Yet on the stroke of half time it was the Tricolores who almost snatched the lead. Castillo sprung the Ghanaian offside trap and rounded Kingson, but with a goal looking certain, Mensah played the hero with a last-ditch tackle to stop the ball crossing the line.

After Essien’s opener ten minutes after the break, Ghana slipped into cruise control and started funnelling players forward in search of a second, but got no closer than a string of long-range efforts off-target.

Mexico had looked decidedly second-best, particularly in midfield, but their two late strikes served as a reminder that football is unpredictable and that it is goals, more than who is the best team, which win games.

Ghana coach Claude Le Roy, a familiar face satta king having coached Cameroon, Congo and Senegal before, thought referee Rob Styles had been less than even-handed and rued the volte-face of the contest.

“I don’t know why he had something against us,” Le Roy said of the referee. “A lot, a lot of big mistakes. We are a very creative and fair team. I don’t know why he took so many decisions against us.”

“We were in the game when Michael scored the first goal,” he said. “Then we gave the chance to the Mexican players. At this time they were no more in the game. That is the permanent story of football.”

Sanchez appeared relaxed for someone apparently facing the axe, answering softly the prods from the various Mexican journalists arranged around him, some of them sniffing blood before the kick-off.

“Yes, I have to say openly that we failed, but that is a separate chapter,” Sanchez said of the Olympic setback, adding that he was now looking towards the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, which for Mexico begin in June.

“I’m asking for there to be patience and teamwork, which is the only way to get results.”

Perhaps it will all be too late. Missing out on the Olympics was a matter of national soccer shame for a country overtaken by the USA in the last decade as the premier football country of CONCACAF.

One Mexican fan held up a sign saying ‘Hugo – one more and it’s over’. Maybe it already is and the Federation’s mind is made up, but if so, at least Hugo left with a win.

Scoring:

GHA – Essien 55′

MEX – Salcido 77′

MEX – Pardo pen. 88′

GHANA – Richard Kingson (Birmingham City), John Paintsil (West Ham), Eric Addo (PSV) , John Mensah (Rennes), Afful Harrison (Asante Kotoko), Haminu Dramani (Lokomotiv Moscow), Anthony Annan (Stabaek), Michael Essien (Chelsea), Laryea Kingston (Hearts), Sulley Muntari (Portsmouth), Manuel Agogo (Nottingham Forest).

Subs: Owusu Abayie (Celta Vigo) for Kingston 46′, Patrick Antwi (Liberty Professionals) for Kingson 46′, Andre Ayew (Marseille) for Dramani 46′, Eric Bekoe (Asante Kotoko) for Agogo 81′.

MEXICO – Oswaldo Sanchez (Santos Laguna), Ricardo Osorio (Stuttgart), Aaron Galindo(Eintracht Frankfurt), Carlos Salcido (PSV), Fausto Pinto (Pachuca), Nery Castillo (Manchester City), Fernando Arce (Santos Laguna), Pavel Pardo (Stuttgart),, Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul), Antonio De Nigris (Ankaraspor), Andres Guardado (Deportivo La Coruna).

Subs: Guillermo Franco for De Nigri 46′, Jimmy Lozano (Cruz Azul) for Pinto 67′, Antonio Naelson for Arce 67′, Adolfo Bautista for Castillo 80′