Mexico needs to win and get some help to be able to make it out of the group and into the round of 16 at the World Cup. After the loss to Argentina it would seem like all hope is lost. However, a tie and a loss were actually realistic projections for Mexico before the tournament started. The grief that Mexico players are catching on social media seem to be more of a reflection of how toxic social media is. Particularly when it comes to El Tri. More so than a reflection of horrible play from the team at the World Cup.
For Mexico to be able to advance to the round of 16 Mexico needs to beat Saudi Arabia, preferably by a large margin. An Argentina loss and a Mexico win puts Mexico in. A draw or an Argentina win would leave Mexico having to take the calculator out and make sure that they end up with a better goal differential than the other teams. First off though, Mexico needs to win. So what do they need to do to ensure that happens?
Taking Advantage Of The Saudi High Pressure
Saudi Arabia also needs to win the game to go on to the next round. In fact, Saudi Arabia doesn’t even need to look at the other game for help. They are in a win, and in scenario. That could actually help Mexico quite a bit. This means that Saudi Arabia is likely going to be pressing the Mexican midfield very far up the field. That could create open spaces for Chucky Lozano, and Alexis Vega on the wings. Which is something that has been hard to come by for both of Mexico’s most talented players so far in the tournament. Look for Mexico to have a lot more scoring chances in this game than they did in their other contests.
Is This The Moment For Funes Mori?
If not now when? Martino took a lot of flak for taking Funes Mori over Santi Gimenez to the tournament in the first place. So far he hasn’t even seen the field! With Raul Jimenez’s current form being poor at best, and Henry Martin not necessarily known for his goal scoring it would seem that this is the perfect moment to send Funes out there. Martino is not going to stay on as Mexico head coach regardless of what happens. So, it wouldn’t make sense for him to try and field a team that the media and the fans would be happy with. At this point it doesn’t seem like he can get a win with the fans anyway. Again judging from what we’ve seen from both Martin, and Jimenez this tournament Funes Mori may not be a bad option.
Is There A Real Chance For Mexico?
Mexico needs to get some help for them to be able to make it to the next round. The best way to be able to help themselves is to at least win by 3 goals against Saudi Arabia. That hypothetically would give you a chance to head to a tiebreaker decided by the number of yellow cards given out to each team. There’s no question that the worst thing to happen to Mexico on Saturday were both the second Polish goal, and the second Argentina goal. That made things a lot more complicated.
Saudi Arabia though is still very much alive, and that could actually play to Mexico’s advantage. Saudi Arabia likes to play with the very high pressure that we talked about. Mexico needs to find space in the back of that defense. We anticipate Mexico to generate plenty of chances. Whether they convert them or not is another story.
