The Mexican National Team faces Nigeria tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST in the only warm-up game ahead of the CONCACAF hexagonal to be held in June to qualify for Brazil 2014. The game will be played in Houston at the Reliant Stadium, which should be filled with thousands of cheering fans that will give Mexico the feeling of playing as a local.
Mexico's coach Jose Manuel "Chepo" De La Torre is facing increasing pressure, with his team only scoring on two occasions during the previous qualifying matches. De La Torre said this week that he can not guarantee that Mexico will qualify for the world cup, which provoked a minor controversy in Mexico.
After Friday's game, Mexico will face Jamaica on June 4. The team then goes on to play against Panama on June 7; match up against Costa Rica on June 11 to finish up its qualifying matches; and then heads to the Confederations Cup, which will be a test of the team's competitive level for next year's World Cup.
Mexico's desperation to qualify became most evident in the last few days when the Mexican Footbal Federation instituted FIFA's international player rule against Mallorca, forcing the club to release Giovani Dos Santos and join the Mexican squad for practice. Giovani is not expected to play against Nigeria, but will probably play an important role in the upcoming qualifying matches.
Other Mexican stars who are expected to play in Reliant tonight are Manchester United's Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and goalee Guillermo Ochoa. Nigeria will not be an easy opponent despite the absence of its two star players from Chealsea, midfielders Mikel Obi and Victor Moses. Nigeria will play a physical and aggressive strategy as it usually does in contrast to Mexico's more fast paced, dribbling soccer.
Nigeria has yet to beat Mexico. The last time the teams met was in 2007 and the game came to a 2-2 draw. Mexico will most likely reinforce its dominance of the Nigerian squad tonight with a team that has proven to have a solid defense and will probably begin to loosen up in preparation for the CONCACAF hexagonal.
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Mexican fans in the U.S. will be able to follow the game on television through Univision Deportes Network and will find the game online at their website.
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The lineup for Mexico's National Team will most likely be: Guillermo Ochoa; Jorge Torres Nilo, Diego Reyes, Francisco Rodríguez, Severo Meza; ángel Reyna, Carlos Salcido, Gerardo Torrado, Pablo Barrera; Javier Hernández, Aldo de Nigris
The Nigerian National Team will be comprised of: Chigozie Agbim; Azubuike Egwuekwe, Efe Ambrose, Uwa Elderson, Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Sunday Mba, Michael Babatunde, Reuben Gabriel, Joseph Akpala y Nnamdi Oduamadi, DT: Stephen Keshi.
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