Mexico is going to be one of the few teams that’s going to be playing a final tune up game ahead of the World Cup. Most teams, particularly the ones that are going to see action in the earliest days of the tournament, have opted to forgo any tune up games, and instead just stick to regular training until their World Cup debut comes along.
Mexico, though, has to face off against Sweden this Wednesday almost a week before they face Poland in their World Cup debut. Coincidently Poland is another one of the teams that’s going to hold a tune up game ahead of the tournament. They are expected to play against Chile this week as well. Coming back to Mexico though, what can we really expect from their final game before the World Cup?
Ideally The Match Will Help Build The Team’s Confidence
When you’re playing some of these matchups before big tournaments there’s one thing that you’re looking to do and that’s to build confidence. The local media basically wrote off the team’s win against Iraq, but internally the win certainly helped boost the confidence of players like Alexis Vega, and Rogelio Funes Mori. Where Mexico may have missed the mark though is thinking that Sweden is going to be as easy as Iraq. Sweden may not be a team headed to the World Cup, and perhaps the squad that will face Mexico will not feature many of its top players.
There’s still that chance that Mexico could totally lay an egg in this matchup, and arrive at the World Cup without that confidence boost that they were looking for. Another pessimistic point of view would indicate that this is also another chance for players to get injured before the tournament. Something that all teams want to avoid at this point. We don’t want to be too pessimistic, but so close to the tournament there’s little to gain, and plenty to lose for Mexico in this game!
Is Raul Jimenez Going To Play?
At this point it’s anyone’s guess what’s going to happen with Raul. We are not going to venture into making any more predictions because the decision to make him part of the 26-man roster seems to go against all logic anyway. However, it had been speculated since last week that this would be the game that Raul would see action in. There’s even a theory out there that this will be a make or break moment for Raul Jimenez.
He’s going to try and see if he can go. If all goes well he’ll be getting on the plane to Qatar with the rest of his teammates. If things don’t go as planned then that’s exactly why Santi Gimenez is going to be with the team. In the event that Raul tries to play and realizes that he can’t, he may be removed from the roster with Giménez being the man to take his place. With that in mind, Mexico seems to have plenty of things still riding on this game.
A Change of Formation Could Be An Interesting Topic to Explore
The rumor mill indicated that Tata Martino would not use the starting 11 that he plans on trotting out against Poland in this game against Sweden. This would open the door for the Argentine manager to perhaps explore different formations besides his beloved 4-3-3 which he may use in the World Cup. So close to the tournament though, it probably wouldn’t be the best idea to be messing with the team’s identity. Maybe this idea of potentially exploring new formations is just wishful thinking on our part!
