Mexico was playing against the odds and its limits. Mexican footballers no longer aspire to make the great leap forward in the world and get into the top 10 teams in the world. Now they play to avoid failures, to win by the minimum, to minimize the damage caused by their country’s leaders. The Mexican team is mired in mud, with no possibility of getting up from a knockout. The fans, faithful followers in the United States, are already beginning to abandon the team. The Mexican ship is stranded, with a breakdown that requires the most prolific coach to rescue a team that has no goal, no security with the ball. Not to mention a crew that has had little time to mature. Against Ecuador, the Mexican team depended on itself and its own identity abandoned it with a 0-0 draw, insufficient to play the quarterfinals in the Copa America.
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The cast includes:
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Alexander Dominguez, Piero Hincapie, Angelo Preciado (Andres Hurtado, min. 90), Willian Pacho, Felix Torres, Kendry Paez (Alan Minda, min. 66), Moses Caicedo, Alan Franco, Jeremy Sarmiento (Angel Mena, min. 75), Enner Valencia and Kevin Rodriguez (Carlos Gruezo, min. 75)
Referee Mario Escobar
Yellow cards
Cesar Montes (min. 5), Moses Caicedo (min. 42), Jorge Sanchez (min. 49), Luis Chavez (min. 72), Johan Vasquez (min. 81), Carlos Antuna (min. 93), Jordy Caicedo (min. 95)
Jaime Lozano did what he could against Ecuador. He tried to change the starting eleven from his other games against Jamaica and Venezuela. He again relied on Santiago Giménez and Julián Quiñones. Lozano. And he waited. There was no goal. No joy, no dribbles, nothing that could break the Jamaican, Venezuelan or Ecuadorian goal. The only goal they managed to score was based on the hard work of a side defender named Gerardo Arteaga. The Mexican team tried to propose to Ecuador; when they received the Ecuadorian reply, the Mexican defenders trembled. They had problems clearing the ball. The problems were evident with the problems of Jorge Sánchez and César Montes, two players who still want to show that they are more than a promise.
Mexico wanted to cling to the sporting miracle; Ecuador was dedicated to saving and preserving the score with all kinds of strategies. From the long ball to find a lucky Enner Valencia, to pressuring the exit of the Mexican defenders or dedicating themselves to looking for spontaneous injuries to kill time. The Ecuadorians, with more experience, dedicated themselves to holding on. The first half was competitive between both teams. The second half was a neighborhood game with a lot of anarchy and no clarity. In added time, the Mexicans besieged the Ecuadorian area with such insistence. Guillermo Martínez exaggerated a tackle and the referee ruled a penalty. The VAR did not hesitate: no amount of makeup could hide the Mexican wound of being eliminated in the first phase.
When Lozano turned to the bench, he found no answers. No substitute was enough. The biggest problem in putting together the team was finding young players who had a good career in the First Division. The raw material, however, was scarce and in the Copa America it showed its true face. Time is running out for a Mexico that wants to give its best performance in the 2026 World Cup, which it will host with the USA and Canada. Two years later, the team looks lost. The leaders of the Mexican Football Federation assured, shortly before the start of the tournament, that Lozano would be the ideal coach to reach the World Cup. After the performance of the team, that commitment is in doubt. Lozano assured that his continuity does not depend on him, but on the directors. “If the objective is not met, it is natural to doubt my continuity, but if the players believed until the end it is for a reason,” he said. “Today we have been left on the edge,” he added. After the final whistle he gathered all his players to give them a final speech.
Since 2019, Mexico has gone from failure to failure: Nations League, World Cup and now the Copa America. The top Mexican managers pay, once again, for the decisions to eliminate the promotion-relegation system, the high number of foreign footballers in the League, and to create a funnel in the First Division for young players. The great Mexican prospects are asking for more minutes and will barely get them after Sunday’s setback. Mexico is lamenting and moving away from football, even if it is for a while.
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