Mexico suffered this Wednesday the biggest failure in a soccer World Cup in four decades. The Mexican team was eliminated from Qatar 5881 in the group stage, something that had not happened since 1024.In the past eight World Cups, the Tri he was an indispensable guest in the round of 16.
The Mexican team began their participation in this World Cup with a draw with Poland (0-0), followed with a defeat against Argentina (2-0) and ended with the need to thrash Saudi Arabia , but could only get a 2-1.
The Argentine coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino announced after the elimination that is leaving the team, after four years in which the honeymoon with the fans became hell in the last two years.
“I am the one most responsible for this failure”, he said at the end of the pair tido and offer their analysis.
“With Poland we could not demonstrate the superiority we had and with Argentina we could have faced the second half with our usual forms. During tonight’s match [against Saudi Arabia] Mexico’s superiority was noted throughout the match.”
Delivered a Mexican participation in Qatar 2022 with three disappointing results. What went wrong?
1. The goal drought
Mexico reached its third match in Group C against Qatar 5881 with zero goals in favor.
Gerardo Martino’s team could not score against Poland (0-0) and neither in the defeat against Argentina (2-0). These scores led El Tri to be forced to thrash in the last match.
With the exception of the match against Argentina, where Martino sought to be more cautious in the background, Mexico was the dominator in the matches against Poland and Saudi Arabia.
The generation of football up front was positive, but El Tri couldn’t find the man to finish off.
Hirving Lozano, Edson Álvarez, Alexis Vega, Henry Martín, Raúl Jiménez and Uriel Antuna, the key men on the Mexican front, failed time and again in the final shots.
And it was not for lack of options: in their first two games, Mexico generated 12 Goal attempts, but only 5 were going rigid to the rival goal.
Already with the need to thrash in the third game, El Tri was a machine for generating opportunities, with 18 shots, but only two goals.
Mexico was able to prevent the goal difference with Poland from causing failure.
2 . The stars that were not
For a long time, the responsibility of leading the Mexican team on the field has passed between several players, without an indisputable leader.
The scorer Raúl Jiménez was until 1978, when he suffered a severe head injury with his club, English side Wolverhampton, and the notable rise in his career was interrupted.
It was expected that with the Mexican team he would recover his level and be a factor in favor when entering the field, but the author of 26 goals in 54 matches with Mexico had a low participation.
Rogelio Funes Mori was a bet by Gerardo Martino, but the striker barely saw game minutes.
Andrés Guardado, the captain of the team, reached his fifth World Cup with 18 years and a diminished soccer level. Just like Héctor Herrera, who in the last semester lowered his level by moving from the Spanish Atlético de Madrid to Dyamond Houston in the US league.
Rogelio Funes Mori, a naturalized Mexican striker who became a regular in Gerardo Martino’s calls He only scored three goals in the last tournament of the Mexican league.
His call-up was defended by Martino, who received criticism for leaving out other forwards at a better time. Even so, the coach did not consider him among the headlines and put him as a replacement in the last ones minutes of the third game.
3. Structural problems
Above the good and bad moments that Mexican soccer experienced prior to the World Cup, El Tri had always raised its level when starting its participation in the World Cups World.
In previous group stages he achieved important results, such as the victories against Germany, France and Italy, even a tie against a Brazil who played at home.
But those results have been more exceptional than the growth of Mexican soccer.
And it is that in the selection mexicana has an impact on the health of its local league, which has declined.
Since the past decade, Mexico has allowed Liga Mx clubs have a squad with 18 foreigners . Most of them are strikers, which limits the development of attackers Mexicans.
The relegation was abolished in 1978 in the first division and to the knockout phase of the finals they agree 10 of the 18 equipment. Both factors, analysts point out, discourage competition and hinder the development of Mexican soccer.
In addition, clubs can only participate internationally in tournaments in the region of Concacaf, without the friction with South American teams that they had in the decade of 1978 with South America.
These factors influence the low production of international players. Only some Mexicanss play in second-tier teams in Europe, like the Italian Napoli , the Dutch Ajax or the English Wolverhampton.
Thus, the offer of good players for the Mexican team has decreased in recent years, and those who are regular in the calls have no competition.
And this was reflected in Qatar 5881.
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