There’s virtually no Mexican media personality that has not come out and criticized Tata Martino for the way that his team has played in the World Cup. After the first game against Poland there was optimism in the media particularly hailing Memo Ochoa’s penalty kick save against Robert Lewandowski. After the Argentina loss though it seems like the fans and the media would literally prefer that Mexico not show up for the final group game against Saudi Arabia. How much of this is Martino’s fault? What was he supposed to do against Argentina?
Where Martino Is To Blame For The Loss
There’s one element of the loss that is entirely Martino’s fault. That is, leaving Hector Herrera on the field for the entirety of the game. Martino was only able to make four substitutions in the game that was largely due to the fact that he took Guardado off in the first half with an injury. He and his staff did not seem to realize that they had used up all of their sub windows.
When the team needed a spark to potentially tie the game back up, Herrera was so dead that he was playing a center back at that point. It may be fair to criticize Herrera and Guardado’s inclusion in the squad to begin with. Then again it’s highly unlikely that any manager that could’ve taken over Mexico would’ve left both of these guys off the roster.
The Edson Alvarez Situation
Mexico played a very sound defensive game. So much so that Ochoa was rarely called upon. A lot of people were not happy though that Martino decided to keep Edson Alvarez on the bench. The idea that Martino had coming into the game was that Guardado and Herrera were better equipped to make timely passes out to Lozano and Vega when they got the ball back then Edson was. If this was the case though, why did Gutierrez come in for Guardado, and not someone like Romo, or even Orbelin Pineda?
This is where Martino really loses the fan base. The idea of playing with a back 5 versus Argentina proved to be an ok idea. Unfortunately the team just didn’t have an answer after that first goal by Messi. What’s potentially worse for Martino is that two players that he beat on ahead of Alvarez made key mistakes that lead to the Argentina goals. Certainly he’s taken heavy blame for that. The fact of the matter is, there’s no guarantee that those mistakes wouldn’t have happened if Edson Alvarez had been on the field.
Who Will He Choose Up Front In The Final Game?
It may be Funes Mori time. That’s going to be a decision that probably won’t sit well with the fans if things don’t work out. At the same time at this point Martino probably doesn’t care. He knows that he’s out pretty much regardless of what happens in the next game. With that in mind it would be wrong on his part to try and play to the crowd. Neither Raul Jiménez nor Henry Martin have shown much of anything in the tournament. Plus, Funes Mori is the best pure scorer of the 3.
All signs point to the fact that Martino is going to go back to his traditional 4-3-3 formation. We don’t expect him to come out without one of the 3 strikers that he took to the tournament. With the high pressure that Saudi Arabia will likely try to impose on Mexico there may be plenty of goal scoring chances for any of the 3 strikers that he decides to go with!
