Perez Is Mexico’s Creative Force

GUADALAJARA —  His name is Luis Ernesto Perez. Until last week, he was flying below the radar of soccer fans outside Mexico.

All that has changed. The United States knows that if it wants to qualify for the Athens Olympics tonight, it has to defeat Mexico, and to do that it has to find a way to stop Perez.

“I think he’s a very good player,” U.S. Coach Glenn “Mooch” Myernick said of the 23-year-old attacking midfielder, who plays for Monterrey in the Mexican league.

“What he does is, he beats the first [defender] and now runs at your goal. Someone’s got to release from somewhere to pick him up, and now he’s good at finding that guy who just got open. That’s a concern for us.”

Perez, who has the freedom to roam, is not merely a creator of goals, he also scores them. Held scoreless but vastly influential in Mexico’s 3-1 victory over Trinidad and Tobago, he subsequently scored in its 4-0 victory over Jamaica and again in its 1-1 tie with Costa Rica.

But his incisive play is only one of the problems that Mexico will pose for the U.S. tonight.

The American defense will also have to be aware of the striking power of forward Rafael Marquez Lugo of Morelia, the speed and dribbling skills of winger Alonso Sandoval of Guadalajara, the aerial threat of Juan Carlos Cacho of Cruz Azul, and the overall impact of captain Diego Martinez of Necaxa.

The U.S. reached tonight’s game by beating Panama, 4-3, Canada, 2-0, and Honduras, 4-3, demonstrating scoring power but also defensive shortcomings.

“We think that we’re always going to create goal-scoring chances and score at least one goal in every game because of the attacking players that we have,” Myernick said. “We think the longer the game goes without them scoring, the more the pressure will get to them.

“If you look at the history of some of the Mexican teams, when it’s not going their way, the crowd turns real fast. I think the longer we can keep the game at 0-0, the better off we are.”

The first goal could be decisive.

“If we can get a goal or even two goals early, it would absolutely demolish their morale,” forward Landon Donovan said. “That’s got to be our goal. Or even 0-0. Just don’t give up a goal early because then they get going, everyone’s in it, they’re flying emotionally. You don’t want that.”

The chances of a U.S. victory are, if not remote, then certainly problematic. But it is not beyond the bounds of possibility.

“As fun as it is to win a game at home in front of a lot of people, there’s nothing better than beating a team on their home turf, especially to go to the Olympics,” Donovan said.

In tonight’s first match, Costa Rica will play Honduras, with the winner also advancing to Athens.

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Olympic Qualifying

The winners of tonight’s semifinal games qualify for the Olympics in Athens:

* First semifinal: Costa Rica vs. Honduras, 3:30 p.m.

* Second semifinal: United States vs. Mexico, 6 p.m. No TV. Note: The match will be available live on ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker.

* Where: Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara.

* Update: Playing three games in five days, the U.S. was 3-0 in group play and has been led by Bobby Convey (four goals) and Alecko Eskandarian (three goals). Mexico finished second behind Costa Rica in its group because of 1-1 tie in their game.

GROUP A FINAL STANDINGS

*--* Team GP W L T GF GA GD Pts. U.S. 3 3 0 0 10 6 +4 9 Honduras 3 2 1 0 7 5 +2 6 Panama 3 1 2 0 6 8 -2 3 Canada 3 0 3 0 1 5 -4 0

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