MEXICO SUFFERS ANOTHER DISAPPOINTING FINISH SECOND-ROUND PLAY HAS BEEN TEAM'S ACHILLES' HEEL SINCE '86.

Byline: BILLY WITZ Staff Writer

LEIPZIG, Germany -- Standing outside Zentralstadion with his face and torso painted red, white and green, Rodolfo De La Vega couldn't help but feel blue all over. Such is the life of a Mexican soccer fan. If it's the second round, it must be time to say adios.

``It's the same story,'' De La Vega said Saturday night after watching Mexico put up a game fight before losing 2-1 to Argentina on Maxi Rodriguez's spectacular chest trap and volley in extra time.

The loss marked the fourth consecutive World Cup that Mexico has exited in the second round, each one excruciating. Penalty kicks to Bulgaria in 1994, allowing two goals in the final 15 minutes to Germany in '98, an embarrassing loss to the United States in 2002, and now this. The only times Mexico has reached the quarterfinals were in 1970 and 1986, when it was playing on its home turf.

``It's like we have the mentality that we don't believe that we can go toe to toe with the best teams,'' said De La Vega, who lives in the town of Los Mochis. ``We need to get to the quarterfinals one time to get over that step.''

Mexico had plenty of encouragement from its fans, with chants of si se puede -- yes we can -- and plenty others that were more off color than Tricolor.

An estimated 30,000 Mexicans arrived in Germany, and earlier in the day many of them -- a good number of whom were armed with sombreros and airhorns -- turned the center of town into a sea of green.

``I'm really surprised,'' Luis Miguel Briones said. ``There's supposed to be a financial crisis in Mexico and on the news they're saying there are this many people from Mexico here. Where is the crisis?''

It's apparently just been put off. Spanish-language media reported the story of one man who sold his house so he could afford the trip. Carlos Oliua of Mexico City said he paid 1,500 Euros (about $1,900) for three preliminary game tickets whose face value was about $100 apiece.

It was in those preliminary games that Mexico barely looked threatening. It needed a late score to beat Iran, was held to a scoreless draw with Angola, and lost to Portugal thanks to a missed penalty kick by Omar Bravo.

If Mexico had won the group, rather than finished second, it wouldn't have had to play Argentina, which had been playing the most threatening soccer in the group games. The way Mexico played Thursday, with tremendous defense and creative offensive work that was thwarted time and again by Argentina, it might have beaten just about anyone else.

Mexico finally looked like the team that turned heads in Germany last year at the Confederations Cup. The Mexicans beat eventual champion Brazil in group play, lost in the semifinals to Argentina on penalty kicks, and lost in overtime to Germany in the third-place game.

There hasn't been a boring moment since.

Salvadore Carmona and Aaron Galindo tested positive for steroids at the Confederations Cup and were suspended for a year, and the week of the Cup opener, goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez's father died, necessitating a quick trip home for the funeral.

In the interim, coach Ricardo Lavolpe has been at the center of one controversy after another.

An Argentine, Lavolpe has had a contentious relationship with the media, calling them know-nothings. Of course, they wondered the same thing about him when unheralded Rafael Garcia was added to the team. He is Lavolpe's son-in-law.

Neither has Lavolpe made many friends among the fans of Mexico's two biggest clubs: Guadalajara and America.

He left Cuauhtemoc Blanco, an aging but creative star for America, off the team saying he didn't fit the system, though Blanco's temperament might have been a factor. Lavolpe's decision to push for inclusion of two naturalized citizens -- Brazilian-born Zinha, who is married to a Mexican, and Argentine-born Guillermo Franco -- miffed fans of Guadalajara, who proudly advertise that a non-Mexican has never played for Chivas.

``I don't like it,'' said Francisco Lastra, a resident of Puebla, about 100 miles south of Mexico City. ``There's 100 million people in Mexico and you don't have 11 players? Incredible.''

Regardless of whether Lavolpe returns, the look of the Tricolor will be changing. This was likely the last World Cup for striker Jared Borgetti, who soon turns 33, as does goalkeeper Sanchez. Midfielders Ramon Morales and Pavel Pardo are 30.

Some of the standouts on Mexico's recently crowned Under-17 World Championship squad might be on their way, armed at least with the knowledge of what it feels like to be painted another color: gold.

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) A Mexico soccer fan sits in the empty stands after Saturday's extra-time loss to Argentina.

Armando Franca/Associated Press

(2 -- color) England's David Beckham 

(3 -- color) Netherlands' Edwin van der Sar 

Box:

(1) ENGLAND vs. ECUADOR

(2) PORTUGAL vs. NETHERLANDS

- Scott French