Chicharito hopes to break out of his slump in time to lead El Tri passed the Group Stage
Mexico and Bosnia-Herzegovina squared off Tuesday in a
World Cup warm-up match in Chicago, Illinois. The Dragons got a goal in the 41st
minute from Izet Hajrovic and got solid goaltending late in the second half to
hold on for the win.
El Tri got off to a slow start and couldn’t pull it
together enough down the stretch to get an equalizer.
This was Mexico’s
first loss in nine matches under new manager Miguel Herrera. After the game, Herrera compared this Bosnian team to the Croatian national team, who Mexico
will face in their first World Cup match.
Croatia, in fact, might be the more
skilled team. This could spell trouble for the Mexicans. El Tri is expected to
be able to compete in Group A and certainly have a chance to move on to the
second round, but they’ll have to shape up quickly.
Many American
soccer fans may be aware that Mexico stumbled their way through World Cup
qualification finishing fourth out of six teams and advancing in a play-off
round. Despite an upswing in performance under Herrera, clearly Mexico’s
problems are not solved.
A key part of Mexico’s offense that has been missing
lately is Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. Hernandez hasn’t scored an
international goal in nearly a year. His last two goals both came June 22
against Japan. El Tri has also seen a few injuries to some important players leading up to the World Cup.
It will not be an easy road ahead, but if Mexico can put together a few strong,
complete performances, they have the talent to be able to advance to the second
round. That said, Mexico is running out of time to figure it out and get their
game clicking on all cylinders. The World Cup begins in two short weeks and in
Brazil there are no second chances.
No comments:
Post a Comment