Desperate for a win to stay in the CONCACAF hexagonal mix, Mexican national team manager Javier Aguirre has called on a blast from the past for El Tri's matches against El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago: Chicago Fire star Cuauhtémoc Blanco.
This isn't the first time Aguirre, who replaced Sven-Goran Eriksson, has brought in Blanco to help the struggling Tricolores. In 2002, Blanco scored critical goals in qualifying matches to lead Mexico to a World Cup berth.
Blanco, who has 34 goals in 100 appearances with the Mexican national team, announced his international retirement on Sept. 13, 2008 and had an emotional sending off in a 2-1 World Cup qualifying victory over Canada at Tuxtla Gutierrez.
With one win out of its three matches, Mexico is currently fourth, one point behind Honduras. They head to San Salvador Saturday to face an El Salvador squad that features New York Red Bulls fullback Alfredo Pacheco and has two points out of three matches.
Mexico will return home to Estadio Azteca on June 10 to take on Trinidad & Tobago, while El Salvador will head to San Pedro Sula to take on Honduras on June 10.
Toronto FC midfielder Amado Guevara and Kansas City's Roger Espinoza will hope to lead Honduras, which takes on the USA Saturday at Soldier Field in Chicago before returning home for El Salvador four days later. Honduras is 1-1-1 after three matches and is in third place in the standings, two points behind Costa Rica.
Featuring Chicago Fire fullback Gonzalo Segares, the Ticos are home for a first-place showdown with the United States at Estadio Saprissa on Wednesday. Chivas USA teammates Jonathan Bornstein and Sacha Kljestan join veterans Frankie Hejduk of the Columbus Crew, Pablo Mastroeni of the Colorado Rapids and Toronto FC fullback Marvell Wynne and forwards Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo) and Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy) on Bob Bradley's roster.
The U.S. is atop the six-team group with seven points from three games.
With two points out of three matches, Trinidad & Tobago is tied for last with El Salvador and the Soca Warriors, featuring Avery John of the New England Revolution and Cornell Glen of the San Jose Earthquakes, host Costa Rica in Bacolet, Tobago on Saturday before heading to Mexico City June 10.
With 13 points out of 12 matches, Venezuela sits in eighth out of 10 teams in South America, but is just two points behind Colombia and Ecuador in sixth place. With New York Red Bulls midfielder Jorge Rojas and Columbus Crew forward Alejandro Moreno on the roster, La Vinotinto has a critical qualifier Saturday when they head to La Paz to take on a Bolivia squad that is one point behind them in the standings. Venezuela then plays host to Uruguay on June 10.
After securing a 1-1 draw on the road against Sudan in its last qualifier, Mali returns to Bamako for its next two qualifying matches. With Chicago Fire defender Bakary Soumare on the roster, Mali, which is tied with Sudan behind Group D leader Ghana, hosts Ghana on Sunday.
Having already clinched the Oceanian Zone qualifying section, New Zealand will play three friendlies in preparation for the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa later this month.
New York Red Bulls defender Andrew Boyens, Duncan Oughton of the Columbus Crew, Simon Elliott of the San Jose Earthquakes and Jarrod Smith of Seattle Sounders FC will compete for the All Whites in friendlies against Tanzania on June 3, Botswana on June 6, and Italy on June 10.
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
