The players of the Mexican team before the friendly against Sweden, this Wednesday in Girona, Spain.Joan Monfort (AP)
It is hard for me to encourage myself to anticipate the failure of the Mexican team, firstly because they taught me that in this trade a bad story is more acceptable than a good omen.
But also because, at the right time, El Tri usually finds its way to the round of 16: Mexico has seven World Cups in a row in which it overcomes the group stage.
The 2-1 defeat against Sweden -which came to us three times-, can tell analysts a lot: "again at set pieces", I heard both on the radio and on TV, which I was following attentively from Doha, where this Thursday we await the arrival of the Mexicans.
But, once again, that's how they arrived in 1994, when it was said that it was an impossible mission to overcome the group of death against Ireland, Italy (who would reach the Final, against Brazil) and Norway... Mexico advanced as first in the group and did not lost to the Italians.
The French chapter came later, in that 98 in which they tied with the Netherlands, with Belgium and they beat South Korea to advance, with Luis
Matador
Hernández as a great banner.
The 2002 Cup followed and again they split points against Italy which, according to Javier Aguirre, ended up asking the Mexicans to “stop running”.
And they got into the second round.
This has been the case in every World Cup, beating France, who came with the world title to the South African edition, drawing Brazil to a goalless draw on their own ground in 2014, and dispatching Germany, who arrived at Russia 2018 as monarch. of the world.
Seven, there are already seven jousts in which this race of footballers without great self-esteem, but with a lot of heart, finds their way to the group of 16 classified.
So, although in the last five preparation games Tata Martino's men have accumulated two victories for three defeats, against teams that will not be in Qatar 2022, it may be that on Tuesday, at stadium 974, they will end up endorsing that song performed by the team of the 86: "The Tricolor team has a lot of heart and they will show it on the pitch"... Or does anyone dare to bet against them?
Alejandro Gómez
is director of AS Mexico.
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