Mexico U-23 soccer team ice cold in Frisco

With Olympic qualifying on the horizon, Mexico's under-23 team closed the warm-up portion by sticking to a peculiar, chilling trend: not scoring.

Mexico played Finland to a scoreless draw Thursday in front of a crowd of 11,780 at Pizza Hut Park. It was Mexico's fifth and final match before beginning CONCACAF Olympic qualifying next week.

Mexico, which scored two goals in its first match against Chile on Feb. 19, failed to score on offense for the fourth consecutive game under coach Hugo Sanchez.
Only hours before the game, the Pizza Hut Park pitch was buried by about four inches of snow. Despite the frigid conditions, Mexico showed promise on offense and a solid passing game while setting up shots at Finland's midfield.

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Importance: coming soon...

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Mexico News: Sports Edition

Baseball

SANTIAGO, Dominican Republic (AP) -- Robert Saucedo hit a three-run homer in the top of the 10th inning to lead Mexico's Obregon City Yaquis to a 7-4 victory over the Dominican Republic's Licey Tigers on Wednesday in the Caribbean Series.

Mexico (1-4) won its first game in the four-team tournament and broke Licey's (4-1) unbeaten streak. Mexico scored three runs in the ninth to tie it.

Soccer

HOUSTON -- "All right," was the assessment of legendary Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos as he left his luxury box following Mexico's 2-2 tie with the U.S. on Wednesday. "Next time we'll win," he said, before cracking a smile and sticking his tongue out to reveal he wasn't so sure.

El Tri failed for the 10th straight time to beat the U.S. on American soil, but this time the dominating contingent of Mexican supporters in the Houston crowd of 70,103 wasn't left as disappointed as usual.

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Importance: It is vital that we take notice of Mexico's succes in the world of sports. Sports often provides something for Mexicans to rally behind and have pride in. This is especially true with regard to the upcoming summer Olympics in Beijing.

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Mexico announces squad for Beijing Olympics qualifier

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Mexico soccer coach Hugo Sanchez announced on Thursday the 24-player list that will train to seek a Beijing 2008 Olympics ticket at the qualifier to be held in the United States.

The qualifier, to be played under the name of the Confederation of North, Central American and

Caribbean's (CONCACAF) Pre-Olympic soccer tournament, is slated for March 11-23.

Mexico plays in Group B together with Canada, Guatemala and Haiti.

The 24-player list presented by Sanchez includes players from 12 Mexican soccer clubs.

The Mexican team will not be able to include its European-based players since the Olympic qualifying tournament is not scheduled on the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) calendar where soccer clubs are obliged to hand over the players to their national teams.

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Importance: This may not seem significant but it is. In Latin America, Soccer is bigger than all U.S. sports combined. The Mexican people need something to look forward to. The 2008 olympics will show that Mexico is extremely passionate about Soccer.

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