Coach Javier Aguirre drew on memories of Mexico\u2019s last home World Cup on Wednesday as he prepared to lead the hosts into the tournament opener against South Africa, four decades after taking the field as a player at the Estadio Azteca.<\/p>\n
Mexico launch the World Cup on Thursday carrying the expectations of a football-mad nation, but Aguirre said no experience in his 50 years in the game compared with the emotions of a World Cup on home soil.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have not had a greater emotion in 50 years in football than a World Cup at home,\u201d Aguirre told reporters on the eve of the Group A clash. \u201cIt is something unforgettable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aguirre was part of Mexico\u2019s squad at the 1986 World Cup and played in the opening match against Belgium, also at the Azteca, before later guiding the team at the 2002 and 2010 tournaments.<\/p>\n
Now in his third spell as coach, the 67-year-old said he had tried to pass on the confidence he felt as a player to a squad preparing to experience a home World Cup for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember the confidence with which we went out to face Belgium,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to transmit to the players that it can be a great day for us, that it can be a celebration that will be remembered for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aguirre said his team were ready for the challenges that come with opening the tournament in front of more than 80 000 fans, stressing \u201cit is not only about football, it is emotional balance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mexico are widely viewed as favourites to beat South Africa but Aguirre said home advantage would only help if his players managed the pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot go crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone wants to finish the game in the first half, but this lasts 90 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mexico will try to make history on Thursday, with the hosts still seeking their first win in a World Cup opening match after seven previous attempts, a statistic Aguirre said he only learned when it was put to him at the press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we have one more reason to win tomorrow,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will break that statistic.\u201d<\/p>\n
–Reuters–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21315,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[],"class_list":["post-36760","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Mexico launch the World Cup on Thursday carrying the expectations of a football-mad nation","published_date":"","news_description":"Mexico launch the World Cup on Thursday carrying the expectations of a football-mad nation","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36761,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36760\/revisions\/36761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=36760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}