On Soccer: In The Role Of David, Introducing Guadeloupe

While the Gold Cup semifinal between the United States and Canada is virtually devoid of controversy or sensation, Thursday nights other semifinal at Soldier Field, Mexico vs. Guadeloupe, is positively overflowing with commotion.

On one side is Mexico, a heavy favorite but playing so poorly that there are already calls for the coach to be sacked during just his first tournament in charge of the national team. On the other side is Guadeloupe, a largely amateur team led by a 41-year-old former star playing his last tournament, representing a Caribbean island of 450,000 that is not even a country but a fully constituent part of France.

This David-and-Goliath matchup will be played out in front of a huge crowd, in a tournament that is garnering surprisingly high television ratings and amid accusations that the tournament refereeing has been slanted to bring about a U.S.-Mexico final.

Mexico are coming off an unconvincing 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Costa Rica. The winning goal came from Jared Borgetti in the seventh minute of extra time while Costa Rica were playing with 10 men, and the American referee Terry Vaughn would expel two more Ticos before the match was over.

After the match, Costa Rica coach Hernán Medford said that Vaughns refereeing was a product of Concacafs desire to get Mexico into the final. "They have favorites," he said of Concacaf, among several other postgame expressions of dissatisfaction. On Tuesday Medford went further. "If it had been 11 on 11, we wouldve beaten them," he said. "This is the worst Mexico in history."

Mexicos Gold Cup performance has been extremely shaky, which is especially surprising given that all of its top players were called to the team. Before the Costa Rica match, the Tricolores barely edged Cuba, 2-1; lost to Honduras, 2-1; and struggled to beat Panama, 1-0.

El Tris weak showing has sparked calls for the ouster of Hugo Sánchez, who took over as Mexico coach last winter after spending much of the previous four years publicly criticizing the men who held the job. The biggest blast came from Jorge Vergara, the millionaire owner of Chivas Guadalajara and director of Mexicos national teams. "Mexico must improve in this Gold Cup," Vergara said. "Hugo has to do what he must to make improvements. He has to convince us that this is the right path. If not, well take drastic decisions."

Sánchez had counted on the return of Mexicos captain, Rafael Márquez, for the semifinal. Marquez joined the team Tuesday from Barcelona, which just missed winning the Spanish league title last weekend. But Márquez hadnt played for Barcelona in three weeks because of a torn thigh muscle, and whats more, he sounded a bit depressed upon arriving in Chicago.

"Im tired from the trip, sad for not having won the championship," he said. "Im going to try to disconnect myself, and now Im with the national team, be thinking only of the game on Thursday."

It is unclear whether Márquez, a world-class central defender, will be ready for the semifinal.

El Tris performance is under the spotlight not only in Mexico, but in the United States as well. The team played before crowds of 68,000 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., and 68,000 and 70,000 at Reliant Stadium in Houston. (No Gold Cup game this tournament has drawn less than 20,000.)

Moreover, Mexicos first three matches, all telecast by Univision, averaged a viewership of 2.2 million households, according to Neilsen figures. The June 13 Mexico-Panama match also drew almost 2 million male viewers between the ages of 18 and 49 more than any other show on American television in any language that night.

According to David Downs, president of Univision Sports and also in charge of Gold Cup telecasts on the Telefutura and Galavision networks, ratings for the tournament are up "about 25 percent over the 2005 Gold Cup" for all games, not just Mexicos. "We estimate that roughly 10 percent of the viewers are non-Spanish speaking," Downs said.

Its unclear how many viewers are tuning in to watch the surprising Guadeloupe team. As a French overseas département (the same status within France that Hawaii has as an American state), Guadeloupe cannot enter a team in the World Cup, but it is allowed to enter teams in regional competitions like the Gold Cup.

Led by Jocelyn Angloma, a 41-year-old midfielder/defender who earned 37 caps for France and played key roles on powerful clubs like Inter Milan, Marseilles and Valencia in the 90s, Guadeloupe pulled off a shock upset of Canada in the group stage (sparked by Anglomas memorable volley goal) and then knocked off Honduras in the quarterfinal.

The teams performance has touched off an outpouring of pride in Gwada, as the islands residents refer to it, as well as some good-natured sniping with Martinique, its neighboring overseas département.

"Its great to be present at this level, and Im proud of what weve done," Angloma said before the quarterfinal victory. "In getting here, our objective was to prove to the rest of the world that Guadeloupe is a spectacular team.

"If we qualify for the semifinal," Angloma added, "anything can happen."

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