The Mexican Soccer Team reached five games without a victory against the United States after drawing 1-1 in the friendly held in Glendale, Arizona, on Wednesday night. With this figure, El Tri completed its second worst streak against its staunch rival in the last 13 years, only behind the six games in which it failed to win between 2011 and 2015.
It is now more than three years and seven months since Mexico achieved its last victory against the United States, which was in a friendly match on September 7, 2019. That time, in New Jersey, El Tri won 3-0 with goals from Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández, Érick Gutiérrez and Uriel Antuna, who scored again in the most recent duel, but it was not enough.
In this way, Diego Cocca continued with the inertia that Gerardo Martino left him in the technical direction of Mexico, since with the previous helmsman three defeats and a draw were reaped between June 2021 and March 2022, the falls being the most painful. in the Gold Cup and Concacaf Nations League finals.
This time, although it was a friendly with the majority of players from the local leagues (except for Julián Araujo for Mexico and Sergiño Dest for the United States), the pride of the Mexican fans was once again in dispute for wanting to defeat their staunch sports rival , in months in which his spirits have collapsed not only because of the aforementioned streak, but also because of El Tri’s deplorable performance in the World Cup in Qatar.
And until the 80th minute, it seemed that the losing streak was going to end, as Mexico led 1-0 with a goal from Uriel Antuna (at 55′), who took advantage of a slip by the American central defender Aaron Long in midfield to go completely alone. against goalkeeper Sean Johnson and define the base of his left post.
El Tri still had a couple more opportunities with a shot from rookie Roberto De la Rosa to the bottom left corner that was parried just in time by Johnson, as well as a shot to the post from Carlos Rodríguez. The latter fulfilled the assumption that a missed goal is a goal against, because a few seconds later it was when Alan Soñora commanded a counterattack that Jesús Ferreira defined to give the United States the definitive tie.
Ferreira’s goal reached 81′ and blamed the Mexican goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo (who wore the captain’s badge in this game) and his defender Víctor Guzmán, since they did not communicate effectively and let the ball pass so that the American attacker decreed a tie and, consequently, extended El Tri’s streak without victory.
One of the positive conclusions for Mexico was the debut of three under 23s with the senior team: Roberto De la Rosa (23), striker from Pachuca; Víctor Guzmán (21), defender of Monterrey; and Ozziel Herrera (21), midfielder for Atlas; others like Aldo Rocha, Iván López and Luis Malagón were left with the desire, because although they were part of the call they were not required by Diego Cocca.
On this occasion, the Argentine strategist set up a tactical stand-off with five defenders, two midfielders, two wingers and a center forward. The central defense was commanded by the most veteran of the squad, Néstor Araujo (31 years old), accompanied by Guzmán and Israel Reyes, while the consistency of Jesús Gallardo, experienced in two World Cups, and Julián Araujo was noted on the wings. , current Barcelona B player in Spain.
On the half court, Cocca gave ownership to the midfielders of the current MX League champion (Pachuca), Érick Sánchez and Luis Chávez, while the wingers were Uriel Antuna and Alexis Vega, flanking Roberto De la Rosa. This unemployed helped him to surpass the United States in possession (54%) and shots (9 against 5), but not to solve on the scoreboard.
Diego Cocca continues without losing at the head of El Tri (two draws and one victory), but his performance has not yet convinced the fans. Its toughest tests will come in the summer when it faces the Final Four of the Concacaf Nations League, precisely against the United States in its first match (the semifinals) and, days later, in the Gold Cup, where the drums are drawn for Mexicans and Americans meet in the final.
