GIRONA (Rafa Ramos) – Intermittent, inconsistent, although willful, but the Mexican National Team offered another unstable and calamitous performance in 2022 and against a semi-experimental representative of Sweden. Beyond the adverse and dangerous 2-1 final, the questions, the uncertainty and the men themselves, increase the doubts and drive away the certainties facing the World Cup in Qatar 2022.
Without Raúl Jiménez being able to confirm his physical improvement, since he himself did not demand enough of himself, and he did show that that football level that “had to be up to its quality”, explained Tata Martino to take him to the World Cup, is so far away which may never manifest in Qatar.
Two tempos of a very questionable level, but that perhaps leave Mexico’s formation against Poland in the background, with a great doubt, the axis of attack. The offense will have an Alexis Vega with a remarkable performance, with a Hirving Lozano who came in to touch up the game.
Luis Chávez is the man with the best football, while Héctor Herrera lived between ups and downs, and Charly Rodríguez will have his place, since Guardado, faced with the speed and strength of the Swedes, succumbed.
Deep down, the reality is that there is no difference between the options that Martino has. They are all wrong. Including Guillermo Ochoa. Starting with Héctor Moreno and César Montes against Poland, or leaning towards Néstor Araujo and Johan Vásquez, is no guarantee when they get on top of them as Sweden did on occasion.
He dressed the night in Girona, the assistance of hundreds of Mexican fans who dirty the night for a moment, when they released #ElGrito, which forced the local sound to give a direct warning: another discriminatory scream and the match would be suspended. In the end, they ended up booing their team and again with some isolated shouts of #FueraTata.
MADE…
Athletically superior, anticipating, even without demanding physical displays, Sweden needed very little to handcuff Mexico in the first 30 minutes in which only tenacity and tricolor devotion can be rescued.
Gradually, Héctor Herrera found his position and restored balance and pause, but far from being able to impose order, pause and a certainty of offensive depth.
While Luis Chávez remained the healthiest and clearest member of the Mexican team, fortunately he found complicity in Alexis Vega, but only for dalliances, for attempts. They end up being the most healthy, purposeful and aggressive of the Tri.
Uriel Antuna played his game, until he suffocated. When the first feint cleared the corridor, he insisted on a second cut, giving advantages to taller, livelier and faster players. A couple of times, Jorge Sánchez suggested the route, but, stupid, Antuna preferred showing off.
Against a taller, more athletic team, accustomed to repelling air attacks, Mexico tries more than a dozen balls into the area, without any obvious opportunity for a shooter.
On the other hand, the Swedes, already in the final stretch of the first half, began to take over the game, comfortably, hanging around Guillermo Ochoa’s area, but without being able to sentence in the net, in part, due to the fact that with two central midfielders in their area , Herrera begins to lose control zone and hinder Chávez’s space.
In the preview, Martino spoke of “maintaining our proposal and not falling for Sweden’s”. In the first half, he saved the spasms of Chávez and Vega, the strategy was not consummated, under the full conditions of the Scandinavians, who only got goosebumps after a violent left-footed shot from Uriel Antuna who caressed the crossbar at 43 minutes .
THE REACTION…
For the second half, at the beginning, Gerardo Martino fulfilled his promise. Raúl Jiménez (for Henry Martín) enters the field to try to convince Tata, Wolverhampton and himself, that he is in that desired fullness to be the axis of attack against Poland.
In addition, among the cheers of the large Mexican fans, Chucky Lozano (Uriel Antuna) and Andrés Guardado (Charly Rodríguez) enter, movements that are paying off for Mexico to assume control of the game, from players with more intention in the movements.
But, when Mexico began to feel comfortable, with long-distance shots as their only and last resort, Sweden’s goal arrived, in a confusion of brands, carelessness and inattention so that, with a pass from Mattias Svanberg to the far post, Marcus closed Rhoden at 54′ shooting Ochoa.
Fortunately, Mexico reacts quickly. A deep pass from Héctor Herrera leaves Alexis Vega alone, with space, outlined to capitalize on his speed and crosses from the bottom left to establish the 1-1 at 60′.
Immediately, without knowing that he was signing his death warrant, Gerardo Martino made adjustments in the critical zone of the pitch. Héctor Moreno and César Montes urge the relays with Néstor Araujo and Johan Vásquez, while Luis Romo immediately delves into trying to be the stopper that cannot be Guardado, who obviously loses speed and strength against the Swedes.
But, Luis Romo and Guardado ended up withdrawing and handing over spaces that Sweden began to reconquer, to put pressure and get under Ochoa’s nose. A hesitation from the low box and another indecision from Ochoa, generated the 2-1, in a shot from Mattias Svanberg (84′), the best player in Sweden.
Disappointed at the end, but the Mexican fans brought their own pachanga. Dozens of fans, some bound for Qatar and others for the pure devotion to revelry, gave a special life to the Montilivi grandstand, oscillating, as always, in those unevennesses of euphoria, yawning, illusion and even grief. .
The festival had started early in Barcelona, meeting in a bar, decorated in detail with folklore, music and Mexican food, and then ending with the trip to Girona and saying goodbye to their Mexican National Team.
El Tri will travel this Thursday to Doha, Qatar, from there to move to its headquarters in the Simaisma tourist complex, A Murwab Resort, 33 kilometers from the center of Doha, in the town of Sumaysimah, a residential development that will have special control over security.
Mexico is placed in Group C of the World Cup and its calendar marks the debut against Poland on November 22, to then face Argentina on the 26th, and close in the key match to define its future in the World Cup, against Arabia Arabia, on November 30.
