Strengths and weaknesses of the Tricolor: a diagnosis

Poland, Argentina and Saudi Arabia force the Mexican National Team to open a diagnosis to recognize its strengths and weaknesses regarding the level of play it shows in the World Cup in Qatar, which started for Group C, revealed that the Arabs cannot be seen as the least dangerous rival and the Argentines can now count it.

Ball possession, World Cup experience, team unity in the face of media noise are some of the Tri’s strengths tested against the Polish team, but there is still a margin of error that must still be addressed on the fly.

El Economista inquired about both weights on the scale with four Mexican soccer analysts: Javier Aguirre, two-time World Cup coach of El Tri; Antonio de Valdés, sports writer with more than 40 years of experience; Marc Crosas, analyst and former player; and Luis Fernández, Director of Underdata, a consultancy specialized in big data.

STRENGTHS

LUIS FERNANDEZ

Mexico against Poland avoided the stopped ball. Facing the Arabs and Argentines will be difficult due to their size. Lionel Messi is a specialist in free kicks. One in three goals comes from set pieces.

ANTONIO DE VALDES

There are players with World Cup experience who already know what it is about. The presence of Memo Ochoa, who is a reference in the National Team, will help them a lot.

Gerardo Martino has experience of directing in a World Cup. I am critical of the coach for the bad results, but he has the experience of dealing with these types of commitments.

Hirving Lozano’s ability to solve matches like four years ago against Germany.

The support of the Mexican fans that are almost 80,000 in Qatar.

MARC CROSAS

Criticism based on the bad football level of the team has united them. In short tournaments, unity is good, that the team go with the same mentality and direction.

Tata Martino has experience in this type of situation beyond the fact that he is not living his best moment in terms of public opinion. With Paraguay he has already reached the quarterfinals and the fifth game.

The fact of facing Argentina is an extra motivation for Martino, who could not win a title, lost two Copa América, it is a revenge to show.

The 4-3-3 is the ideal formation that adapts to the conditions of the Mexican soccer player who is resistant, offensive, talented, quality and a protagonist.

In the seniority of the team there is a mixture of experience. Players with five World Cups and a generation of Olympic selections, who have been implanted in the first team. Tata is not valued the generational change.

The advantage of having the support of the FMF and Liga MX, so that the coach can count on a large part of the team’s base.

JAVIER AGUIRRE

The preparation is the best learning of a World Cup and this is linked to the economic issue. It is clear that, for years, the National Team signed agreements with the Soccer United Marketing (SUM) company and a number of games per season are determined in exchange for a large amount of money, which I understand is where the salaries of the technicians come from. , the staff and the National Teams. It would be necessary to assess what kind of tours are made. I understand that you have to go to Pasadena, Los Angeles, Arizona and stadiums fill up, but suddenly, there are games against European teams that send the third team and it is not a good thermometer to see where Mexico is located. I have always said that it is to play in Europe, Asia, go to South America and play against Brazil, Argentina. Having the best possible teams and with a difficult climate.

Paradoxically, I believe that seniority is a degree, it can work in favor of the Mexican National Team, that has players with three or four World Cups, that the stage no longer weighs on them or they are intimidated.

WEAKNESSES

LUIS FERNANDEZ

Against Poland, Jorge Sánchez entered with little concentration and confused intensity with acceleration a bit. He seemed nervous, stuck, not so confident in the plays, but with intensity. That can generate mistakes, carelessness and compromised the team’s defense with a yellow card very early.

In the changes neither Carlos Rodríguez, Raúl Jiménez, Uriel Antuna marked the ability to generate something different, even the absence of Diego Lainez was noted, because there were many plays that could have been for him, plays in which he cuts to the center and can generate opportunities clearer on goal. Uriel Antuna did not worry because he was more in the band.

The player who will provoke the most inside the area was missing. Raúl Jiménez’s entry was anecdotal, he didn’t have much to do, none of the three changes worked as a revulsion.

You cannot commit fouls in a World Cup like the one caused by Héctor Moreno, by pulling Robert Lewandowski’s jersey in the area; the VAR sentence.

Saudi Arabia is not an easy team, as they have worked well physically, technically and tactically. The Arabs did not stop running, it is not a makeshift team.

The National Team lacks perseverance even though they have dominated the game against Poland. It happened in the 2018 World Cup, first with a good game against Germany, then with Korea ‘more or less’ and then, they lost to the Swedes and ended with Brazil.

ANTONIO DE VALDES

The absence of Jesús Corona, Raúl Jiménez affects, because for years there has been talk of the ‘trident’, along with Chucky Lozano.

The pressure that exists on the players due to the media noise on social networks.

The defense lacks a leader, like Rafael Márquez. The captain is the one who has to speak.

Today, different types of leadership coexist in the Mexican National Team.

The National Team lacks defensive weight.

MARC CROSAS

Waiting to prove at what level, when the key players like Héctor Herrera, Andrés Guardado, Chucky Lozano arrive.

The lack of references in terms of the goal. The team has had a hard time scoring and in short tournaments players are needed who are in good shape and above all, a goal-scoring type.

JAVIER AGUIRRE

The fifth game is a story that was generated in the media. Internally, in the two World Cups that touched me, we did not see the goal of the fifth game. In other World Cups the issue of penalties began to be generated. Mexico lost a couple of international competitions, including a World Cup in this way and the curse of penalties began to be generated, a noise more media than internal to the National Team.

marisol.rojas@eleconomista.mx