Preseason in Cancún

Pumas wound up their sea-level training in Cancún with a 2-0 victory over Atlante in front of a 10,000 crowd at the Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo. Leandro Augusto in the first half and youngster David Cabrera in the second half got the goals, both from headers. The team now return to Mexico City to finalise their preparations for the Apertura tournament.

Meanwhile Mario Trejo (picture) continues to make pronouncements about the "Mexicanisation" of the Pumas first team. While the encouragement of younger players is officially the reasoning behind this policy it is interesting to read between the lines. This is what the Sporting Director of Pumas had to say:

"We want you to understand that in contracting fewer players we are giving more chances to our young players, with the responsibility not to fall into the same mistakes as on other occasions, when because of being champions in the first tournament you make expensive investments."

"Filling up our quota of foreigners and bringing in so many players from abroad does not mean that championships will be won in this way. It has to be done by refining and making a success of the process of bringing on the university player, in our case."

Once this process is done then according to Trejo Pumas can be champions "along with rediscovering our mystique, along with our efforts to achieve Mexicanization, brought about through the process of players coming up from the youth ranks, and the purchase of others such as Juan Carlos Cacho."

"We need to start by looking to be competitive and if we are champions then better still, but we have to make room for Mexican players, and as a club to imbue ourselves with that philosophy, that essence, but this takes time."

"The decision to buy players we brought in (foreign players) was hotly disputed, and we were asked who is Esteban Solari, who is Scocco who is Rubens Sambueza" but "with time people realised their skills, what they could and should do, and for this reason they were brought in. But it is difficult to always be working with a millstone round your neck, if they are Mexican because they are Mexican, and if they are foreigners, because they are foreigners."

This all seems pretty muddy thinking to me, but thankfully it seems not to be a pure marketing decision, even if its nationalism falls little short of racism.

Later in the week Trejo clarified further, saying that although Guillermo Vásquez the assistant coach was in South America looking for an addition to the squad, he would prefer that they did not get anyone.

Trejo again: "For my part it seems that at the moment we haven't found anyone right. Yes there are good players, obviously, fortunately there are always good players, abroad and in our country, but what is happening as I see it is that bringing another player from abroad is going to delay the emergence of our own players."

"The second reason that I see for believing that it is not a good time to bring in a foreign player is price. Because when they realise and when you promote yourself from inside your club, or you declare you are going to go for a player, we all know what happens, because everyone approaches you, sends you hundreds of videos. They all cost three million (dollars) or more, and it seems to me that we shouldn't let ourselves be dragged into this type of situation, this kind of game, out of respect for our institution, and especially because of our philosophy that we've had for giving our young players a chance."

Nevertheless Guillermo Vásquez will submit a report on his South American findings to, in Trejo's words "to confirm or not whether I'm telling the truth" but there seems little likelihood of a change of heart from the sporting director: "I still maintain my opinions" he concluded. The only chance of a change of policy comes from the Technical Committee or from Club President Víctor Mahbub.

I am still uncertain how much support Trejo has from the grass roots for this policy, but it is definitely true that some of our most exciting and reliable players have been non-Mexican. One thinks of Dario Verón, Leandro Augusto, Joaquin Botero, Ailton Da Silva, as well as legends such as Ferretti himself. There have also been dreadful foreign purchases such as Agustín Delgado but there have also been poor Mexican purchases such as Raul Salinas, Cesareo Victorino and Gerardo Espinoza. At the end of the day the quality and loyalty of the players has nothing to do with their place of birth, and the development of Pumas' youngsters is enhanced not damaged by contact with players of excellence, wherever they are from.

Elsewhere in Mexico
The Mexican national team redeemed themselves with a convincing 7-0 defeat of Belize in Monterrey to advance to the group stages of World Cup qualifying, with a brace each from the ever-improving Fernando Arce, and leading all-time scorer Jared Borgetti. In the first group stage they will face the might of Canada, Jamaica and Honduras. The games begin on 20th August.

Meanwhile LDUQ, América's conquerors in the Copa Libertadores, took a 4-2 lead in the first leg of the final in Quito. The return leg in the Maracaná in Rio is this Wednesday.