El Tri's 5-1 victory over New Zealand was an outstanding performance from the Mexican squad. It allayed the fear of many fans who saw Mexico's World Cup chances dwindling. However, it's not over yet. El Tri will still have to fend off the attacks of a spurned New Zealand team next week in Wellingtong, and with a home-crowd advantage plus a long journey to get there, the Mexican team cannot afford to get complacent.
New Zealand's coach Ricki Herbert spoke at a press conference about what to expect from the all-white squad. "We're four goals down, so obviously we need to very, very aggressive," he said. The New Zealand team will have to count without Ivan Vicelich, Chris Wood and Leo Bertos, three of the key players in last Wednesday's match. As such, Herbert is going to have to make some significant changes to his side, but he is yet to reveal his lineup.
"We are going to t train and see how the players respond to see who are pest players for this match," explained the kiwi coach. However, Herbert is still grappling with how to deal with a resurgent Mexican side. "They had a really good match...it's going to be interesting to see what tactic they adopt, but we are going to be very aggresive from our side," he reiterated.
El Tri will also have the Wellington crowd to deal with. "The stadium is going to be full. I think it's important that we rile up as much emotion as possible with an early goal. " The coach also admitted some frustration at the defeat. "We had some great moments going to the World cup in South Africa in 2010, and the result in Mexico left me very, very disappointe.d
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