With the World Cup around the corner, Mexico’s chances to win the World Cup are not that high. Today I look at Mexico and see how they can get out of the Group Stage and potentially win the World Cup by looking at some positives, negatives and the squad.
Mexico is one of the most consistent teams to make the World Cup. They haven’t missed out on the World Cup since 1990, because of a scandal with overage players at a U20 World Cup. The main thing right now is that Mexico made the World Cup for the seventeenth time, and there are reasons to believe Mexico can and cannot win the Cup.
The positives for this Mexican National team is the experience on the squad. With nine players who have been to the World Cup before and youth that can help us desperately, there’s enough talent and support on the roster to lead us out of the group stage and potentially end the Round of 16 curse pain that we Mexicans have had since 1986.
But there are a lot of negatives on this team, with them winning just two out of seven friendly matches and being inconsistent in the World Cup qualifiers. One of the main reasons for them being so inconsistent is coach “Tata” Martino. The Mexican fans put most of the blame on Martino’s terrible tactics and picking the wrong players. He didn’t pick players that are good at the moment. Instead, he picked his favorites, and in doing so left Mexican star Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez off the roster.
The roster hasn’t come out officially, but I have an idea of what it’s going to look like. The team will consist of 26 players with 8 or 9 defenders, 6 midfielders, 8 attackers, and 3 goalkeepers.
Let’s look at the defenders which are, Hector Moreno, Johan Vasquez, Cesar Montes, Nestor Araujo, Jorge Sanchez, Gerado Artega, Jesus Angulo, Julian Araujo, and Kevin Alvarez.
This group is very solid, with a mixture of young and experienced players. The back line will be certain and composed against Poland, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina attacks.
Now let’s look at the midfielders, which are Hector Herrea, Edson Alvarez, Andres Guardado, Erick Gutierrez, Carlos Rodriguez and Luis Chavez. Their success is going to depend on how the games go. This midfield can be great, but then sometimes they are not that great when they ball watch and don’t mark the areas they are supposed to and the team crumbles.
Last but not least, the attackers will consist of Hirving Lozano, Diego Lainez, Alexis Vega, Henry Martin, Raul Jimenez, Santiago Gimenez, Uriel Antuna and Orbelin Pineda. They are solid when they pass the ball around the final third, but when they don’t they are non-existent.
Next, let’s look at the competition in Group C. People are saying it’s not a hard group, but I think they’re wrong because anything can happen in the World Cup. This group consists of Argentina, Poland and Saudi Arabia. Argentina is the toughest and most complete team in the Group. Messi & Co. hasn’t lost in 35 games and are favorites to win the World Cup. I believe it will be a hard match, but we will pull through.
Poland and Saudi Arabia are decent teams with good forwards that, if Mexico is not playing well, will strike. These are two winnable games for Mexico, but if they are not awake they will lose.
I believe that Mexico will get past the group stage and potentially go far in the World Cup if they don’t get in their heads too much. Fast starts will be key, because during many of the games leading up to the Cup they didn’t start playing until the second half.
I believe that this team is done hiding. Mexico will show up at the World Cup, surprise everybody and end the Round of 16 curse.
