It
was only a matter of time before Mexico would tally the first strike during
Monday night's soccer exhibition against Senegal. El Tri was in complete
control from the get-go with a far superior possession game.In the 60th minute,
Mexico finally struck as Alberto Medina's goal provided the difference en route
to a 1-0 victory over Senegal in front of a sold-out crowd of 60,610 at Soldier
Field.
But Mexico head coach Javier Aguirre had
reason to be a bit unsatisfied with the performance. El Tri had a bunch of
scoring opportunities, and Medina particularly had several other chances. The
one-goal win did the trick, but Mexico clearly could have done more."We
missed a few [opportunities] in the last third of the field," Aguirre
said. "We need to look at connecting short passes. In the great leagues
you only have one opportunity and you need to score it."
For two-thirds of the match, Senegal
goalkeeper Khadim Ndiaye did his best to keep his squad in contention. He was
efficient coming off of his line to intercept a bunch of threats and had some
key saves to try to silence Mexico's attack.In the 60th minute, Ndiaye nearly
replicated his previous efforts when he disrupted Andres Guardado's deep send
for Medina. But in this instance the ball popped out a bit from his gloves, and
Medina found the far left netting for the 1-0 Mexico lead.
Just a few minutes before that play, former
Chicago Fire midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco made what nearly proved to be a
picture-perfect entrance. Blanco did not get the start, but to the pleasure of
the Mexican faithful in Soldier Field, he came off the bench for a shade more
than half an hour.
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