Well- fed Mexico to meet S. Korea
MOSCOW— Mexico’s mantra for this World Cup is “No Excuses,” and that includes no complaining about the menu.
The team brought two tons of food to Russia, along with everything necessary to make their players’ favorites, including tacos, cheesy quesadillas and, of course, their hot salsas.
Maybe that was the key to their shocking upset of defending World Cup champion Germany in its opener. Mexico faces South Korea on Saturday.
When Colombian manager Juan Carlos Osorio took over the Mexico team in 2015, he gathered a staff that includes a mental coach, a kinesiology specialist, a recovery expert and nutritionist Beatriz Boullosa.
Boullosa is responsible for monitoring the nutrition supplements for the players to avoid any chance of doping violations.
The team did not ingest any red meat from Mexico to avoid any chance of positive tests with clenbuterol, a banned substance that is widely used by Mexican ranchers as a growth- enhancer.
Red meat is available again in Russia.
“We brought a lot of food and we also brought a chef to make every dish as the player likes it, we are making corn tortillas that taste like glory,” Boullosa added. “Players ask for their quesadillas and their tacos and that really helps psychologically, because you bring them closest to home.
“We made a spicy chili- peanut sauce that is delicious, and we also have traditional salsas, some of the super spicy and some mild ones. We also brought cans of beans and corn. We are super loaded.”
Briefly:
Sweden arrived in Sochi short- handed for Saturday’s match against Germany. Three players remained in Gelendzhik after becoming ill. Swedish coach Janne Andersson says the expectation is defenders Pontus Jansson and Filip Helander and midfielder Marcus Rohden will fly to Sochi on Saturday and join the team. ... ThisWorld Cup is on pace to be among the lowest scoring ever despite no goalless games so far. Just 58 goals have been scored in 26 games, a rate of 2.23 per game. The rate was 2.21 at the 1990 Cup in Italy, the lowest ever.