Jaime Lozano was a figure in a match against Costa Rica and although he did not go to the World Cup, he remembers the importance of World Cup matches
MEXICO.- One of the contributions of Jaime Lozano to Mexican team as a footballer was to break a historical barrier of several decades without goals or victories for the Tricolor in the territory of Costa Rica. Although in the end he was left out of the team that attended the 2006 World Cup in Germany, today he proudly says that he is calm because “I know that I helped that National Team to qualify walking, as they say”.
Jaime Lozano feels proud to have been part of that national representative «who played soccer well», he declares to ESPNDigital. «These are very nice years that I remember with great pleasure. It is the reward for professionalism, for work, sooner or later it comes to you and I am very happy to have done my bit, because I know that I collaborated so that Mexico qualified for the World Cup on foot», reiterate.
Jaime Lozano scored two goals in Costa Rica in the qualifying round for Germany 2006. Getty
What did Jaime Lozano in that World Cup process led by Ricardo La Volpe to be remembered so much? Many goals; 11 to be exact, only three less than Jared Borgetti, and two of them ended with a curse that already weighed on the Mexican team.
The current technical director Jaime Lozano recalls with emotion what happened on February 9, 2005 in Costa Rica, when I was a player. Rafael Márquez gave him the opportunity to take the free kick that he converted into a great goal (0-1) and, later, with a popcorn he would mark the 0-2.
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in 90 minutes, Jaime Lozano he scored a historic double for Costa Rica which broke a losing streak for Mexico at the home of one of their great rivals in Concacaf qualifying. This afternoon both teams face each other on their way to reach Qatar 2022.
“It’s like the phrase ‘everything seems impossible until someone does it.’ In the end, I was convinced of having a great game. Before that game I had some games with goals and in my head was the power to score, «he reveals. Jaime Lozano a ESPNDigital.
“I remember that one night before or in the previous concentration in Mexico, we did a session with Alex Molina, who was our sports coach or sports psychologist at the time; Alex asked us where he played the best Mexico national team and almost everyone answered: ‘at the Azteca, at the Azteca, at the Azteca…’ and to myself I said: ‘at CU’, because I played at Pumas and where I play best is at CU’. Alex told us: ‘well, take that Azteca deep inside and go out to the game as if you were playing in the Azteca”.
Jaime Lozano was a figure in a match against Costa Rica and although he did not go to the World Cup, he remembers the importance of World Cup matches. imago7
But the thought of Jaime Lozano he was another one who stayed for himself “and I went out to play as if I were playing in CU. In the end, it was a great game that we all had to give, not just me”.
The now coach, who led Mexico to win the Olympic bronze in Tokyo 2020, considers it a personal fortune to have scored those goals. “It’s a beautiful anecdote and as you say: everything in life, not only in football, is mental. We were very convinced of what we had to do and confident that we could get a victory”.
The emotion is still on the surface Jaime Lozanobecause other Mexican National Teams had had a hard time trying to break that barrier in Costa Rican territory and the challenge of achieving it was stronger in the team led by Ricardo La Volpe.
“We hadn’t scored goals there for many years, without winning there. And I said to myself: ‘where you play the best is in CU and on game day you are going to play in CU’ and everything went great!
The truth is that Jaime Lozano It came with a string of good times. His achievements had been constant, starting with being a two-time champion with Pumas in 2004, in addition to the fact that, as he himself points out: every time he was summoned to the Tri, «things went very well for me.» Not for nothing was he the second best scorer, after Borgetti.