World Cup: Mexico advances, but loss to Uruguay still leaves ‘bitter taste’

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Mexico may have advanced to the knockout round of the World Cup, but Rafael Márquez said the team was unhappy with the other outcome of the day, the one that found them on the losing end of a 1-0 result against Uruguay.

‘It leaves a bitter taste,’ the midfielder said. ‘We’re all unhappy with this result and with today’s performance. We’ll have to improve now.’

Uruguay secured the top spot in Group A with the victory, and Mexico advanced to the round of 16, thanks to better goal difference than South Africa, which beat France 2-1.

‘We’ll now attempt to regroup and recover and wait for our next rival, which we suppose is Argentina,’ Mexico Coach Javier Aguirre said of the team he expected to win Group B. ‘We’ll put up a good fight.’

-- Chuck Schilken

The Associated Press contributed to this report.