agency
Doha
To extend their knockout-round streak at the World Cup, Mexico will need to find goals quickly – and possibly several of them.
Mexico has reached the round of 16 in seven consecutive World Cups, tying Brazil for the longest current streak. In Qatar, however, El Tri are bottom of Group C and face a must-win match against Saudi Arabia on Wednesday at Lusail Stadium.
The last time Mexico failed to advance from their group in football biggest tournament was in 1978.
But winning isn’t enough: El Tri needs assistance as well. Poland must defeat both Lionel Messi and Argentina at the same time at Stadium 974.
That is the simplest path forward for Mexico. It gets more complicated after that. If Mexico performs admirably and wins, but Argentina, one of the tournament’s favourites, also triumphs, goal difference enters the picture.
The issue is that Mexico has yet to score a goal in Qatar.
In fact, El Tri hasn’t scored in 384 minutes at the World Cup, dating back to their second group match in Russia in 2018.
"We are optimistic about our chances.”
"We’re hanging on to our chances,” veteran Mexico midfielder Andres Guardado, who is playing in his fifth World Cup, said. "And, of course, we will try until the bitter end.”
Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Argentina extended the drought. In Mexico’s first game against Poland, neither team scored.
Since the tournament in Argentina 44 years ago, Mexico has not been eliminated from the group stage. El Tri failed to qualify for the 1982 World Cup in Spain and was barred from competing in the 1990 event in Italy for using overage players in an under-20 tournament.
Since then, Mexico have advanced to the round of 16 in their last seven appearances — but no further. El Tri came to Qatar looking to play in an elusive "quinto partido” — a fifth game — for the first time since Mexico hosted the tournament in 1986.
"In the next game we have no more chances,” Mexico forward Henry Martin said. "We have to score the goals that we can, and not worry what happens in the other game.”
The lack of goals increased criticism of Mexico coach Gerardo "Tata” Martino. He’d already been questioned about some of his decisions, including leaving all-time leading scorer Javier "Chicharito” Hernandez off the team.
Hernandez, who now plays for the LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer, scored the game-winning goal in Russia in a 2-1 group-stage victory over South Korea. The other goal was scored by LAFC forward Carlos Vela, who has fallen out of favour with the national team.
If Mexico fail to advance after facing Saudi Arabia, a team that pulled off one of the tournament’s biggest upsets by defeating Argentina 2-1 in their opener, Martino may be looking for a new job.
"Not getting through would leave a lot of frustration,” Martino said on Tuesday.
"We need the goals to win, that is what it takes to keep us here.”
Saudi Arabia couldn’t pull off another upset Saturday when they fell to Poland 2-0. The Saudis reached the round of 16 back in 1994, the team’s World Cup debut, but haven’t made it past the group stage since.
"We will play to the last second of this tournament and we will not give up,” Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard said. Nawaf Al Abed sustained an ankle injury against Poland and it was unclear if he would be available against Mexico.