August 6, 1999

Aztec Victory Dance

Mexico "waved" goodbye to the Confederations Cup as "El Tri", the home team, was crowned champions of the 1999 edition.


FIFA President Joseph Blatter (L) presents the FIFA Confederations Cup to Mexican team captain Claudio Suarez (C) as Luis Hernandez (R) celebrates after Mexico beat Brazil 4-3 to win the tournament at Azteca stadium Wednesday night.

The Mexicans well deserved to win the Cup as one of the two unbeaten teams making it to the final. Suarez, Pardo and Blanco maintained the Mexicans' tempo with goals, skill and stability at the back. Also, the home "Azteca" factor - Mexico has not been beaten there for 18 years - cannot be ignored. Conmebol champions Brazil lived up to the expectations as its talent factory continues to produce outstanding players such as 19-year-old Ronaldinho, one of three players who netted six goals.

The host nation's credentials to hold this tournament was never in doubt with average attendance's surpassing 63,000. So with everything in place it was up to the teams and the individual players to make this event a success.

And, they did not let us down. All witnessed a standard of goalkeepers seldom seen in a single tournament with the likes of Keller (USA), Campos (Mexico), Dida (Brazil) and Utting (New Zealand). And the goals flowed like a river in monsoon. Goals by Cuauthe-moc Blanco, Al Otaibi and Ronaldinho.

Surprise package Saudi Arabia recovered after a 1-5 thrashing in their opening match to qualify for the semi-finals following a 5-1 win in the all-Arab clash against Egypt. USA stood their ground against giants Germany and Brazil only to fail narrowly by losing to a Golden Goal by Mexico's top scorer Blanco.

New Zealand went home happy after gamely facing up to Germany and USA. Against Brazil they acted out their personal "World Cup final" conceding only two goals in a spirited contest. Egypt lost their cool in the match against Saudi Arabia when they only needed a draw. Bolivia improved on their Copa America performance with two draws. The big disappointment of the tournament was a lacklustre German team which had left many of its best players at home and paid the price by going out early and returning home to a critical German press.

Facts & Figures

1. This was the first victory for a CONCACAF team in a male FIFA competition ("A" level). Mexico's success brakes a series of three consecutive wins for CON-MBEBOL teams in FIFA Confederations Cup. This was also Brazil's 1st defeat in this competition following a series of 9 positive matches (8 wins and 1 draw). Brazil tonight conceded the same number of goals (4) conceded in the 9 previous matches.

2. This was the 2nd defeat in 1999 for the Brazilian national team. Mexico broke a series of 14 positive results in a row (13 wins and 1 draw). The previous defeat occurred in the 1st match of the season, a friendly played against South Korea (1-0) in Seoul on 28 March.

9. Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored his 9th in 8 matches played in FIFA Confederations Cup. Mexico's player is the top-scorer in the all-time ranking, ahead of Brazil's Romario (7 goals) and Ronaldinho (6) and Saudi Arabia's Al Otaibi (6). Another Mexican player leads the all-time ranking of matches played - Claudio Suarez (11) - ahead of Saudi Arabia's Al Khilaiwi and Brazil's Dida, both with 10 matches played.

27. Wednesday night was the 27th head-to-head between Mexico and Brazil. In spite of today's defeat, Brazil widely lead the balance: 18 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses (57 goals scored and 22 conceded). Before this evening, Mexico had beaten Brazil on 10 July 1968 in Mexico City (2-1, friendly), on 31 October of the same year in Rio de Janeiro (2-1, friendly) and on 21 January 1996 in Los Angeles (2-0, Gold Cup final game). The two teams have played each other for the 3rd time in less than one month: Brazil's defeat came after two consecutive wins in Copa America.

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