With a renewed Raúl Jiménez, Mexico breaks the dominance of the US

Guadalajara, Jal. When it seems that everything is going fast in football, Javier Aguirre has a pact with patience. Few coaches like him understand the repercussions of a Mexico-United States. Vasco knows how to recognize the environment, the context, the pressure of not winning at home being so close to the World Cup. In the Guadalajara stadium, a very high-risk scenario for rival goalkeepers, Tricolor won (2-0) for the first time in five years against its classic Concacaf rival.

Aguirre is an old school leader. He champions a generation that refuses to close its cycle in international matches. The World Cup players Guillermo Ochoa, Raúl Jiménez and Andrés Guardado were once again part of a call, but the team that many imagined with them did not appear, it hid against a rival that became small away from home. In less than 10 minutes, the fans who sold out the tickets to see El Tri did not take long to remember the discriminatory shout at the goal kicks.

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Despite the multiple punishments from FIFA, the current level of the national representative is capable of spreading the feeling of annoyance in the stands. Thousands of Mexicans joined together yesterday to make the chants resound that have cost the federations thousands of dollars in fines. In the last Nations League final, in Arlington, the referee had to stop the match twice due to a custom that was born right in this city. Faced with a night of eventual flashes, Raúl Jiménez’s goal turned that risk alert into a collective relief (22).

The Fulham striker took a free kick and sent it into goalkeeper Matt Turner’s corner. “Oi, oi, oi, oi, he who doesn’t jump is a gringo mari…” they sang loudly from the stands. Aguirre, who went to a hospital early to undergo a follow-up study with Dr. Rafael Ortega after back surgery he underwent last September, watched impatiently as the first half ended. Then, he returned to a concept that he had already expressed in press conferences: “The player who hides from the whistle of his own fans is of no use to me.”

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With that he wanted to claim that Mexico may play better or worse, but it will not leave the games. César Huerta accepted Vasco’s challenge and made it 2-0 when his performance on the field was most impatient (48). After the tribute to Andrés Guardado, who played his last game as a national team, there were no more reasons to celebrate. The contributions of Diego Lainez and Alexis Vega, to whom much of the stadium shouted “drunk, drunk!”, raised dust despite the victory.

With more than 43,500 tickets sold, the tricolor team broke a streak of seven games without victory against its classic rival. In the streets, only the aroma of roast meat, drowned cakes and meat juice made this event something festive. Nothing could be further from reality in the field.

At the end of the meeting, Mauricio Pochettino, coach of the United States, said in statements to the media that “we learned a lot. It was a match that gave us the chance to evaluate the players under enormous pressure. The casualties we had disrupted our plans a little. There were too many players. It is a great stadium, we suffered a little with the grass and the risk of injuries was very great for everyone.”

For his part, Javier Aguirre, Mexico coach, indicated that “reconciliation with the fans is going to happen with performance. People are not stupid. It no longer stops with the result. If there is a problem, it will be resolved over time. In Puebla it was good until we neglected the score. I have to do my job. “I can’t stop or wear myself out telling the players what to do.”