Last night Twitter was blowing up calling for Rogelio Funes Mori, and Jesus Gallardo to be removed from the Mexican national team due to their poor performances in Rayados’ game against Pachuca. Mexican head coach Tata Martino was a main fixture in the memes just like he was on Wednesday, and Thursday morning after the Ochoa error. Should he really reconsider his World Cup squad because of what happened last night? Are fans just prisoners of the moment? Let’s dive deep into the controversy!
It’s A Stand-Alone Game
The fact that both semi final games were stand-alone games really didn’t help many of the players that had bad games. Ochoa is the clear example in the Wednesday game. There was a lot of pressure put on him because of the media storm caused by Martinoli’s comments, and he goes out and flops. The same thing happened to Funes Mori, and Gallardo who have been highly questioned throughout Tata Martino’s tenure.
Of course Tata Martino would prefer that these players that he’s stuck his neck out for would be able to perform under the bright lights. It always seems like the guys the national team coach likes flop in stand-alone games. That’s probably frustrating for him. Certainly you could make the argument that things are getting overblown because both Funes Mori, and Gallardo played poorly in a game that everyone was watching.
Funes Mori Can’t Get Out Of His Own Way
Funes Mori had actually been pretty good in his return from injury. In the first leg game against Cruz Azul he didn’t find the back of the net, but he provided a spark for the team, and created a couple goal scoring chances. In the second leg he did find the back of the net, and it seemed that everything was going to be fine from then on.
There’s something to be said about his poor penalty kick taking skills particularly in big moments. He missed against Tigres a few years back, and that cost his team. When he was chasing the record to become the all-time goal scorer for Monterrey he missed at least a couple of penalty kicks as well. The criticism of him is actually that he flops in big games. At this point it’s hard to argue with that. Are the World Cup games going to be too big for him? They might be, but Martino has gone too far to drop him at this point!
Gallardo’s Issue May Actually Be More Serious
In Funes Mori’s case his situation may not be such a major issue because Henry Martin is probably going to start. There’s been a massive media campaign like the one currently going on to favor Ochoa in favor of Martin. As we mentioned Funes can’t get out of his own way, but will probably make the squad. The Gallardo issue may be more severe because his deficiencies were once again on display. This is a guy who was an offensive midfielder/winger type player with Pumas that converted to left back. The problem is he’s not a natural defender.
What a lot of people don’t understand about left backs, and right backs is that a lot of times the plays you have to make are instinctive. Because the offensive player is usually behind you, and you’re looking at the ball that’s in front. Gallardo has neither defensive instincts nor a good sense of timing to know when to be up pressing on an offensive player or fall back. Take a look at Emilio Lara of America by the way, and you’ll see the same thing! Alan Mozo of Chivas now, same deal. A lot of people point to the number of goals they scored or assists they gave, and want to crown them great right or left backs. If you can’t defend you’re more liability than asset. That’s what Gallardo has been most of his career on the defensive end.
Should Martino be worried? If he wasn’t worried before, or he was, yesterday wasn’t a surprise. These two guys showed you what they are. If Martino still wants to play them that shows you what he thinks of the other options on the roster.
