Despite having seven players from Europe, Mexico proved weak and efficient.
MEXICO CITY (Mexico Tribune).- The Brazil World Cup is about 100 days away and Mexico still seems not to be able to get it together under the direction of Miguel “El Pijo” Herrera or so it seems after a very weak performance last night when then tied Nigeria 0-0.
Yes it’s the first time the National Mexican Football team didn´t score against its rival team, but for the game against the African team Mr. Herrera called in the big guns, such as Manchester United striker Javer “Chicharito” Hernandez who did absolutely nothing during the whole 90 minutes.
The preparation game was played at the Georgia Dome, where Mexico has enough fans to rock the stadium, but they were disappointed to see their team’s lack of offence, while Nigeria proved to be more aggressive.
Mexico will play the United States April 2 in Pheonix in another preparation match towards the world event and will have a chance to prove how far it’s really willing to go.
The United States has a very strong team, so it will not be a walk in the park for Mr. Herrera and his group.
For Mr. Herrera, last night’s game was a test to see how the Mexican footballers who are playing in European teams adapted to his managing style. The outcome was not good, in fact, it was chaotic for Chicharito, Diego Reyes, Hector Moreno and Andres Guardado.
Guardado plays for the Spanish team Valencia, but is on loan to the German Bayer Leverkusen. Diego Reyes is playing as a midfielder for the Portuguese team Porto B.
Hector Moreno is a central defender for the Spanish league team Espanyol. Carlos Vela – Spanish team Real Sociedad – has refused to come and Giovanni dos Santos who also plays in Spain with the Villarreal could not make it because of an injury. Guillermo Ocho is the goalkeeper in France for Ajaccio.
The Mexican Manager said the game had been good and argued there were no goals because of the outstanding performance of the goalies.
Despite having so many European players, Mexico was not able to dominate and Nigeria took advantage of the weaknesses and stringed various plays to make some threatening approaches.
The first 45 minutes of play were clearly Nigeria’s, whose players proved dynamism and even audacious on one on one confrontations.
Various experts and news reports have suggested that Mr. Herrera is not ready to manage the National Team, but everybody should be patient till the next game in which the Mexican coach is expected to go back to using only players that are in Mexican teams and refrain from calling in the big guns from Europe.
It worked for him when he was called in to replace Jose Manuel de la Torre when Mexico was facing the probability of being eliminated from its participation in the Brazil World Cup.
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