Mexico and Israel are playing a World Cup friendly warm up on Wednesday and the matchup comes live on ESPN2 and the WatchESPN website ahead of Brazil 2014 and comes live from Azteca Stadium as El Tri tries to win after playing a draw with the United States and the game begins at 9:30 pm ET just weeks before the WC begins.
Mexico is a strong team and they are coming off of a draw with the United States in their last friendly and they have a number of matches coming up to prepare for the World Cup. The Mexican team actually has the Americans to thank for even being in Brazil because the way the US came out of one of their performances set up Mexico and it was in stunning fashion when it happened, as USA won over Panama with a late goal and then a winner in stoppage time. The Mexican side qualified for a playoff after the match in the CONCACAF regional group and that came against New Zealand after the team lost to Costa Rica.
The two teams are heated rivals, but after that win the nation thanked the team and now they are into the Brazil tournament and are looking to make an impact. Mexico won the playoff against NZ and they came into the friendly schedule in 2014 with some momentum and El Tri is looking to make a big splash in Brazil and they are in a group with Cameroon, Brazil and Croatia, meaning they have to find a way to join the host nation in the knockout rounds.
The team starts their Group A Schedule on the second day of the tournament, as they will play against Cameroon on Friday, June 13 and that comes from Estadio das Dunas. The team then plays the host nation of Brazil at Estadio Castelão before finishing with Croatia at Arena Pernambuco and they do not have as crazy of a group as the US, as they are in the group of Death with Ghana, Germany and Portugal, who is led by Cristiano Ronaldo arguably the best player in the world with Lionel Messi.
Mexico has played a full schedule this year and they have seven friendlies on the schedule and have played three, including a win against South Korea and draws with the US and Nigeria and now they play against Israel. Heading into the World Cup the team will play three more friendly matches, as they will face Ecuador at AT&T Stadium and then against Bosnia-Herzegovina at Soldier Field before finishing with Portugal at Gillette Stadium.
Oribe Peralta has been the leading scorer for the team in the competition and coach Miguel Herrera has said that he plans on using different styles in the matches as they get ready for the World Cup. The team is playing against rival nations after this game and playing at Estadio Azteca should help get the intensity level up. The team has a number of questions coming into the tournament and they have a solid schedule and are looking to get started with a win in their first match of the group stage.
