The Mexican soccer team makes its debut this Tuesday against Poland at the World Cup in Qatar amid great expectations, but with many doubts among fans and insiders about the “Aztec” team’s passage to the round of 16.
The match will be played from 13:00 at the 974 Stadium, with a capacity of 40,000 fans and located in Ras Abu Aboud, Doha, refereed by Australian Chris Beath, and broadcast by TyC Sports and DirecTV.
Mexico will start their journey in Group C, completed by Argentina and Saudi Arabia, and it won’t be easy as Poland have their great figure, Robert Lewandowski, the Barcelona goalscorer who celebrated nine times in the European qualifiers for this World Cup.
The Polish scorer, however, faces a goal drought in his club’s recent games as he has only scored twice in build-up friendlies and one of them was a penalty.
The “Tri” arrives preceded by the 2-1 defeat against Sweden (who will not play in the World Cup) five days ago in Spain in their last preparation match, while Poland beat Chile 1-0, another team that will see the World Cup from the outside.
“When you play a World Cup, there are players who are decisive. Poland has one, Argentina, Saudi Arabia have the same,” said Tata Martino, Mexico’s DT.
“We have to provide the players with information so that this figure doesn’t go beyond it,” explained the “Tata” in the press conference before the debut
The Mexican strategist indicated that he had “studied the Poles’ game system perfectly”, and said that his “game philosophy does not change in the slightest when playing with different formations”. “None of the tactical systems change Poland’s position in a match. Players need to know that the opponent plays with different tactical systems, but Poland’s style is one and thinking about it we prepare ourselves,” he added
After the first, Mexico will meet Lionel Scaloni and Lionel Messi’s Argentina on Saturday and close their participation in the group stage against Saudi Arabia four days later
Mexico’s bet is to beat Poland and Saudi Arabia, the rivals who appear more accessible on paper, while in the Aztec country they are giving Argentina as a candidate to win the group and even fight for the title.
However, Martino specified that “the expectation is to play the three games in the same way”, even if he acknowledged that “this doesn’t depend on us because the rival proposes and we need to see who has the supremacy in the development of the game”
Probable formations
MEXICO: Guillermo Ochoa; Jorge Sanchez, Cesar Montes, Hector Moreno, Gerardo Arteaga; Edson µlvarez, Luis Chávez, Héctor Herrera; Hirving Lozano, Alexis Vega and Rogelio Funes Mori.
DT: The Argentine Gerardo Martino
POLAND: Wojciech Szczesny; Jan Bendarek, Kamil Glik, Jakub Kiwior, Nicola Zalewski; Przemyslaw Frankowski, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Karol Zwiderski, Piotr Zielinski; Sebastian Szymanski and Robert Lewandowski.
DT: Czesław Michniewicz
Source: Clarin
Jason Root is the go-to source for sports coverage at News Rebeat. With a passion for athletics and an in-depth knowledge of the latest sports trends, Jason provides comprehensive and engaging analysis of the world of sports.