- Mexico recorded their first win against Germany at the FIFA World Cup™
- El Tri have won five of their last six opening matches at the world finals
- Hirving Lozano scored on his World Cup debut
Nobody predicted this. Anyone who said they could see it happening was most probably lying, with the exception, that is, of Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio or one of his players. Over the last few months, Osorio has been hatching a plan to defeat the reigning world champions, and today at the Luzhniki Stadium, El Tri executed it to perfection.
We reveal the keys to Mexico’s historic triumph in Moscow.
Constant pressing
“We know Germany’s style and we know that the success of their system is based on Toni Kroos’ legs, so our number one priority was to neutralise him,” Javier Chicharito Hernandez told us. “But it wasn’t just a case of trying to do that with him. It was my job to try and stop [Mats] Hummels, who’s their best defender on the ball, from playing his game. The aim was to disrupt their flow.”
While Germany enjoyed more possession, particularly in the second half, Mexico’s pressing game made sure the holders were never at ease. Proof of that is the fact that El Tri recovered possession 38 times to the Germans’ 31.
Speed on the counter
“We knew that El Profe [‘The Professor’, to give Osorio his nickname] had spent months working on his plan but he only told us about it a little while ago,” explained Hector Herrera, who also had an outstanding afternoon. “The idea was to press them and also to spread the play as quickly as possible and make the most of the speed of our attacking players.”
It was Herrera who began the move that led to Mexico’s goal with a superb pass into the path of Chicharito, who in turn fed the ball on for Hirving Lozano to fire home. It was not the only excellent chance created by El Tri, who time and again exploited the space left by the German midfield to threaten Manuel Neuer’s goal.
Confidence and team spirit
“This win belongs to all the players and to El Profe Osorio more than anyone else,” said midfielder Edson Alvarez, who came on as a substitute in Moscow. “We knew he’d prepared the match in depth and we put ourselves in his hands. And he showed his faith in us too. I am extremely grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to play in the World Cup at the age of only 20.”
Those sentiments were widely shared among the Mexico players, who all spoke of the high spirits in the Tri camp and of their faith in Osorio’s plans, with Chicharito going as far as to describe him as a “genius”. The feeling is mutual. Speaking after the final whistle, the Colombian coach said: “The credit should go to the players. The experienced ones got the message across to the youngsters and everyone competed supremely well. We were brave. We play for the love of winning not the fear of losing.”
Learning fast
It was only a year ago that Mexico were beaten 4-1 by Germany at the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017. As far as Herrera is concerned, that result was crucial to today’s win: “It goes without saying that we learned from what happened that day. We knew we couldn’t leave them so much space, that we had to press them the whole time. It was crucial for us to play like that.”
Hernandez refused to get carried away with the result, another sign of Mexico’s learning process: “What’s the point of us winning today if we then go and lose to Sweden or Korea Republic? Obviously we celebrated in the dressing room but it was pretty low key. This is the first step and there’s still a long way to go.”
That measured response was in stark contrast to the jubilant celebrations of the Tri fans during and after the game. Though the tournament has only just begun, the date 17 June 2018 is one that has already been etched in the history of Mexican football.
After uncovering “explicitly and vilely racist” Facebook comments by Spokane Transit Authority’s HR director, as well as her defense of others’ making similar comments, Local 1015-Spokane, WA, is calling for her resignation. The Local found that STA’s HR Director Nancy Williams had shared video on her Facebook account of a disturbing incident in which several young black men kicked and punched a young white man. She posted “these ‘kids’ are despicable animals.” Then William’s aunt Beverly Nan Murphy replied to the video, calling Barack Obama a “creature,” further commenting “If you don’t teach primates at an early age, (no matter what skin they are in) they continue to be non-civilized.” Williams “liked” the comment, and defended it as others questioned it. Local President Thomas Leighty called for her resignation at a press conference, “You can’t allow someone who says and defends this type of racist garbage to be collecting a public salary and be making decisions about the fates of public workers.” 
Showing disrespect to Toronto transit workers, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) walked away from the bargaining table after Local 113-Toronto, ON submitted a contract proposal. The Local expressed disappointment with the TTC’s decision to abandon negotiations. The agency says it has applied for conciliation. The Local has invited the TTC to return to the table and bargain in good faith to reach a fair agreement. They also pledged to continue the fight to protect workers’ pensions and benefits, while saving Toronto’s public transit system from privatization, which cost taxpayers more money in the end.
This past Monday morning, livery driver Doug Schifter tragically killed himself in front of NYC City Hall, posting on Facebook that he did this in hopes of raising awareness of how ride hailing services have devastated taxi workers financially. In his post, Schifter said he had to work more than 100 hours a week just to survive, had lost his health insurance, racked up credit card debt and put the blame on mayors Michael Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo for permitting so many cars to flood the streets of NYC. His story is representative of how Uber, Lyft and their competitors have inflicted serious economic hardship on taxis drivers in NYC and other cities leading to driver bankruptcies, foreclosures, eviction notices, homelessness and depression. It’s time we all recognize that Uber, Lyft and their competitors are exploiting and ruining hardworking people’s lives.
Transit Union (ATU).
Transit worker assault is a growing epidemic across North America. In Maryland, one state legislator is taking action as attacks on DC-area bus operators went up in 2017. Del. Angela M. Angel has proposed a new bill to increase the penalty for attacking a transit operator to a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. “House Bill 28 will give the same protections to transit workers that are already extended to law enforcement and emergency responders,” says Local 689-Washington, DC. “We understand that transit worker assaults are not only a danger to the workers, but also to the riding public, who are also placed in harm’s way when these incidents occur.”
