The lack of internal competition, little tactical variability and a high average age took their toll on the Mexican National Team in the last year. The Mexican coach, Jacques Passy, in charge of the Dominican Republic, performs an analysis of the macro aspects that led the national team to lower its performance from 94% effectiveness in 2019 to 65% in 2021.
In the absence of a friendly match against Chile on December 8, the Mexican National Team complied with its official match schedule for 2021, but unlike the beginning of the Gerardo Martino era, in which the helmsman navigated 17 matches with only one disaster and 16 victories, in the last year the team’s performance fell with 13 games won, 4 draws (3 against the United States) and 5 defeats. Recall that in 2020 the competitions between teams were slowed by the pandemic, so that that year Mexico only saw activity in five friendly matches against rivals from Europe and Asia, in which they won four duels and drew one.
“We have gone in performance from highest to lowest. We started 2019 very well and part of 2020, when the pandemic began. After those months that we were all without activity, it was difficult for us to readjust and I think that since June to this part we have not yet completed high performance matches, we have had moments but we have not been the team that we could see in 2019. I think there is a lot work ahead, beyond the times shortening and we are entering the last year of this process ”, shared with El Economista Gerardo Martino, coach of the Mexican National Team.
Passy finds three main aspects in the team’s low performance, one of them is a kind of over-stability in Gerardo Martino’s calls. Although Juan Carlos Osorio was criticized for an instability in the rotation of a base of 22 or 24 players who could be starters in different formations and systems, with Martino the opposite occurs, his base is short, which also cuts the competition internal.
“Anyway and you don’t want to have 25 players rotating all the time, but you don’t want to have 12 or 14 either, because it’s too short. The ideal number is to have 17 to 20 players competing to be starters. Today I see that it is not changing, it is not looking for as many variables as I think it could be with the quality of players that Mexico has. What happens when you already have the same alignment and the same base always, you find that the team is already known a lot and when this happens the team begins to stagnate in its variables, “said Passy.
Second, the Dominican Republic coach notes that Mexico has had little tactical variability so far. Although a formation, game idea and system have been maintained, at the same time, the Selection begins to be repetitive, which makes their rivals know the team very well. According to Transfermarkt data, Martino has only changed the offensive 4-3-3 system 10 times in 44 games.
“In the United States, if Ricardo Pepi, Giovanni Reyna, Christian Pulisic or Timothy Weah play, they will change the way you attack, distribute the game and Mexico will not. Mexico for now has played with a very basic 4-3-3 and is marked more easily at its extremes, tactical superiorities are generated in the areas in which it attacks and this leads to it being easier for rivals to be able to propose matches tactically ”.
Finally, the coach considers that the Mexican National Team must rejuvenate. According to the Statiskicks media, the average age of the United States squad in their duel against Mexico was 23.6 years, while that of the team led by Gerardo Martino was 28.9 years.
“That average age begins to cause problems. I am not telling you that he is already 34 and it is already unsustainable, but when a base of players as young as the one that Mexico has so interesting, which comes from being medalists in the Olympic Games, I think that many positions already require a replacement and internal competition . Today in that sense I see the team a bit static and I think this is beginning to take its toll ”.
The technical director of also sees a growth of the level in the teams of the North America region of the Concacaf led by the United States and Canada. Both countries have placed more players in Europe than Mexico currently has.
“The best soccer in the world is not played in Liga MX, nor in MLS, it is not played in America, it is played in Europe. So the national players are not trained with the 40 days that they are concentrated with the national team, they are trained in the 330 days that they are with their clubs and you want them to be in the best clubs in the world. If there is a low production obviously there is a stagnation of many players ”, he pointed out.
Performance of the Mexican National Team in the Gerardo Martino era
In 2019:
17 matches played
1 lost
16 won
94% effective
In 2020:
5 matches played
4 won
1 tie
86.6% effectiveness
In 2021:
22 matches played
13 won
4 draws
5 losses
65% effectiveness
Executioners of the Mexican National Team
United States 3 times in 2021 (Final Nations League, Final Gold Cup, World Cup Qualifiers)
Ecuador in 2021 (friendly)
Argentina in 2019 (friendly)
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx