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Like many of us, when stepping into any new job or office, Mexico men’s manager Jaime Jimmy Lozano has needed some time to adjust to his latest role.
Brought in as interim in June and then given the permanent position by August, the 45-year-old has had a mixed bag of results in the handful of months that he has been in charge.
Testing out different XIs and tactics in the same manner that a new hire or colleague would test out different lunch options—always go for the quickest spots, in my opinion—there have been some hits and misses from the manager that was coaching at the youth national level just a couple years ago.
He has required patience, a virtue that Mexican soccer is often not known for, but when needing to meet what should have been a fairly straightforward Copa America qualification deadline this month, the reality is that El Tri’s coach looked ill-prepared despite having 10 games beneath his belt.
Up against Honduras in a Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal series that served as a qualifier for next year’s Conmebol tournament, nowhere did Lozano’s misses look more apparent than through his miscalculations that almost placed Mexico in crisis mode. In that first quarterfinal leg last week, El Tri’s attack was shockingly absent.
Playing with a casualness that exuded far too much confidence against a team they beat 4-0 in June, Lozano’s setup failed to create enough danger in the final third.
The Central Americans, who were more than happy to let Mexico harmlessly move the ball around and take low-percentage shots, did well to counter and quickly move forward when in possession, eventually scoring in the 30th minute against El Tri backup goalkeeper Angel Malagon.
Down 1-0, Lozano did little to significantly change his strategy and instead opted for what were essentially man-for-man substitutions in the second half. Unsurprisingly, the script stayed the same for Mexico after remaining scoreless, while allowing Honduras to once again capitalize on a goal that secured a 2-0 loss for Lozano and his players in the first quarterfinal leg.
To the coach’s credit, those attacking efforts did increase significantly during the second leg on Tuesday with the knowledge that Copa America qualification could slip away, but it was still undoubtedly a mess from his XI.
At times, and especially in the first half, that need [for goals] made us look off, admitted Lozano after the following result.
With countless examples of poor finishing at the Estadio Azteca, Lozano’s players were more to blame in the second leg.
Mexico needed 34 shots and a robust amount of injury time just to reach the minimum number of two goals that equalized the aggregate scoreline and sent the game to extra time.
Once there were two additional halves of play and four more shots that failed to hit the target, Mexico were then left with a roll of the dice for Copa America qualification through penalties.
Thanks to shootout goals from Santiago Giménez, Johan Vásquez, Orbelín Pineda, and Cesar Huerta, who was given three attempts after Honduras’ Edrick Menjivar stepped off his line twice, Mexico were able to get the job done with a 4-2 win through penalties, albeit with a bittersweet taste.
Looking back at the coach’s influence on Tuesday, his strategy with substitutions was worth questioning once again.
Taking far too long to make changes and not taking necessary tactical risks until late in the match, Mexico were literally seconds away from losing the quarterfinal series had Edson Álvarez not scored in the 101st minute. That said, Lozano did note post-game that he believed Alvarez’s goal wasn’t a fluke.
Yes, it was the last play, but we had plenty of goalscoring chances, we generated a lot, said the coach.
It’s not like we didn’t have chances and at the end we found a chance by accident. I think that today it was a game that was very different than the one we experienced in Honduras.
Clearly relieved with Copa America qualification in hand, Mexico’s coach also highlighted the importance of maintaining his team’s right state of mind.
Perhaps instead of describing their attitude in the quarterfinal series as overconfident — especially during the first leg — what could instead be characterized is an assured mentality from his players that would follow through with Copa America qualification.
We have to continue trusting ourselves, and above all until the last moment, not losing faith. I think that’s what we saw, said Lozano.
I believe in that a lot. Beyond the work on the pitch that was carried out, also the work for each one of them mentally.
All convincing words from Mexico’s coach, although it would be difficult to assume the conversation would be the same if Alvarez didn’t score or if the penalty shootout had not gone in their favor.
Related to issues with finding the back of the net, El Tri have also yet to resolve an aforementioned problem that is growing and genuinely worrisome regarding their out-and-out strikers.
In 400+ minutes of play since October, Mexico’s three forwards (Raúl Jiménez, Henry Martín and Gimenez) have all combined for a total of just one single shot on target in four games. Looking ahead to the Copa America, it’s unlikely that Lozano can afford this type of inefficiency or tally of 38 shots in a single game to find success.
Moving from new hire to established name, he’ll need to start cementing more clear-cut answers and effective in-game strategies in the immediate future.
After escaping a near-failure in November, there’s also no denying that his stock has decreased in the Mexican soccer world.
Once understandably being given the benefit of the doubt as the new face in the Mexican Football Federation office, the training period is now officially over for the coach who has higher expectations than just narrowly surviving a regional quarterfinal series.
RIO DE JANEIRO — History was made in the Maracana stadium on Tuesday night, when Nicolas Otamendi’s towering header from a corner gave Argentina a 1-0 win and, in the process, inflicted Brazil’s first-ever defeat at home in World Cup qualification.
To make matters worse for the hosts, the last fortress fell in one of the worst games in Lionel Messi’s 18-year international career.
Argentina’s captain looked well short of fitness, and he spent some of the first half receiving treatment on the touchline.
The 36-year-old cut an unusually conservative, peripheral figure, dropping deep to lay off first-time passes before being substituted with 15 minutes remaining.
The ineffectiveness of Argentina’s talisman, sadly, was somehow appropriate for the match, because the night was not worthy of the joyful art that an in-form Messi has supplied for so long. This showpiece occasion of South American — and global — football left a nasty taste. The scenes at the start of the evening were brutish and dangerous.
It all began as the national anthems were being played. This reportedly led to scuffles between rival groups of fans.
Things escalated when the local police launched a baton charge on the Argentine fans, and the situation quickly got out of control. Yellow seats were flying through the air as the supporters fought back.
There were fans with blood streaming down their faces and as the Argentine supporters retreated, some Brazilians who had nothing to do with the fighting were caught up in the confusion and went diving over the crash barriers and onto the pitch to get away from the conflict.
The Argentine players had been watching from the halfway line. They went over for a closer look and, after taking a close-up view of their compatriots on the end of such heavy-handed policing, Messi led them off the field.
At this point the game was in doubt. In the previous campaign, during the COVID pandemic, Brazil’s home match against Argentina was halted by health officials in the fourth minute. Tuesday’s clash was in danger of not even getting that far.
It would surely have been better had the police, instead of launching their charge, had merely held a line separating the fans of Argentina from those of Brazil.
But it is truly astonishing that they were so close together as segregating fans is routine in the Maracana.
The visiting support is usually placed high up in one of the corners, with the seats below left vacant to ensure an adequate separation.
None of that happened on Tuesday. And so the Argentina fans were behind one of the goals, directly next to the organised group of Brazil followers.
Anatorg, Brazil’s association of organised supporters, had warned before the game that this was a mistake. Their words were not heeded.
After an unprecedented two consecutive defeats in the previous rounds, it was expected that Brazil would come out like a wounded beast in front of their home crowd.
And this was emphasised still further by the approach taken by interim coach Fernando Diniz. With a front line of four (Raphinha, Rodrygo, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli) and just two men in midfield, there was little chance of patient build-up, foot-on-the-ball type football. Rather, there was pace and fury in their pressing.
True, occasionally there were glimpses of trademark of Diniz football — bringing players together on one flank and then launching a big switch to the other.
Raphinha on the right was the target, and he worried the Argentina defence.
But the main idea was a relentless press on Argentina’s possession, forcing the mistake and then going at speed.
