PRESSURE MOUNTS ON EL TRI.

Byline: NICK GREEN

Manchester United plays Reading in a fifth-round FA Cup replay live at noon today on Fox Soccer Channel, and D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo both play CONCACAF Champions Cup games Thursday on the same network.

But the most fascinating game this week from a U.S. fans' perspective may be Wednesday's Mexico-Venezuela encounter in San Diego, which will be shown live at 7:30 p.m. on Telemundo.

Fresh off a 2-0 loss to the United States, its biggest regional rival, Mexico faces what is generally acknowledged to be South America's weakest national team.

If it was important for Mexican coach Hugo Sanchez to lead his nation to success against the U.S. in his first game in charge, it is imperative for El Tri to defeat the South American minnows.

Anything but an emphatic win for Mexico and the wildly popular Sanchez's firing may not be far away given the weight of the nation's expectations.

Then Mexican soccer would truly find itself in turmoil with the start of World Cup qualifying a little more than a year away.

Mexico has always under-performed on the international stage.

Mexican coaches have customarily blamed the insularity of the nation's domestic game for that. Players and coaches have long been reticent to join overseas clubs, although that is slowly changing as the money in Europe becomes bigger and ever more alluring.

Still, against the United States, it was apparent that Mexico's biggest problem was a massive case of overconfidence.

Sure, poor finishing and lax defending played a role in the loss. But the overarching impression given by Sanchez and his players was that Mexican futbol is far superior to U.S. soccer and a win was virtually a national right.

Mexican machismo extended to Sanchez's melodramatic sideline pouting during the game and the players' refusal to shake hands with their U.S. counterparts afterward.

In truth, however, the Mexicans had psyched themselves out before kickoff.

Confident they would enjoy the bulk of the crowd's support even while playing in the United States, and with the talismanic Sanchez at the helm and its stars recalled from Europe for the game, the Mexicans had conditioned themselves to believe victory was inevitable.

Never mind that Mexico hadn't scored a goal against the Americans on U.S. soil in six years. Or won outside of massive Azteca Stadium against the United States in seven years.

Or that Mexico had lost to the United States at the 2002 World Cup.

Even if it's generally accepted that Mexican players on the whole are technically superior to those in the United States, the Americans have consistently showed that what counts just as much is hard work and playing as a team.

How many more times must Mexico pay a price for taking supposedly lesser teams too lightly before learning its lesson?

Bring on Venezuela.

The U.S.-Mexico game set rating records on both English-language and Spanish-language television. The game was the most-watched U.S. game in history outside of the World Cup or World Cup qualifiers on ESPN2, with about 1.1 million viewers. On Univision, six million tuned in, making the game the most-watched Spanish-language sports event in history, beating every Super Bowl.

Former South Torrance High star Shannon Boxx was recalled to the U.S. squad for the Algarve Cup in Portugal March 7-14. She had missed seven months with a serious knee injury.

U.S. Soccer has announced it will employ four referees on a full-time basis for the first time, a move that hopefully will raise the quality of officiating in MLS.

The National Soccer Hall of Fame will announce its 2007 class of three inductees this morning in Carson.

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Photo:

Mexican soccer coach Hugo Sanchez signs the new T-shirt of the Mexican team. A win over Venezuela is imperative for Sanchez.

LuisAcosta/AFP/Getty Images)