30 minutes into the first half vs Japan and it's been a solid game thus far from both teams. Physical and fast paced. Probably the best stretch Mexico has put together in this tournament so far since Bahrain was really not much of an opponent. Carlos Vargas and Jonathan Gonzalez would've made this team infinitely better.
Mexico scores early in the second half. Hard to argue that Mexico hasn't been the better team. Nice goal by Godinez.
Eduardo Aguirre puts Mexico up 2-1 in the dying minutes. Good reaction by Mexico after Japan equalized on a great play.
Japan equalize a few minutes later! Terrible read on an aerial ball from Govea that leaves the Japanese forward 1v1 with Hernandez and he slots it home.
Mozo fails his penalty, so we are eliminated. Shame they couldn't control the match in those last minutes. At least Brazil won't destroy us
Kinda early to say this? I feel like both goals were more the product of individual mistakes than anything else.
Typical Mexico. Have their best game of the tournament, have the final in hand, make a dumb defensive mistake and lose in a PK shootout.
Four games is a decent sample size to draw some conclusions. I'll start by saying that while I don't mind Pepe Hernandez, it's concerning that you have a physically gifted goalkeeper on the bench like Jurado and Lozano played it safe by keeping Hernandez in goal all tournament long. During the penalty shootout, Hernandez dove exactly once and his other attempts were laughable, to say the least. The strongest part of the defense were the fullbacks. Mozo and Arteaga both had more than decent tournaments. Bit of a contrast with last year's tournament where Arteaga operated more as a wingback than as a fullback and this time around, it was Mozo who was running up and down the wing. The Centerbacks were average, at best. Neither one seems to have much of a future with the National Team above this level as evidenced by their lack of composure and constant penchant for booting the ball out of bounds any time they felt pressured. Again, think back to last year with Vargas and Montes and how smoothly they dribbled themselves out of pressure or stepped into the midfield to anticipate plays and break them up before they even unfolded. The midfield was incredibly average and that is not a compliment. Erick Aguirre and Joaquin Esquivel, while very good technically, provided little in the way of support in the attack. Lots of horizontal passes and a clear directive to constantly slow the pace of the game down.......which is exactly the way the game is played in the youth divisions in LigaMX. Yrizar was, for my money, the worst player for Mexico in this tournament. A guy with his size and speed rarely threatened any of the opponents. He seemed to be just another body out there covering space. Torres was the brightest spot but he had little in the way of support since Arteaga stayed further back and Erick Aguirre rarely seemed to be interested in releasing him into space with quicker touches behind the opponent's defense. Having a guy like Marcel Ruiz on the bench that thrives on finding gaps of space in the midfield to exploit his vertical instincts wasn't brought on at any point in this tournament. Sebastian Cordova was a mixed bag for me. He played further forward than he's used to with America but didn't seem to combine all that well with any of the forwards and his best moments came when he dropped deeper and linked up with Aguirre to circulate the ball in the attacking third. Still, as far as the wingers go, they're a clear step down from what we saw last year with Alvarado (who had a so-so tournament), Antuna and Lainez (even though Lainez played more of a free role). Up top, it's hard to say much about the forwards. Godinez and Edu Aguirre were the best of the bunch but Cisneros barely played so it's hard to judge him. Lozano set out a pretty standard 4-4-2 that was really a 4-2-3-1 with Cordova essentially playing behind Aguirre/Godinez/ Cisneros. Lozano's team was a carbon copy of what we have seen with the youth teams over the last few years. Central Midfielders that, either by choice or design, rarely step into the attacking third and seem to be tactically rigid. The attack comes from the wings with fullbacks heavily involved in chance creation. Goals are usually scored during set pieces. Very few instances of verticality in the midfield and/or combination play to release attackers into space with any sort of advantage. All in all he'll get a pat on the back for reaching the semis but he has barely moved the needle for me as far his tactical capabilities go.
Best player in the tourney for me was Mozo. Sucks that he was the one to miss the PK, but I think he could legitimately challenge for a spot on the NT as of today, given our depth, or lack thereof, in his position. Biggest letdown was Cordova. Don’t think he had the impact we were anticipating, and his troubles translated into a very static offense imo. Can’t even characterize Aguirre and Yrizar as letdowns. They shouldn’t even be on the team. Marcel Ruiz should’ve had more minutes.
México U22 se quedó con el TERCER LUGAR en el Esperanzas de Toulon 2019. Victoria en penales ante Irlanda. 0-0 (4-3). Sebastián Jurado fue titular por primera vez en todo el certamen y fue la figura indiscutible en la tanda decisiva. El portero del Veracruz atajó dos penales. pic.twitter.com/fBISEOEM0Q— Invictos (@InvictosSomos) June 15, 2019 1139894992498057216 is not a valid tweet id
FT: Mexico win the third place match on penalties against Ireland. Jayson Molumby and Jesús Ángulo chosen as their teams’ best players. pic.twitter.com/qIt4r4gftn— Zach Lowy (@ZachLowy) June 15, 2019
Post-Copa Oro, expect Jurado to get some starts under Tata Martino The guy has excellent qualities and I can see him having more success than Memo