El Tri: doubts, many doubts
With multiple important injuries, El Tri prepares for one last testing run before the real show begins
It’s unfair to make dramatic assessments at this stage of the game.
I think, TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, El Tri and the Federation have matured in the last two World Cup cycles. To keep two managers for a good three-plus years is a remarkable feat for a national team and a football ecosystem that lacks patience and hardly executes long-term projects.
After El Tri, Juan Carlos Osorio’s coaching career has followed a backward trajectory, while with “Tata” Martino all signs point that after Qatar, he’ll find a club job in Argentina or the United States pretty easily.
Is it clear with Martino and Osorio’s cases that the Mexican manager just doesn’t ultimately count with the same support on El Tri’s coaching seat? Or is it that the Mexican manager is not sufficiently equipped to confront the demands of international football?
These friendlies in California could well give unknown solutions to Martino, or could provoke more doubts.
Not having a full squad to pick out a strong starting XI this month deters the point of these friendlies.
These friendlies in California still serve the purpose of last-minute testing, but not counting with all of El Tri’s best players complicates the panorama.
The first reported XI by Gibran Araige is this one below:
To be honest, I didn’t expect that in 2022, El Tri’s XI would include nine Liga MX-based players, but this is where we are.
Players like “Piojo” Alvarado and LG Chávez are playing to seal their ticket to Qatar. It’s looking like Chávez is already on the plane, but I’m still not completely sold yet.
Even with all the notable absences, there are certain constants in this XI. One of them is Ochoa as the goalkeeper, and likely captain…unless César Montes gets the armband once again as he surprisingly did against Uruguay.
The center-back pairing of Montes and Héctor Moreno has all the signs that it will be the one in charge of keeping Robert Lewandowski quiet in the World Cup debut.
In the midfield, the presence of Charly Rodríguez and Edson Álvarez has been a major constant since Martino became manager. How will the inclusion of Chávez enhance that midfield remains to be seen? I’m afraid that Guti has had several appearances where he just couldn’t grasp the moment and guide El Tri’s midfield, therefore Martino doesn’t rate him high among his available options.
Up top, it’s all new. It’s a big test for Henry Martín, who will have to excel and prove why he deserves to be among El Tri’s starters. Alvarado gave interesting minutes in the Atlanta friendly against Paraguay, so he would want to build from that. So far this season he has played 1,161 minutes with Chivas.
I decided to give Chucky his own section. I hold firm my take that a lot of El Tri’s hopes in the World Cup will go through him.
I’m not going to lie, my take has suffered a lot of hits in the last weeks considering that his club level has been on and off, and it’s looking like when he goes back to Italy, he won’t have a starting role with Napoli.
But it’s Chucky.
Another note that doesn’t play in my favor is that ever since he sustained that terrible injury in Arlington, his time with the national team has had more frustrating moments than successful ones. Heck, I think it’s all been disappointing.
The fact that he hasn’t had a game where his offense influenced the final result has made him take bad decisions on the field. His crossing hasn’t been on point, his shots have been mostly off target or blocked.
Just to give you a small example in the March qualifiers against Honduras, the U.S. and El Salvador, he played a total of 197 minutes. He had five shots off target and four blocked.
A goal or two could do wonders for Chucky in the following days, but so could displays where he looks more involved in El Tri’s build-up, something of which hasn’t been there in the last years. I think players like Alexis Vega and Diego Lainez have shown more in El Tri’s offensive build-up than Chucky, and that’s where the issue lies.
Martino respects Chucky’s hierarchy and will likely keep him as a starter, especially now that it’s not so clear how healthy Raúl Jiménez will be come November, and “Tecatito” Corona’s presence will only depend on a miracle.
Let’s hope that these games in Cali leave us more EL CHUCKY LOZANOOOOOOS chants and hardly any FUERA TATAS.