Santos’ Carlos Acevedo, Galaxy’s Julian Araujo show ‘Tata’ Martino that they can help Mexico seek World Cup

Wednesday night friendly results with Chile It’s not that either Mexico fan or El Tri Coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino wants.

Moments that could not guarantee victory over the South American team at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, Mexico let the victory slip away when facing the midfielder Pablo Parra own goal after 86 minutes. With little time to respond, Mexico slipped to an overwhelming 2-2 draw to close the year.

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As a result, they were fourth in a row in all competitions without a win. It also followed two big losses to USA and Canada in the World Cup qualifiers last month. Along with not having a CONCACAF Nations League title or the 2021 Gold Cup (both of which failed at the hands of the United States), the weary Martino declared in Wednesday’s new post-match meeting that it has been “a bad year.” best in my management” with El Tri.

“My assessment of this year is the worst year for my management, the worst year I’ve been here, that’s how I see it and that’s what the results tell us,” he said. Martino said.

While the pressure will only continue to mount on the coach who is receiving more criticism from the media and Mexican supporters, it is important to recognize that silver linings have emerged since today’s game. Wednesday.

In fact, perhaps even a few solutions to some El Triproblems were displayed.

Mexico’s roster call-up for the friendly – which took place on a non-FIFA date – featured a total of 11 players who had yet to make their senior national team debut ahead of the match against Chile. The average age of the starting XI is 23.5 and in that XI it is four (Salvador Reyes, Luis Olivas, Julian Araujo and Carlos Acevedo) debuted. By the time the match was over, three other players (Israel Reyes, Mauro Lainez and Marcelo Flores) had also made their senior debuts.

Bottom line: This is a young and experimental squad. In a situation like this, the scores aren’t as significant as individual performances, and fortunately for Martino a few have come out.

Up top, striker Cruz Azul Santiago Gimenez threatened with his running runs and with his goal in the 9th minute, quickly gave Mexico a 1-0 lead. Those weren’t some brilliant saves from the Chilean keeper Sebastian Perez, Gimenez could easily have ended up with another goal.

Either way, the friendly will easily help the 20-year-old’s solid attack to solve the Mexican backup striker dilemma. After an unfortunate injury to the starter Raul Jimenez that leaves him out of the national team roster for much of 2021, El Tri Struggling to find a suitable replacement. Although Jimenez is now back, a busy 2022 will force Martino to consider alternatives through a number of games over the coming year. Gimenez still has a lot to prove before consolidating that backup position, but Wednesday’s day has no doubt helped his case.

The same thing happens with Acevedo, Mexico’s goalkeeper tonight.

Needing just three minutes to make an impact, captain Santos Laguna acrobated in the early stages of the friendly and denied a clear scoring opportunity for Chile’s Benjamin Kuscevic. Regardless of the last two goals that went through him, Acevedo still commanded in his area in the box with 16 shots.

“I need to work, I need to be humble, I need to have my feet on the ground,” Acevedo told TUDN after the game. “Obviously I’ll work hard so I can be here again.”

One can be forgiven for thinking Guillermo Ochoa, Mexico’s top goalkeeper when watching Acevedo 25 years old. Along with a shared preference for headbands and long hair, Acevedo and Ochoa both have extremely quick reflexes and a high level of leadership on the pitch.

And despite the fact that the starting line-up will be in Ochoa’s hands for the foreseeable future, Acevedo could help as a promising back-up capable of overtaking some aging goalkeepers for Mexico that tends to tend from middle to end. 30 seconds.

All that said, what was really the biggest silver lining for Mexico on Wednesday was a Man of The Match-like performance from LA Galaxyby Araujo. At right-back, considered by many to be Mexico’s weak link, the energetic and speedy defender helped shape the game, regain control, and thwart attacking attempts from Chile.

Araujo displayed a confidence that no other player on the field had. Looking ahead, it’s not uncommon to assume he could have more than one supporting role in 2022.

With the understanding that Mexico is lacking reliable right-backs, and the current star Luis “Chaka” Rodriguez are losing some speed and defense, surely Araujo will have more opportunities to shine next year. As a binational, this may also have influenced his decision in October to move to Mexico after a one-off appearance for the USMNT.

There is promise for Martino with the aforementioned names and also other recent additions who have high ceilings.

Flores, who is now part of ArsenalAcademy of the academy, is particularly exciting and one has the talent to be a true world-class player. Erik Lira put on a good performance in the friendly and was the main reason why Mexico hit the field with an energetic role throughout the second half. Sebastian Cordova has had a tentative start and has grown into an influential difference maker in the game.

For Flores – the participant Jonathan dos Santos and Carlos Vela are notable players to play for Mexico ahead of his senior club debut – Martino is particularly poignant.

“I understand the expectations that can be created but I ask to be cautious with the demands of an 18-year-old,” says Martion.

However, we also shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves and assume any of these promising talents will magically fix things after a rough end in 2021.

Specifically, the area of ​​​​the field where Mexico has problems is located in the center of the defence. While Jordan Silva deserves praise for his goal for Mexico in the 64th minute of the draw, he and Olivas were constantly caught off guard as two centre-backs.

For Martino, problems inside the backline are nothing new.

“We played two friendlies against Ecuador [in November] and tonight. Two qualifiers [against the U.S. and Canada] and nine goals were scored against us in those four games with different defenses,” Martino said. Obviously our goal and challenge is to find a defense that fits the way we attack. “

Finding the right balance not only in the backline but also in other areas of the field will be crucial for Martino ahead of the final race towards the World Cup in Qatar. With the current third place in CONCACACAF’s 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Mexico has had a somewhat precarious path in the form of automatically giving way to Qatar in the top three.

It’s not the most ideal position to be in and it’s clearly not an ideal end to 2021 for Martino, but he can comfort himself in the knowledge that he now has many options. Choose more attractive to discover in your group of players.

Whether or not he picks those players is a completely different topic.