By entering the Cuscatlán stadium, the Mexican team also got into the style of play of the El Salvador team and faced one of their toughest battles of the World Cup qualifying round heading to Qatar 2022.
Although the final score was 2-0 in favor of Tri, the tranquility came until the 92nd minute due to a penalty scored by Raúl Jiménez, who thus cut a streak of almost 11 months without scoring with the national team’s shirt (his last had been on November 17, 2020). Before that, El Tri was involved in a battle more physical than soccer that left him two casualties.
The first loss of the Tri occurred at 20 minutes, when the youth forward, Alexis Vega, had to leave due to an injury to his left ankle. The Chivas attacker had also suffered an injury to his ankle, but to the right, on the FIFA date of September during his visit to Panama and now he suffered after a series of contacts with the Salvadoran defense.
Central American hostility was felt from the first moments, because even before Vega’s injury, at minute 10, Néstor Araujo had to leave for a few moments to receive a special bandage on his left shoulder. In the stands, the Cuscatleca fans booed Mexico and threw plastic bottles and beers at their players.
Already in the field, the Salvadorans also made themselves felt with more force than technique, as they jumped onto the field desperate to get out of sixth place in the Concacaf Octagonal. The pressure for them increased at minute 30, when Héctor Moreno scored the first Mexican goal and his personal third in a row during his visits to El Salvador.
El Salvador collapsed in the 48th minute with the expulsion of its defense, Mario Jacobo, and gave possession to Mexico, although there was no insistence from the tricolor side. Things were even when at 67 ‘, the defender of Celta de Vigo, Néstor Araujo, caused a double warning in a zone without greater risk on the edge of the half court.
Thus, the game ended its last 25 minutes with a 10 versus 10 duel in which pride, determination and physical resistance were the main flag of the teams. Raúl Jiménez, Héctor Moreno and Hirving Lozano were booked, while the expulsion of Araujo meant the first red card in the 42 games led by Gerardo Martino.
Although the duel was even in number of elements, El Salvador did not register a single shot to the archer in those last 25 minutes and, on the contrary, during a breakaway by Raúl Jiménez between three defenders, he caused a penalty. That was the final thrust that gave Mexico its ninth consecutive win against this Central American team.
In this way, Martino is 79% effective in his 42 games at the helm of El Tri and, most importantly for him, the leadership and undefeated of the Concacaf Octagonal towards the World Cup, taking off with 14 points.
The November FIFA date will be key to leading El Tri to the World Cup or getting complicated, since it will have to visit the United States and Canada, who finished the October day in second and third place with just three and four points of difference with Mexico, respectively. .
