Goettingen, Germany – Mexico’s wild card could turn out to be its World Cup ace.
And with Jared Borgetti suddenly gimpy and nowhere to be seen at Monday’s training session, Omar Bravo’s role in El Tri’s offense could be even bigger.
The question going into the tournament was not so much whether the Chivas de Guadalajara forward would play, but where. The answer, after his two-goal performance in Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Iran, appears to be “wherever he wants.” Borgetti came off limping, favoring his left thigh, in the 52nd minute of Sunday’s game. There was no word Monday whether he would play in Friday’s game against Angola.
Jose Luis Serrano, the team physician, said Borgetti had to come out because of muscle spasms and would undergo an MRI today.
The way Bravo is playing, though, Mexico might not miss its leading career scorer. And where Borgetti was the fans’ clear favorite when Mexico arrived in Goettingen, it’s now Bravo who draws the autograph seekers.
“I’m very humbled that everyone thinks I’m the star of the team,” Bravo said. “It’s hard for me to sign autographs for everyone, but I’m really happy to be in the World Cup.”
Togo coach’s status uncertain
Togo coach Otto Pfister was expected to arrive back at the team’s hotel Monday night, and the country’s federation said he would be on the bench today when the Sparrow Hawks face South Korea. But Pfister had not arrived from his home in Zurich, Switzerland, by 9 p.m. and it was uncertain when he would show up, according to federation spokesman Messan Attolou. When asked if Pfister would coach Togo today, Attolou replied tersely: “I’m not sure.” It was a baffling switch from earlier in the day when Attolou had said “we are partying” after the news Pfister was returning.
Footnotes
ABC’s broadcast of three matches from the opening weekend, none of which included the U.S. team, drew an average overnight rating of 2.8, a 65 percent increase over the network’s average from two matches during the opening weekend of the 2002 World Cup.
Of course, those games were played in Asia, meaning they were on early in the morning in the United States. The average rating for two games ABC broadcast during the opening weekend of the 1998 World Cup in France was 2.5, 12 percent less than this year.
Ali Daei, Iran’s captain and top scorer, likely will miss Saturday’s match against Portugal because of a back injury.
