England and Mexico were vying for semi-final spots, already aware
that Ghana awaited the winner. I must say that I expected more but then again
life is full of dissappointments.
	I am unable to provide a starting line up for this match but if you
look at previous line ups for these teams they will be quite similar. The only
thing of note is that Barmby was rushed back from injury for this game. The
Referee was Hellmut Krug from Germany.
	The crowd of 11047 was a little dissappointing in my view, but they
probably knew what was coming and stayed away. The early running seemed
promising enough but any reasonable shot at goal was hard to come by. The
English, as always, adopting a defensive approach and relying on the
principle of 'if you keep kicking it upfield it'll find our forwards at
least some of the time'. I am probably being unneccessarily unkind but then
again I know what's coming. That said England did manage to get a close look
at the Mexican goal with most raids snuffed out by the impressive looking
Mexicans. Mexico also let David Watson know that not only Steve Watson can
get past him when Duilio Davino took him on from too far away and failed to
trouble Watson.
	England basically aimed for Barmby at every oppertunity and though
he was tightly marked he managed to show a bit of skill and evasiveness.
Obviously the visit the English team paid to a local beach and golf course
had the effect of relaxing them a little, oh yes and it was too hot to train.
Mexico and England traded free kicks near the area and both sides could
have done better than they did. Actionwise there isn't a lot to report but
I am watching the game as I write just to see if I've missed anything of
significance. Mexico seemed happy enough to go along with the caper played
by England, infact the general nature of the game was such that few
fouls were committed in the first half.
	Mexico missed what may not have been a golden, perhaps more a
Germanium (pun intended), oppertunity. Anthony Hughes was taking the ball 
back in defence after an attacker was dispossessed. The keeper Watson rushed 
out and kicked the ball away eventhough Hughes had it well and truly covered. 
Worse still the kick by Watson was a shocker and landed at the feet of Joel 
Sanchez who correctly tried to lob the keeper who was running back from 
outside the area but rushed his effort eventhough he had more time.
Consequently the scoresheet remained blank.
	Gabriel Garcia, a Mexican Nick Barmby if you will, was playing a
similar role to Barmby himself with similar levels of success. Chris 'Bartman'
Bart-Williams was probably the best of the English side in the first half.
He needed to continue the trend as Barmby, obviously troubled, was replaced
by Julian Joachim just before half time. Joachim's form has been good and
probably should have started the match. Only minutes later Myers was
taken off and replaced with Marvin Harriott. Then came half time.
	The two substitutions by England made them worry when David Unsworth
was down with an injury but he was able to continue. The fans were getting
a little miffed about the lack of any adventure and let it be known. Points
for initiative went to Mexico in the second half, but you can have all the
initiave on earth and still lose a game of football. Steve Watson gave the
crowd a show when he changed shorts on the field, on the playing side of things
Joachim did well. One run by him was made down the left flank and the ball
was crossed into the area. There were three Mexican defenders waiting and
not an English shirt in sight. It was that sort of game. England's only real
threat came from corners. England play them well and were unlucky not to
score from one or two, on the other hand if all you can do is score from
corners you really have a problem. England had a problem. Gabriel Garcia
also had problems with David Unsworth, the former chopped the latter down
and Herr Krug duly noted Garcia in his book.
	I saw Norway play, they didn't score a single goal in the tournament,
but they still entertained me more than England. I regret saying that if
effort was money Norway could buy an attacking team, I should have said
unless acted upon by an external force an object will exhibit uniform motion.
Make of that what you will.
	Mexico applied the pressure in the last 15 minutes, hoping to avoid
nasty extra time surprises. Sustained attack at the English end of the
ground was fruitless though. At the other end Davino went into the yellow
card hall of fame for a trip on a charging Joachim. I agreed with the crowd
when they chanted "all we are saying is give us a goal". A late substitution
for Vincente Nieto in the form of Jesus Olalde (perhaps hoping for divine
intervention), and some corners for England as well as a last gasp chance
to Garcia pretty much ended the 90 minutes.
	Sudden death extra time it was. Mexico took Reuben Gonzales off and
sent Alan Guadarrama on in his place, hoping the fresh legs would make a
difference. David Watson showed some athletic skills to pluck a dangerous
cross from the decidedly portly Guadarrame, Watsons goalkeeping would be
required soon.
	England would have been home and hosed had one of their players been
able to get a foot from a great, inswinging free kick by captain Darren Caskey
from near the touchline. By the same token Mexico should have been 
planning how to play Ghana when Ian Pearce brought down Gabriel Garcia inside
the English penalty box. Pearce missed the ball, brought the man crashing
down and then had enough time for his victim to hurl abuse at him after no
penalty was given. Pearce is a very good defender and has good aerial skills
but does seem a little illtempered. It's not the first time I've seen such
an outburst from him, I wonder if getting him upset is a good idea, given the
ref is looking you could get him sent off for retaliating to some well chosen
abuse. Teams playing against Chelsea take note :) . There was greater
urgency in the play by both sides but by and by it seemed that penalties was
looking good to both sides, and they got them, but not before England lost
a chance to aviod them. A Watson throw in was nodded on by Pearce and Bart-
Williams at the near post had only 5 metres between him and goal. Unfortunately
for him part of the 5 metres was occupied by Oswaldo Sanchez who saved Bartmans
shot brilliantly.
	First up for Mexico was Jesus Olalde who gave England the early
advantage when he tested the stability of the goal frame by hitting the
crossbar. England replied with a goal to Jamie Pollock into the top of the
net, much the way Olalde had intended. Amante got Mexico going by beating
Watson who went the right way. Darren Caskey didn't let the poms down and
sent Sanchez the wrong way. Astivia also had Watson going the right way but
still got Mexico's second. Sanchez wobbled and waved his arms a bit for 
Thompson's spot kick to no avail. Carlos Gonzales brought it back to 3-3
with a gentle penalty which had left Watson standing. Then Bart-Williams
came up for England and the Sheffield Wednesday man was able to get the
ball into the bottom left corner of the goal just before Sanchez arrived.
Close but good enough. Juan Solis as captain proved to be the last penalty
taker when Watson guessed right and the ball was high enough for Watson
to arrive in time and parry it away. Had the ball been along the ground
Watson could not have fallen in front of it quickly enough to stop it.

	England 0 - Mexico 0
	England win 4-3 on penalties