After a World Cup participation that left little to the imagination, El Tri prepares for a summer that will serve as a window for what’s next. There’s very minimal hope, let’s be clear. The trajectory and latest decision-making surrounding Mexico’s national team leave us very little to look forward to, other than a highly-anticipated disaster.
Is doom and gloom inevitable? It’s the question I keep asking myself.
I don’t remember a time when the national team really felt like it was starting anew, with a predominant roster with a variety of new faces. No more Andrés Guardado, Héctor Herrera, Héctor Moreno, and the clear erasure of Chicharito Hernández means that new faces will emerge.
This opportunity comes at a moment of immense pressure and disarray surrounding Mexican football. The recent decision made in the FMF was to give the presidency to a man directly involved with TelevisaUnivision for a great part of his professional life. Sadly, it’s evident the continuation of the same processes that have led Mexico to lose direction in the international stage.
I still hold my ground on saying that Rodrigo Ares de Parga doesn’t have the resumé to hold such a vital role in the direction of Mexican football. But…I like that Andrés Lillini is part of the national team.
I’ll say that there’s a glimmer of hope. In an incessant terrain of pessimism that houses the national team, sometimes you have to take two steps back, and pick out what’s good.
As noted in my last post, the individual successes achieved by many of El Tri’s players in their respective European leagues is reason to believe that the national team’s level will not continue to deteriorate post-World Cup.
Here are a series of notes of what needs to go right for El Tri this summer if it hopes to make an important move and return to the top of Concacaf.
1. Santi Giménez needs to become El Tri’s new goalscorer. There’s no other way to put it; he needs to come into every match motivated to get his name on the scoresheet. His movements need to help in the offensive build-up and whenever he gets chances, his scoring rate needs to be on point. It’s not easy to become El Tri’s goalscorer. Even though Chicharito is El Tri’s current top goalscorer, he experienced Concacaf games when he couldn’t catch a break, and what can we say about Raul Jiménez, who’s running dry and a return to North America looks imminent.
2. Henry Martin shouldn’t be El Tri’s main no. 9. Diego Cocca needs to try other options because Martin has already received plenty of opportunities and nothing comes of it. The lack of options in the striker position continues to be a critical issue.
3. I think the Victor Guzmán situation is starting to feel like when Tata didn’t call up Santi to the World Cup. El Tri really doesn’t have that many players with Guzmán’s passion and attitude. Although his Liguilla wasn’t as spectacular as the one he had with Pachuca last season, Guzmán is a player you want in your team. I don’t get it.
4. If El Tri looks bad this summer against a USMNT that will have its second interim manager in less than six months, the blow will be more brutal than last year’s World Cup participation.
5. Ochoa-Montes-Edson will be the leadership core of the team. Let’s see how much they will be able to change in the coming weeks. I expect Edson to finally have a very important role in the dressing room.
6. Let’s hope Córdova doesn’t become another Rodo Pizarro case. I loved his Liguilla, but the similarities between the two are too obvious to ignore…
7. Did you notice in the call-up that Luis Romo was set as a CB, Jesús Gallardo as a MF and Erick Sánchez as a FW. I do expect Gallardo to play a more offensive role with Cocca, and if it works, it could become one of the main storylines this summer.
8. Of the notable omissions made in the Nations League/Gold Cup roster, the one that caught my attention is Roberto Alvarado’s. His versatility would have been excellent in the coming weeks, but I think his poor World Cup performance came back to haunt him. There hasn’t been a single game where Alvarado made a notable difference.
9. The coach got hired before the president. The coach got hired before a director of youth national teams and director of national teams. I’m intrigued to see what actions take place if El Tri goes empty-handed this summer, which looks likely, but we want to stay positive.
10. A possible XI to think about:
Thanks for reading! Cuídense mucho, razita!