Uruguay beat the Mexico of Gerardo Martino, Argentina’s rival at the Qatar World Cup

Uruguay beat 3-0 Thursday night in Mexico, in a friendly between two teams preparing for this year’s World Cup in Qatar. The team led by Gerardo Martino will even divide Group C with Argentina and will meet on Saturday 26 November for the second round of the first phase.

Mattia close opened the scoring for La Celeste, who then resolved the duel played in the United States with a brace from Edinson Cavani.

For Mexico it was the first defeat in the preparatory round of three matches played on US soil, after last Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Nigeria. Next Sunday he will play Ecuador in Chicago.

Thursday’s result at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, aggravates doubts about the team led by Martinowho had said the day before that he hoped for an improvement after a poor performance against the Nigerians and a lackluster finish in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers.

“We compete well with the powers that be until we make mistakes that they don’t. When the game is no longer on our side, we have no ability to react. There is little focus on the steady ball, but with some opponents these shortcomings are not as noticeable. We have to keep trying, “Tata analyzed at a press conference.

Uruguay, for their part, will play their second and final game of their tour on Sunday in Kansas City, against the United States. On 11 June they will face Jamaica in the Centennial.

Alonso’s men will make their World Cup debut against South Korea on 24 November, play Portugal on 28 and close the first round of Group H against Ghana on 2 December.

Uruguay was strong against a pale Mexico

Despite having used most of what Martino considers appetizers, Mexico showed the same shortcomings as in the last few games.

The Argentine coach changed his traditional 4-3-3 scheme to play with a line of five in the background and two recovery shuttles. Arriba used two men on the outside, with Raúl Jiménez at the center of the attack.

Balanced game at the start, even if the Uruguayans gave the first warning after 13 minutes with a shot on the post by Federico Valverde.

Then the game becomes rocky and a lot of struggle in the middle of the field, until on a corner Cavani scores a header in the small area that is rejected by the goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera. Vecino beat teammate José María Giménez on the rebound and opened the scoring at 35.

The Mexicans they generated their first shot on goal only at 42. Jesús Corona’s attempt was contained by Sergio Rochet, holder of the Uruguayan gate.

Uruguay extended their lead early in the second half when Facundo Pallistri sent a cross from the right that found Cavani, leaving Talavera with no chance.

There would be another contribution from the star just out of Manchester United. He takes the ball out of the box and executes a powerful forehand that enters the right post of the goal defended by Talavera. It was his 55th goal with the colors of his country.

Subsequently, Mexico made changes, returning to the line of four defenders and looking for more depth, but did little to make it happen in the opponent’s net.

The outlook doesn’t look good for a Mexican team that will have Poland, Argentina and Saudi Arabia as World Cup rivals.

With AP information

DB