same draw is in effect today - and the match programme we are hovering over as we approach the towering figure of the Azteca tells us why; no fancy headline or pun needed to sell programmes today, simply: Necaxa Vs América (MEX).

It’s days like these that make us appreciate our invisible, floating, translucent state of observation - because it would take us an age to get through this; we drift serenely through the crushing procession of bodies marching towards the stadium; the chanting has already started - with both sets of fans chanting at each other from either side of the mesh fences erected by the police to separate them. Oh, did I forget to mention, these two deadly rivals share the magnificent Azteca stadium and this helps to make this encounter one of the most anticipated on the Mexican calendar.

The odd missile is flying, though nothing can actually hit us we should still make our way into the stadium. Let us drift up, and up, and up; we are now hovering over the Estadio Azteca. For a moment, as we look down on 97,000 people all wearing their teams colours, all singing and dancing, the odd scuffle breaking out, we forget all about opening stages and league groups and knockout phases; all that matters is this match, and if we, with the benefit of neutrality, are being caught up in this mesmerising moment one can only imaging how the fans of both sides are feeling at this moment; at this moment football is life, everything before and after is just waiting.

Although Necaxa are 10th in the overall table they are the highest placed of their group - Group 4. América (MEX) also top their group - Group 2 - although they have been impressive in the context of all 20 teams in the league, sitting 4th overall.

The sheer noise continues, as if to welcome us, as we drift down to about pitch level. A quick 360 turn in the centre circle and we get a stunning mere moment of what these players will experience for 90 minutes this afternoon. In fact many of the players are on the pitch warming up with around 15 minutes until kick-off - one notable player, who is getting the treatment from both sets of fans, albeit very different treatment from the two sets, is Diego Encarnación, who, despite poor performances in the aftermath of his one man show, is still the golden boy of Mexican football and the América (MEX) fans will be looking forward to a long awaited home performance of his talents in the biggest domestic match of them all.

Both sets of players are making their way back inside for their last instructions from the coaches, who themselves will have churning stomachs at the moment - the days after losing this match are always hard if you’re a manager; you suddenly become very unpopular with chairmen and fans. As the players make their way back inside we feel imprisoned; there is an obstructive wall of sound coming from all four ends of this magnificent testament to the passion induced by football in this part of the World.

Nevertheless, let us take one lingering look at our surroundings; in the centre circle being pelted with sound from all directions, seeing flares going off, hearing the beat of the drums, all of which beckon these players to their triumph or despair. Let us leave this scene which will surely stay with us; this fixture will obviously be seen again but it’s never as good as the first time, and let us drift down the tunnel and follow the sounds of butterflies pummelling footballers stomachs.

And we reach the América (MEX) dressing room. This match is technically an away game for América (MEX) but, as we look up at the blackboard which dominates the wall on the east side of the room, with the bold arrows telling Blanco to get into the box; and the even bolder arrows telling Mendoza and Esteche to get to the bi-line we can see that Zander Zitero wants his team to go out and win this match; this is a manager who has not experienced, and nor does he wish to experience the aftermath of losing this fixture. The other thing that hits you as you look up at Zander Zitero’s derby day master plan is the strike force Blanco’s bold arrow is penetrating: Navia and Encarnación. So after 7 games without a goal Romário has been dropped in favour of the 17 year old media darling.

There are also Zitero’s prudent defensive precautions with many top players circled, some even aggressively crossed out with red chalk, oooh get him. As we drift into the ‘home’ dressing room we can see the man who has been so aggressively singled out - Braulio Luna, the Mexican left winger with 36 caps to his name, who has, ironically, been keeping Chuy Mendoza out of the XI. Given the murderous use of red chalk one can only presume Zitero is very worried about a repeat of Walter Ervitti’s on man show on the left for Monterrey which could have proved costly; and if América (MEX) allow Luna to run amok like Ervitti then it could be deadly.

Never has a knock on a door provoked such a mixture of fear and adrenaline; the referee - who will have a lot on his mind at the moment let’s not forget - Senor Mario Chávez has just given the signal for the two teams to leave the dressing rooms and make there way on to the park. The two teams slowly shuffle out of their dressing rooms; the actual tunnel is the stem of a ‘T’ and the two teams come from either sides of the horizontal; so they have to meet in the middle before making their way out. No doubt this would be awkward for some, but the first two out, the captains are not phased at all, Pavel Pardo and Juan Reynoso - with a combined 176 caps for their respective Mexico and Peru - look each other straight in the eye and run straight into the barrier of light and sound without saying a word - the time for talking is over

[PMLF]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PMLF:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PMLF:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Now, to be perfectly honest I do not see what the point in these groups are considering teams don’t solely play teams from their group it would surely make more sense just to take the top 8 from the overall standings. Another problem I have with this system is: for example look at Chivas - they will get into the Knockout phase even though they are 15th overall just because the teams in their standings group are terrible; whereas Morelia will miss out because they have two teams that are doing very well in the league in their little group even though they are 4th in the overall table. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There's a playoff match before the knockout stage if a team that finished among the Top 8 overall don't finish among the top 2 in their group.

In this playoff this team will play against a team that finished second in one group but didn't finish in the Top 8 overall. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

For instance, Chivas could have to play against Morelia to decide who qualify to the knockout stage. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry for posting again, but just to make it clear for once and for all:

This is how it works (I found it in RSSSF):

Playoff qualification for each tournament (Opening and Closing) will be

determined by the following criteria:

(a) The winner of every group (4 in total) goes right to the quarter-finals, that is, has a 1st-round bye.

(b) - The runner-up of every group goes to the playoffs as well.

- The top two runner-ups get a 1st-round bye. The third and fourth runner up (RU.3 & RU.4) might play in the 1st-round playoff against two wild card teams.

c) The top two teams of the remaining ten not yet considered will go to the 1st-round playoff ONLY if they have a better overall standing than that of the lowest qualified team according to (a) and (b) above. They are tagged WC.1 and WC.2 (wild cards) according to their final overall standing.

So, you'd better finish among the Top 10 and if possible as winner of your group.

[The RingMaster]

PMLF: Thanks for clarifying that mate, at least the reader should now have a clearer picture of how things work.

October 2003

15/10/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #15)/ Necaxa Vs América (MEX) / Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Grp | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | 1st | América (MEX) | | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 36 | 14 | +22 | 28 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | 1st | Necaxa | | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 20 | -6 | 19 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - Rojas, DC - de la Cuesta ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Esteche, AMC - Blanco; SC - Navia, SC - Encarnación

The game kicked off to the kind of roar you would expect if one of the sides had just took the lead; and as you would expect the game was scrappy from the offset, although not void of chances as the pre-match danger man Braulio Luna made a break infield after three minutes before firing a shot wide of Alberto Becerra’s right hand post to set the tone of the match to come. Reinaldo Navia proceeded to pull the shot count level a minute later when his speculative effort flew over the bar - nonetheless a promising start from what you would expect to be an incredibly tense match.

The game, which was continuing in the same vein it started, and Reinaldo Navia had a second effort, this time it could have feasibly ended in a goal; an Israel Martinez low cross was atrociously dealt with by the Necaxa defence and the ball fell straight to Navia who was waiting about 10 yards out to smash the ball goalwards; however his shot was deflected wide by sprawling defender Miguel Acosta for a corner which amounted to nothing.

As the game approached the half hour mark the teams were both continuing to attack, though neither side appeared totally committed to going for broke, another long distance attempt, this time from Necaxa striker Jorge Orozco; although that was only a prelude to the first boiling point of the game. Before Alberto Becerra could even take the goal kick Diego Encarnación perhaps showed his immaturity by pushing over Miguel Acosta; the referee could have justifiably pulled out a red card which would have burned into the retina and soul of the young man on such a big day, but he showed some common sense and brandished a yellow.

However, only 5 minutes later Diego Encarnación found himself being chastised by the referee for a deliberate trip, before talking some trash to the referee. The referee, who was no doubt having his patience tested by this brash young man (although we’ve seen that is not his persona off the field) plus the pressure of the Necaxa contingent of fans baying for blood, decided to refrain from brandishing a second yellow; instead giving Diego a last warning, and giving Zitero thoughts about taking the kid off.

Half time approached. After all the Encarnación controversy towards the end of the half there had been something of a lull in actual football action; although América (MEX) were looking to change that as the game entered the first of three minutes of first half stoppage time. Pavel Pardo played a nice ball down the right hand side, finding Esteche, who, for the first real time in this half had made a forage down the right wing; the Paraguayan proceeded to whip in one of his trademark superb crosses, which was begging to be attacked; and attacked it was, flying in at the front post was 17 year old Diego Encarnación to grab his first goal on Estadio Azteca turf! The young man sprinted off to the end of the stadium closest to him, luckily it was populated by América (MEX) supporters, who were clambering to mob the teenage goal scorer as he ran towards them; Encarnación, his team mates, and the fans took part in something resembling a euphoric100 man big-hug, before making their way back into their own half for what remained of the first half injury time.

Necaxa would be shook up after a goal so close to half time, but they didn’t show it, and they calmly went about their business for the remainder of injury time, even forcing an attack well into the 5th minute of injury time - after Encarnación’s convoluted celebrations; Pavel Pardo made a rather clumsy challenge on Fabián Pena, and gave away a free kick 30 yards from goal. After some arguments and time wasting and wall re-positioning, Mexican veteran midfielder Victor Ruiz stepped up and put his foot through the ball; the free kick had great pace, and once it made it over the wall everything seemed to go in slow motion; not only did it have pace, it had direction, and it was heading for the corner, it was far enough out that Becerra could see it and desperately dive, but the free kick was to good and flew off the post and in; causing the Azteca to erupt for the second time in a matter of minutes. Heads on bodies wearing yellow dropped; it was suddenly clear what manager had the tougher team talk.

Both team talks at half time clearly emphasised the importance of a head over heart mentality after some point in the first half which could have easily seen one of the two sides reduced to ten men. This philosophy saw the second half start in quite a rural pace; and hence make the Azteca rather muted for the first time in the match.

However, after the hour mark the instincts of the two teams - to win - seemed to kick in. This was illustrated when, while pushing men forward, second half Necaxa attacking substitute Milton Nunez found himself unmarked in the box on the hour mark after a nice infield pass by Braulio Luna; and after a quick swivel, the man with 10 goals from 26 caps for Honduras got a powerful shot off which Alberto Becerra had to be on his toes to parry away for a corner.

The game was hotting up with both sides clearly fired up and going for a win, and it was about to hit fever pitch come 70 minutes. The ever-dangerous but never dominant Braulio Luna made collected the ball and set off on another run down the left hand side; and from absolutely nowhere, like the proverbial steam train Javier Francisco Esteche flew in with a two footed tackle which could have easily ended this talented Mexican’s career. Senor Chavez - who we guessed might have a tough 90 ahead of him before kick-off - was all out of patience after what, in truth, was a petulant display in the first half by Diego Encarnación and rightly sent the Paraguayan internationalist off. In the mean time Luna was receiving treatment at the wrong point in the field for him, right in front of the ‘away’ fans and he was inevitably getting torrents of abuse, and bottles, and abusive messages in bottles.

Even though Zander Zitero was forced into a tactical change - putting Encarnación on to the right hand side and leaving Navia up front all on his lonesome - there was a feeling that this match was not about to simply fizzle out.

Those feelings were confirmed as the full time whistle drew ever closer. Cuauhtémoc Blanco, to his credit, still trying to support Navia and in turn banish the memories of the little outburst earlier in the campaign that saw him stripped of the captaincy, was played through by current captain Pavel Pardo into a little space in the left hand side of the Necaxa box; Blanco did well to get a shot off while being closed down and the keeper could only parry Blanco’s good effort out towards the danger area; and if ever there was a goal which was the definition of a player it was this, as Reinaldo Navia reacted before anyone else to smashed the ball home from 4 yards out. One side of the Azteca absolutely erupted, this was fairytale stuff for Zitero’s first experience of this fixture, and as Navia wheeled away in front of the Necaxa fans behind the goal he just scored into celebrating his strike he was mobbed by jubilant colleagues; all of whom got the same treatment as Braulio Luna had done only 20 minutes earlier from the surrounding Necaxa fans. Not that they cared a jot.

It was absolute party time for half of the Estadio Azteca; Becerra had a massive grin on his face as he mock orchestrated the América (MEX) fans behind his goal; but wouldn’t it just be terrible if Necaxa were to get another free kick in injury time from similar range to the one which they scored in the first half. Enter José Julián de la Cuesta; the Colombian with the big future gave away a stupid foul from behind on Orozco, this time only 25 yards out. We were now into the 4th minute of stoppage time, this was most likely the last kick of the match and the Azteca was absolutely stone cold silent. Victor Ruiz stepped up once more, displaying the same run, the same technique as at this point in the first half; the contact was sweet and the ball made it over the wall again; and the curling dipping ball was once again to good for Becerra and the ball made a crunching noise as it struck the net which seemed pierced Zander Zitero’s eardrums before nestling in the corner. A double for the Necaxa holding midfielder had broke the hearts of América (MEX), and he would savour it: a quick u-turn behind Becerra’s goals with one finger over his mouth shhh-ing the fans, before sprinting back up field to his adoring fans and Klinsmann diving on the turf in front of them, before being leapt upon by all remaining 10 players in the most intense pile-up you’ll ever see when a match hasn’t actually finished yet.

Diego Encarnación and Reinaldo Navia were back in the centre circle; dejectedly they kicked off and the whistle was blown immediately, that free kick was indeed the last kick of the game. Despite the fact it was a draw only one side of the stadium were in celebration.

Necaxa (Ruiz 45, 90) 2 - 2 (Encarnación 45; Navia 89) América (MEX)

As we look at 11 players sprawled, wearing yellow, out on the Azteca turf after having victory so cruelly snatched away it yet further illustrates how on this occasion only today mattered - América (MEX) will still make the knockout phase, so in that way the result is pretty irrelevant, but the players are still in pieces because of how important this one match is.

We can only imagine, and savour, the potential meeting of these two sides in the knockout phase of the Opening Stage Championship.

[The RingMaster]

October 2003

As you might expect the immediate aftermath of the draw against Necaxa saw many dejected players in training, players that simply could not believe - after an 89th minute goals - they had not won the Mexico City derby; but this is where Zander Zitero earns his money and the rookie manager put things in perspective and got his troops ready for the last few games of the league phase and then the subsequent knockout phase.

One plus point is that they were back in action almost straight away; and they had literally the easiest match in the league, as they welcomed Irapuato to the Azteca; an Irapuato side with only one win this season, and who are sitting 20th in the overall table and 5th in their group.

The home dressing room is without Francisco Javier Esteche, after his GBH on Braulio Luna in the last match he is suspended; the Paraguayans place will be taken by Azuara. Other than that forced change the team will field the same 11 that was so cruelly robbed of 2 points as they look to get back on the winning trail.

19/10/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #16)/ América (MEX) Vs Irapuato / Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Grp | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | 1st | América (MEX) | | 15 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 38 | 16 | +22 | 29 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 20th | 5th | Irapuato | | 15 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 35 | -27 | 7 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Castro, DC - Rojas, DC - de la Cuesta ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Azuara, AMC - Blanco; SC - Navia, SC - Encarnación

By the opening stages of this match you would suggest that perhaps América (MEX) were still suffering from something of a post-Necaxa hangover, as within four minutes of kick-off Costa Rican star Mauricio Wright rose highest from a corner and crashed his header of Alberto Becerra’s crossbar to give the home support a real early scare.

And then with 10 minutes on the clock the unthinkable happened and Irapuato opened the scoring in the Azteca; it came after a great run down the right flank by Victor Saavedra, who then drove in a powerful cross into the box, and coming on to the cross was Brazilian loanee from Alegrense: Ademilson who fired the ball, low, past the plunging Becerra to silence the 46,000 América (MEX) supporters.

The second half then deteriorated into something of a hacking match as both side picked up an abundance of yellow cards as the half progressed; this would have been a wonderful sight for Irapuato who had not had a serious effort from the home team to contend with, and that is exactly how it stood at half time as an absolute blunt-knife of an América (MEX) side could not slice through Irapuato.

The second half started a little brighter for the home side - granted, it could not get much worse - as Navia got América (MEX)’s first shot on target in on 50 minutes; a decent effort from about 15 yards out which Carlos Briones dived to smother comfortably. América (MEX) were certainly suffering from something of a creative block is this match and after Navia’s effort they once again struggled to create chances; seemingly stumped as to how to break down this stubborn, if not good, Irapuato side.

With 20 minutes left Zander Zitero simply replaced Encarnación and Navia with Zepeda and Romário to see if a new strike force would breath any life into this América (MEX) performance.

It proved to be an inspired substitution, as with 13 minutes left, a Pavel Pardo through ball gave Christian Zepeda a couple of yards inside the box; the young predator managed to snap his shot away quickly and succeeded making a great connection and the ball arrowed into the bottom corner to level the contest and announce Zepeda’s arrival back on the first team scene after a few weeks of impressing back in the Under-19’s.

If you had offered Irapuato a draw at the beginning of the game they would have bitten you’re hand off, but now the result did not seem that great and the team looked rather despondent. América (MEX), on the other hand, were on the crest of a wave and pushed forward looking to go ahead; and the goal came only 2 minutes later. It came after Cuauhtémoc Blanco was given far too much space about 30 yards out, and the Mexican genius used the time and space well to thread a delectable ball into the box for Romário to run onto, and the Brazilian star ended his goal drought by firing the ball low and hard past the despairing Carlos Briones.

Irapuato were now physically and mentally shatter after having a in turned into a probably defeat in the space of 2 minutes, and the game threatened to turn in to what was expected prior to kick-off. That was indeed the case as Romário was fed through by Pardo to smash home his second of the match and make it 3-1 with 3 minutes left; before Cuauhtémoc Blanco put even more gloss on the result as his header from an Azuara cross flew into the top corner and round off an unbelievable 13 minute display of power by América (MEX).

América (MEX) (Zepeda 77; Romário 79, 87; Blanco 90) 4 - 1 (Ademilson 11) Irapuato

After what happened to América (MEX) against Necaxa it is very hard to feel sorry for Irapuato, nevertheless the ending of the match was very tough on a technically limited side who worked their asses of for 90 minutes - and for 77 of those it looked like they would pull of the most unlikely of wins.

América (MEX), however, can now stop fighting until the knockout phase, as this late demolition of Irapuato has seen Zitero’s men win their group with 3 games to spare:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | Pl | América (MEX) | | 16 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 42 | 17 | +25 | 32 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Tecos | | 16 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 17 | 15 | +2 | 23 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Querétaro | | 16 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 22 | 21 | +1 | 20 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Santos Laguna | | 16 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 19 | 21 | -2 | 18 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Pumas | | 16 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 20 | 28 | -8 | 17 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

Mind you, we must assume that Zander Zitero will be looking for his side to keep up the momentum as we head towards the Knockout phase of the championship, and hence will be looking for another win when we next catch up with América (MEX), in Guadalajara.

[The RingMaster]

October 2003

Prior to travelling to Guadalajara to face Tecos, Zander Zitero completed a couple of pieces of business. José Julián de la Cuesta, who was originally only signed until 2005 has been given a new contract that will see him at the club until the summer of 2008; also signing a new contract was Diego Encarnación who will also be at the Azteca until the summer of 2008.

It was certainly a peculiar situation that América (MEX) found themselves in as they prepared to make their way out to play Tecos; they were already winners of their group and guaranteed to be in the Quarter Finals of the Knockout stage of the Championship, yet it was still important to get a result to keep up momentum.

Tecos, on the other hand, are not guaranteed to make the Knockout phase, they are actually in América (MEX)’s group and although they are in 2nd right now they are only 3 points clear of 3rd place in the group - Querétaro. So you would assume that Tecos would have to be the favourites to beat an already qualified América (MEX) side, who, incidentally, are without Castro, but football never is predictable.

26/10/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #17)/ Tecos Vs América (MEX) / Estadio Galeria de la UAG, Guadalajara

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Grp | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | 1st | América (MEX) | | 16 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 42 | 17 | +25 | 32 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | 2nd | Tecos | | 16 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 17 | 15 | +2 | 23 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Gonzalez, DC - Rojas, DC - de la Cuesta ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Azuara, AMC - Blanco; SC - Navia, SC - Encarnación

Despite stunning performances from the two substitutes in the last match Zander Zitero decided to continue with Reinaldo Navia and Diego Encarnación up front for this one; and both players looked sharp in the opening stages, with Encarnación getting a good shot in on target after a good run with only 5 minutes gone.

That effort was quickly supplemented by a Navia header from a nice ball in by Azuara - who incidentally, has played very well after coming in for Esteche - which was glanced just wide with Mario Rodriguez rooted to the spot.

After Tecos managed to ride out the opening stages they started to come into the game as an attaking force; with Eduardo Lillingston coming close with a curling effort; and with Bolivian International José Alfredo Castillo proving a constant threat with his direct running and willingness to shoot for goal.

Despite Tecos’ undisputedly coming back into the game as the half progressed América (MEX) continued to be the better team, the team looking like they had the greater cutting edge; this was emphasised when Diego Encarnación played a glorious reverse through ball into the box, splitting open the defence, to Blanco, who could have shot, but instead rolled the ball across to Navia, taking the keeper out the game, leaving the Chilean hit man to tap the ball into the empty net.

The half time break saw three substitutions - two of which could have been classified as attacking changes, but still they struggled for the quality needed to break down what was a stubborn and well organised América (MEX) defence; and on top of that América (MEX) still looked like scoring whenever their trio of players, who were on top form this evening, got the ball.

The second half progressed and more and more Tecos bodies pushed forward but still created no real chances. José Julian de la Cuesta was the stand-out in an overall superb performance by the América (MEX) back line, and the Colombian - fresh off his new 5 year £10,000 p/w contract - would eventually pick up the Man of the Match award come full time for his performance, which undoubtedly was a big part in securing a textbook away win.

Tecos 0 - 1 (Navia 37) América (MEX)

Morale was high in the away dressing room after the final whistle between all of the América (MEX) players after such a good away win, and there is no doubt Zander Zitero is absolutely delighted with the way his team coped with the different kind of problems posed by playing a match when you’ve already reached you’re season objective.

Now Zander will be hoping his players can keep up this run in the penultimate game of the League Phase of the Opening Stage Championship; against Lowly San Luis.

[The RingMaster]

November 2003

In truth, a home match against San Luis has to fall into the same category as the home match against Irapuato, with San Luis sitting 17th in the overall table and 5th in their group. Nevertheless despite - or perhaps because of - the match against Irapuato, Zander Zitero will not be underestimating América (MEX)’s lowly opponents in this one.

With Esteche still suspended Azuara continues to ably deputise on the right wing, and Navia and Encarnación continue their partnership up front, looking for goals in the last home fixture of the league phase; and the men in yellow will be looking to sign off in style after what has, in points, been a chequered home campaign.

2/11/03

(Mexican First Division, Opening Stage, Match #18)/ América (MEX) Vs San Luis / Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Grp | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | 1st | América (MEX) | | 17 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 43 | 17 | +26 | 35 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th | 5th | San Luis | | 17 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 31 | -17 | 18 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

America (Mex): (4-1-2-1-2) GK - Becerra, DL - Martinez, DR - Gonzalez, DC - Rojas, DC - de la Cuesta ; DMC - Pardo ©, ML - Mendoza, MR - Azuara, AMC - Blanco; SC - Navia, SC - Encarnación

América (MEX) started this match like a team determined not to make the same mistakes as against Irapuato, and within a few minutes of kicking off Pavel Pardo had stung the fingers of Christian Martinez with a rasping 25 yard drive; this was followed by a de la Cuesta header from a Mendoza cross which flashed just wide of the post.

All in all it was an awesome start by the home team, and they had the ball in the net after only ten minutes; Pavel Pardo laid the ball to Blanco about 30 yards out, and the Mexican star hit an ambitious effort which dipped majestically into the net for a wonder goal. However, for some inexplicable reason the linesman thought Navia, in an offside position, was interfering with play and he disallowed what would have surely been the November goal of the month.

This did not hinder the home side too much and they continued to dominate their less illustrious opponents, with Navia and Encarnación coming close. América (MEX) did finally break the deadlock after 26 minutes, when Blanco played a great diagonal ball down the wing for Azuara, he drove a cross low into the box and Encarnación reacted quickest to slide in and grab the opener.

The floodgates were now expected to open, but San Luis did well, steadied the ship and managed to calm the game down slightly and get some respite. Zander Zitero was also forced into a change just after the goal, having to bring on Christian Patino for the stricken Chuy Mendoza, no doubt some of the lull in América (MEX)’s attacking play can be attributed to that fact.

Brave San Luis couldn’t quite make it to half time without conceding the second goal and - if there was ever any doubt - sealing the victory. It again came from the boot of the talent that is Diego Encarnación; this time the 17 year old was slipped through by Blanco and he blasted the ball into the bottom corner from around the penalty spot.

San Luis, to their credit, showed real ambition in the second half and pushed forward straight from the first whistle; they did cause América (MEX) the odd problem and forced a couple of decent saves from Becerra. But in the end their ambition was their down fall and, with San Luis pushing bodies forward looking for a way back into the game, América (MEX) caught them on the counter attack; a long ball up the field by de la Cuesta sent Encarnación free on the right flank, and showing amazing pace he simply sprinted about 45 yards in a diagonal line in-field before blasting the ball past the on rushing keeper to claim what will surely be the first of many hat-tricks for Diego Encarnación.

This took the attacking wind out of San Luis’ sails and only 7 minutes later América (MEX) took advantage of the minnows’ dejected state, firing in a fourth goal; this time through the deserving figure of Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who, after having a wonder goal ruled out, completed the simple task of rising unmarked to head home an Azuara corner.

Given the attitude of the away side in the second half there were no grudging faces in the Azteca when, on 70 minutes, Omar Dominguez whipped in a great corner and Peruvian legend Jorge Soto rose to bullet home a consolation header and finish the scoring.

América (MEX) (Encarnación 26, 45, 52; Blanco 59) 4 - 1 San Luis (Soto 70)

Before leaving the field at full time the América (MEX) players acknowledged the support of the fans over the league phase of the Opening Stage Championship by standing in the centre circle and applaud the 45,000 fans who came to watch them defeat San Luis, before heading back into the home dressing room in very high spirits.

The last match of the League phase would see Zitero’s side travel to Cruz Azul for a really tough game; and the next time we see América back in the Azteca it will be in the Quarter final of the Opening Stage Championship.