Marquez rues stalemate
17 Jun 2006 - 10:05:22
Mexico captain Rafael Marquez admitted that his side had missed a big chance to secure a place in the last 16 of the World Cup finals by drawing 0-0 with Angola.
Marquez and his team-mates were unable to find a way past a stubborn Angolan defence, despite their opponents going down to ten men 11 minutes from time.
"We let our chance to qualify slip away because we couldn't put the ball in the net," Marquez commented.
"But we controlled possession, got to the edge of their box and we were dangerous.
"The team did what it had to, but we didn't get lucky. But there were still lots of good things that we can take from the game."
Coach Ricardo La Volpe added: "The players worked very hard and played hard - the only thing we failed to do was finish things off.
"I can't fault the effort of the players. I don't want to keep repeating myself, but we did nothing wrong in the way we approached the game.
"At a World Cup there are no easy games and we were not expecting this to be an easy game."