Mexican Primera Special: The Emperor Has No Clothes

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Pachuca celebrates Concacaf Cup Championship (Mexsport)

By Sergio Tristan

The Mexican League has garnered another international trophy thanks to Pachuca, who repeated as CONCACAF Champions on Wednesday night against Costa Rica powerhouse Saprissa.

After a heartbreaking draw in the first leg that saw Saprissa get an 82nd-minute equalizer from Victor Cordero, the Mexican club took the Costa Ricans to school at Hidalgo Stadium. The 2-1 victory gives Pachuca a chance to avenge their disappointing showing at last year’s Club World Cup.

Los Tuzos have been earning the Mexico Primera Division plaudits in recent years throughout North America, Central America, and South America. Their streak began with the domestic Clausura Championship in 2006, followed by trophies in the 2006 Copa Sudamericana, 2007 CONCACAF Champions Cup, 2007 SuperLiga, and now another CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Pachuca's accomplishments have been used to label the Primera Division the strongest league in CONCACAF and the third best league this side of the ocean, behind the leagues of Argentina and Brazil. Besides these international accolades, the league is also finally exporting players to Europe, has the highest salaries, can afford the most expensive players, and has a long and storied tradition. Much of the credit for this explosion belongs to the silverware in Pachuca’s trophy case.

All these factors, however, have also given a false security to Mexican fans. Many who read the above paragraphs would think that success at the club level will translate into success for el Tri on the international level. Sorry Damas y Caballeros, but the Emperor has no clothes!

The problem lies in the make-up of our club teams. If you take a close look at the current Pachuca side, you will clearly see the problem and reason why el Tri will never be at the level every Mexican and Mexican-American desperately desires it to reach. Starting in the back, there is captain Miguel Calero, then Andres Chitiva and Damian Alvarez at the creative midfielder role, and finally Luis Gabriel Rey and Christian "El Chaco" Gimenez doing the scoring up top. Notice anything these players have in common?

Right. They’re all foreigners.

The playmakers in Mexico’s most internationally successful club are all foreigner players. The club’s officials have outsourced the most important aspect of a futbol team -- the ones who put the ball in the back of the net and win games. How can the product get better if they outsource the manufacturing?

Pachuca is not the only team doing this. In Copa Libertadores action just this week, Atlas beat Argentinean champions Lanus in Argentina. Who provided the goal? None other than Argentinean Bruno Marioni.

Looking at the Mexican league table, it’s impossible to ignore the impact or importance of foreign artillerymen. Seven of the top 10 goal-scorers are foreign-born, with Chivas' Omar Bravo sitting at number three in the chart, with nine goals, four behind current pichichi leader Humberto Suazo.

Bravo was the last Mexican player to earn top scorer honors in Mexico, back in the 2006 Clausura tournament. Before him, Guillermo Franco earned that honor in the 2004 Apertura tournament, and although he is a naturalized Mexican, let’s be honest: He is Argentine.

You have to go all the way back to 2001 to see another Mexican’s name atop scorer chart: Jared Borgetti, who had his best moments at Santos Laguna around the turn of the millennium.

So in the last 8 years, or 16 short tournaments, there have been 2.5 Mexican League Top Scorers.

Nowhere was this problem more evident than two months ago at the Olympic qualification tournament. The agony of watching Santiago Fernandez and Luis Angel Ladin miss the simplest of opportunities caused several temper tantrums and only reinforced Mexico’s national dilemma. The Emperor has no clothes! Our league, for all its accomplishments, has stopped producing quality strikers and due to the immediate need to win has sought imports to make up the shortfall.

As much as Mexican fans desire and pray for a World Cup trophy, no number of lighted candles will be able to provide that.