Club America’s amazing win streak continues after their 3-0 rout of Atlético de San Luis. Once again striker Henry Martin found the back of the net. His goal in the 56th minute of the game closed out the scoring, from there the team more or less coasted to the victory. Even if he hadn’t pushed the ball to the back of the net with the third goal his impact on the game clearly cemented (we are not talking about the missed penalty kick). The first goals comes off a play from the right flank where both Henry Martin and Zendejas combined all night to push the ball up the field from that side to end the play changing field to find Jonathan Rodríguez. They set up Rodríguez twice with chances to cut back and shoot towards goal, the second time was the charm, and that lead to the first goal.
In the second goal, although it’s a clear foul by Diego Valdes, it’s Henry who fights for a deep high ball with the San Luis center backs. Finally, his highly active style of play earns him the third goal of the match. He makes a run to the right side and gets a perfect through ball assist that he just slightly chips over Marcelo Barovero. Is this going to be enough for him to earn a starting role in Qatar?
Why Henry Martin Potentially Should Be The Starting Number 9 For Mexico At The World Cup
Henry Martin proved his worth for the national team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. We do have to take his performance with a grain of salt of course. He was part of the squad as one of the 3 players over the age of 23 that are allowed to participate in the Olympic tournament. His age is actually one of the reasons why the 2022 World Cup is essentially his last chance to take part in a World Cup, but that may be a bit beside the point. In any case, his “active” style of play as a number 9 generates plenty of open spaces for the wingers on the squad. If you have someone like Chucky Lozano a number 9 like Henry can create those open spaces for Lozano to make runs into the box and get off shots on goal. For evidence see the first Jonathan Rodríguez goal that we recently referenced.
Even though Tecatito Corona will likely not be able to play opposite Lozano in the World Cup, there’s still Lainez, Antuna or even Henry’s teammate Zendejas who could potentially play that winger position and take advantage of Henry’s mobility to find open spaces in the box. That winger position is arguably where Mexico has more talent. Why not play with a number 9 that helps you take advantage of that talent?
Why He Probably Won’t Start
Even though it may arguably be a good idea to start Henry Martin since he’s currently the Mexican striker in the best form chances are he won’t start, unless injuries sideline some of the other strikers on the team. Many of which, seem to be ahead of Martin in Gerardo Martino’s national team depth chart. Raul Jimenez, and Rogelio Funes Mori have been recently bit by the injury bug, so there is a chance that it happens again before the World Cup. That would leave just Santiago Giménez ahead of Martin in Martino’s mind. In the latest friendly game Martin did not attend the camp citing an injury however, he saw minutes for Club America just days after Mexico’s game against Paraguay. Is this a sing that Henry knows he’s not going to play for the national team, so he doesn’t even want to travel to the friendly games? If he keeps scoring goals though, and creating chances for his teammates can Martino afford to leave him out of the list? All of these questions are set to be answered in the upcoming months.
