El Tri's takeaways from 2019
A series of thoughts as we head into mid-September
Before I begin, thank you for taking the time to listen all the recent episodes of Resortera Wave. In the following days, that’s been the best place to share my thoughts on the events surrounding El Tri. Don’t think that I’m setting this picture at the start to suggest that Javier “Vasco” Aguirre should return to be El Tri’s manager for the third time. I’m not that crazy. I firmly believe that El Tri needs to hold more games in México, and although it sounds utopian when you share that opinion to others because El Tri will always be looking on maximizing the opportunity on holding games in the United States, I will continue to bring it up. There’s stadiums in México that could have held the Argentina and USMNT friendlies, like Estadio Corona in Torreón, without a problem. It’d be nice for once that El Tri plays friendlies in their home soil to celebrate the game, potentially with youngsters who one day dream to be part of the national team. The visit of the national team to certain Mexican cities could potentially mean a significant boost to their economies because of all the visitors from the surrounding areas. When the qualifiers come around, it’ll be a good idea to have in mind, but then again these are just opinions.
1. In the last hours after the defeat against Argentina, one of the main thoughts that has been on repeat in my brain has been Charly Rodríguez’s presence in El Tri’s XI. His game against the USMNT was stupendous because he made a lot of readings that required alertness and quickness. These are traits that make Charly excel and stand out in a strong pool of Mexican midfielders. When I see midfielders like Héctor Herrera and Jonathan dos Santos, what makes them stand out right now is their stamina. They are all-terrain midfielders, excellent in intercepting the ball in hot areas of the field. I was surprised to see that Jona and Herrera were out of tune against la Albiceleste, especially when it came time to receive the ball in the midfield and start attacks. Perhaps that was due to the strong showing from Argentina’s midfield, but when Charly came onto the field late in the second half, he had one play where he sent a long ball to Chucky, who almost got to it before colliding with Argentina’s defenders. It was one of the few attempts, if not only attempt, in which a Mexican footballer attempted to romper líneas with a long ball. Edson Álvarez looked too vulnerable as the lone defensive midfielder in the San Antonio game, and I think the presence of Charly from the start could have been helpful in helping connect all the points as El Tri tried to create danger in Argentina’s area. The 4-3-3 formation left a lot of doubts, especially against a side that had plenty of talent.
2. I do believe that Rodolfo Pizarro was going to start this match against Argentina, but we all know why he couldn’t take part in any of the September matches. After scoring his first goal with El Tri, it would have been great to see Erick Gutiérrez against the South Americans because right now he’s probably the Mexican midfielder who has made the most significant progress in his game. Pizarro doesn’t possess the electricity Chucky and Tecatito provide, but he does have a knack to be a facilitator in those late stages of scoring chances, so his inclusion in the Argentina game could have helped El Tri in having more shots on goal. Although El Tri controlled the possession of the ball against la Albiceleste, the possession numbers were futile because the passing was more horizontally, than vertically. The participation from the fullbacks was ineffective because there was hardly anything going on in the center of the pitch.
3. One of the first conclusions, I thought about after the 4-0 loss was the idea of returning to the backline of five. It’s an idea that I’ve thought many times, even in 2017 when El Tri drew 3-3 against Belgium in Brussels, and gave, in my opinion, one of the best, if not best performance of the Juan Carlos Osorio era. There was an evident void in El Tri’s display, that was difficult to put into words, other than, this:
But in all three goals that Belgium put past Guillermo Ochoa, Mexico's defense showed very little confidence while marking. For the most part, it looked like Belgium's star attackers breezed through Mexico's defense. Moreno was exposed three times -- one time by Romelu Lukaku and the other two by Dries Mertens. In all cases, Belgium went on to score.
I feel I could have written a similar paragraph after the Argentina game, all I had to do was switch the names. All said and done, there were certain errors against la Albiceleste that cannot happen against these type of opponents. With César Montes constantly falling injured, Moreno reaching the latter stage of his career, Carlos Salcedo giving inconsistent performances at the national team and club level and Diego Reyes returning to Liga MX after failing to find stability in Europe, a defensive problem begins to take form. Will it be ideal to drop back Edson and plug him in the defense? I don’t know if that will be ideal, but the lack of defensive stability available might require him to move back. Also, the presence of Miguel Layún in the XI can provoke many takes. In the game against Belgium in 2017, he attempted eight passes into the box and only completed one. Against Argentina, I hardly saw him attempt passes into the box. He wasn’t influential in defense and offense, and that has happened multiple times already. With the surprise that Tecatito is succeeding in his conversion of winger to fullback at Porto, I think he should become an option as a right wingback if El Tri decides to play with three centerbacks. Again, in a region like Concacaf, this idea of seeing a backline of five might not occur, but against these opponents with a vast majority of talented and lauded footballers, El Tri can’t afford to look so disoriented in the defensive end.
4. When you realize that 2022 is a long time from now, and that the likelihood that Gerardo “Tata” Martino will remain convinced that the initial 4-3-3 formation will be the way to go, I think it’s good to go back and check other successful examples. One that I was able to see from start to finish was Spain’s XI in the 2012 Euros. In the final against Italy, the one that finished 4-0, this was la Roja’s starting-eleven:
The first aspect of this XI that stands out is the presence of Francesc Fàbregas as a false 9. The duo of Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets provided a lot of balance to players like Xavi Hernández, David Silva, Andrés Iniesta and Cesc, but with that being said, Alonso and Busquets’ skills on the ball can’t be ignored. Their vision of where to move and where to put the ball allowed Spain to dominate the game. For example with El Tri, especially in the recent loss, Edson still showed minor defects on where to move and how to connect with the rest of his teammates. Herrera and Jona didn’t do a good job in finding the spaces where Edson could make a quick pass to accelerate the play. So how would an El Tri 4-3-3 look like with a false 9? Here’s a possibility.
Many things could potentially change, without a doubt the defensive line might go through a transformation in the following years, but there’s no guarantee that will take place because as mentioned in the last point, the pool of defenders has drastically dwindled. In this XI, Pizarro is the false nine, but Chucky’s the scorer. The ones who will try to increase the amount of scoring chances with their llegada will be Charly and HH, plus Gallardo and Sánchez will need to add options in the offensive end. It remains to be seen how much Lainez will evolve from now until 2022, and how much his evolution could compare to the one Efrain Alvarez will likely live in that same period of time. Ideally, it’ll be interesting to see El Tri in a setting where it has both Lainez and Alvarez as serious offensive options. Raúl Jiménez, José Juan Macías and Chicharito are still scoring options that can’t be discarded. Their presence could fundamentally boost the 4-3-3 that Martino envisions, but in Concacaf play, wouldn’t it be a good idea to test an XI of this sort?
5. It wasn’t meant to be with JCO, but he did leave a certain foundation from where Martino has been able to start his own process. What can the FMF do, starting now, to convince “Tata” Martino that he’s the man to lead an eight-year long project? Certainly seeing that Liga MX clubs are willing to let go of their players, so he can hold these mini camps is a great show of intention. If Martino is able to convince and be convinced that his project will require time and two World Cup cycles to actually see some substantial growth, then I think everyone involved — players, directors, owners and coaches — should hop on board the ship. Mexican football can’t transform in a four-year World Cup cycle. We’ve seen it many times. These sort of advancements require time and effort, and for once, El Tri has a manager capable to lead such tremendous process. Heck, tremendous feat.