Friendly: México vs. Croatia in Tejas, 3/27/18

Croatia is a good team they just didn't punish Mexico mistakes. Mexico was making such a big deal about 6 players being sent home. The only player that really matters was Modric and maybe Perisic. Almost all the players that started yesterday play for good clubs in big leagues. The Mexican commentators were clueless to think Mexico was going to beat Croatia because some of there starters were sent back to there clubs.

 

Yeah, I never got the feeling that Croatia was undermanned at any point. Even with the absences of Modric and a couple of others, they are still a quality side.

Croatia is a very tough team to beat full-strength or not.

Croatia was unlucky to not score more than 1 goal. They were easily carving up Mexico throughout the game.

This game was a disaster on many fronts.

Easily one of the worst managed game in Osorio's tenure so far.

 

Knowing we're going 3 and out is hard to take in.

 

Like i said in an earlier post...............if this is the best we have.............................may God help us. Ladies and gentlemen, hang in there, there is a fork in the road.................................yet again.

 

Wasn't able to watch the game how did E. Alvarez do when he came in? Looks like he played as a CB instead of CDM though.

 

Solid, in my opinion. Definitely might make the final 23.

 

It's a weird feeling, having a coach that overrates the talent at hand. Osorio trotted out a three man midfield with Burrito, Govea and Guardado and Croatia's three man midfield was just better. Croatia's front three had a lot of opportunities for 1v1's vs Reyes, Araujo and Moreno, which is a head scratcher since Osorio likes to create 2v1 defensive situations that allow Mexico to quickly recover the ball. He lost the plot completely in this game.

Salcedo's injury most likely means that Edson will slide over to Right Back and Molina will play as the 5, which is a lateral move if I'm honest but it will solidify the defense. I thought Salcedo was playing well vs Croatia, shame about his injury.

I think it's crucial to note how easy it is to look over matched when the opponent is just as good as you with the ball at their feet (if not better) but superior physically and even though Osorio gets a ton of flak for focusing on this, it's the right thing to do. If you don't compete physically, you'll be chasing after the ball and will be on your heels constantly, which is what happened in the first 15 minutes vs Croatia.

The defense bends a lot but rarely breaks under Osorio.....but when it breaks...agarrense. I've said this many times before but it is simply a style issue. These are the types of defenders that we produce and their individual actions and reactions on the field rarely have much to do with coach although I think there has been a tactical improvement in this regard under Osorio overall, it's hard to be too praiseworthy when the team ate 7 against Chile and 4 against Germany in crucial games.

I appreciate the fact that the coach believes in the players and their abilities but a bit more pragmatism will be required if we want to get out of the group stages this summer. The biggest enemy Mexico will face this summer is the order of the games they'll play in the group stages.

 

Burrito was shown to be a liability against Guayana and I was quite puzzled by his call up and think Jona Gonzalez should have been used instead of him.

 

Jona Gonzalez is not going to play that role for Mexico, he's not a 5, he's not what the National Team needs in that position. He did it with Monterrey because Molina was injured and Jona had outgrown the U20 league so Mohammed used him there. Monterrey was playing a counter attacking style last season and in December I mentioned that they would switch away from that and have Ponchito Gonzalez try recreate what Cardona did for their attack and sure enough, Mohammed has moved away from that counter attacking style and now employs a different midfield combination and Jona's minutes have gone down. I know he also suffered a slight injury but still, Mohammed had warned the media he would be doing it this season.

Similarly, Burrito does it very well for Pachuca but at the international level, you have to be able to compete physically. This is how Mexico suffered in the 2010 WC Cycle and in the 2014 WC Cycle, having central midfielders and fullbacks that were easily overmatched physically. It's no coincidence these are the areas that Osorio set out to fortify.

I remember a while back when Potro Gutierrez took the Olympic team to Portugal for a set of friendlies before the qualifiers. Portugal beat us by two or three goals and in his post game interview, Potro threw the players under the bus more or less. When asked to clarify, he unequivocally stated that the players, even those with first division minutes, were not used to the physicality because LigaMX doesn't allow for that and the players develop certain habits where they look for contact to draw fouls and end up slowing down the rhythm of the game. Not surprisingly, Paco Jemez recently said the same thing. Players in LigaMX are always looking to embelish contact and draw fouls instead of powering through a play and looking to stay on their feet. The refs usually call any contact a foul and the games never quite develop a full, consistent rhythm.

Which is why when some of these players get their first caps with the NT, they often struggle to win challenges and you end up with commentary like "He was invisible through most of the game but he ran around a lot and tried to help by pressuring the opponent."

You clearly don't see this as much with similarly statured teams like Chile, mostly because they have a more innate physicality to their game.

The local league is usually a good reflection of the NT. This is Mexico.

 

I don’t understand why this is so hard for, specifically, the Media in MEX to understand

 

Many don't like him because he isn't flashy, he won't be beating anyone 1 v 1 but he has strong qualities. As I mentioned, helping out the pressured player was huge.

 

It's too bad that Osorio doesn't view Jonathan Gonzalez the same way as Molina.

Gonzalez plays Molina's natural position better than Molina can. That type of performance against Pachuca was a normal game for Gonzalez last season.

 

Gallito Vasquez looks small but he was bossing the damn midfield in the WC 2014. It's a shame that he couldn't play against Holanda.