By Edgardo Avelar
Jun 23, 2024, 00:33 AM EDT
It was not easy. Even the Mexican team In its performance it left a lot to be desired in its debut in the 2024 Copa América, but at the end of the day the Aztec eleventh grew within its adversity to finish ibeating Jamaica 1-0 and thus put a number on the house with its first three points in Group B of the highest soccer tournament on the American continent.
A great goal by Gerardo Arteaga was the one that ended up defining some 90 official minutes of the thousand devils, where Mexico had to eat glass to overcome the great battle that the Caribbean team gave them that at various moments of the match made Jaime Lozano’s squad tremble, even causing at some moments to think of one of the great tragedies that the Tricolor has in its history.
But finally with more grit than football, leaving behind complications such as the injury of his captain and best man on the field like Edson Álvarez, He managed to reinvent himself in the course of the actions to achieve the long-awaited goal in the 69th minute in a great action by Gerardo Arteaga who, with a timely pass from Luis Romo, scored a great goal to lead Mexico to this important victory.
Mexico had to reinvent itself
The very complications of facing a team like Jamaica that long ago stopped being a victim and that in most of the actions was a shaved lion with players like Premier League’s West Ham’s Michail Antonio, Everton’s Demarei Gray, Coverty City’s Kasey Palmer, Wolverhampton’s Dexter Lembikisaamong several others who play in Europe, made Mexico have to overcome Cain’s problems to come out with the result in their favor.
There were even times when Mexico had to reinvent itself, especially after the 20th minute until the end of the first half, they were surpassed by a Caribbean eleven that took control of the actions and forced the Mexican goalkeeper Julio González to have to work hard to avoid the fall of his goal. .
To make matters worse, when the Aztec national team was trying to recover, they lost their best man such as Edson Álvarez from West Ham United and Michail Antonio’s teammate, placing a black cloud over Mexican aspirations who, despite seeing themselves in danger, often tried to move forward until halftime.
In the second half, even Jamaica managed to get ahead on the scoreboard with Michail Antonio’s score that made us think of the worst for Mexico, but after the VAR review it made the hearts return to the body of those led by Jaime Lozano.
That play was the watershed of the match, because then the changes came with the entry of Guillermo Martínez and Roberto Alvarado in place of Santiago Giménez and Uriel Antuna, with which the Mexican team seemed more comfortable and better accommodated to be able to start carbureting and thus be able to reach the winning goal in the 69th minute through Gerardo Arteaga.
Without a doubt, an important victory that serves to give peace of mind in the moment of crisis that Mexico is experiencing and that will allow next Wednesday against Venezuela Qualification for the next phase of the Copa América 2024 is played, at a time when the result matters and not the form.
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