Mexico beats Arabia but loses place in round of 16 to Poland on goal difference

The Mexican team beat Saudi Arabia by 2-1, at the Lusail stadium, in Group C of the World Cup in Qatar, but did not get a place in the round of 16, as Poland, defeated by Argentina by 2-0, qualified for having better goal difference.

Since the 1978 World Cup, Mexico has not been in the group stage of the World Cup – it did not play in the 1982 and 1990 editions.

The first half started busy, with the Mexican team going on the attack, but without any organization. Saudi Arabia, in turn, was cornered, trying to close the spaces, but was lost in the rush and let the opponents reach the goal with danger.

Just after 3 minutes, goalkeeper Mohammed Alowais had to make a great save from Vega’s shot, which came face to face in the penalty area.

Arabia only managed to respond in the 13th minute, with Kanno taking a free kick from Abdulhamid close to the area. The ball went over the top, creating danger for goalkeeper Ochoa.

But that scare did not affect the Mexican team, which continued to press in search of the goal. Alowais continued to do his part, as in Pineda’s shot, which deflected in the defense and forced the goalkeeper to stretch to avoid the first goal.

At this point, in the other group game, Argentina and Poland were also tied without goals, so whoever won between Mexicans and Saudis would get the spot.

The numbers for the first half illustrate the volume of the Mexicans in the match. There were 11 submissions against 4 for the Saudis.

In the second half, the Mexicans and the Saudis barely restarted when Argentina opened the scoring. Thus, the teams cheered up and began to seek more attack, consequently opening up more spaces. And it was Mexico who took advantage.

At 2 minutes, Martin took advantage of a corner kick and sent the ball to the back of the net.

The result still put coach Gerardo Martino’s team behind Poland on goal difference. So, there were only two alternatives left: extend the scoreboard or hope for more goals from Argentina.

The first part of the goal Mexico achieved. In the 5th minute, Chávez took a perfect free-kick from the midfielder, sending the ball into the left corner of the goal by Alowais, who was unable to do anything.

The second Mexican goal shook the Saudis, who just didn’t see the house fall for good because Lozano was in an offside position when he scored what would be the third.

With 2-0, it remained to look for more goals and continue rooting for Argentina, which gave more hope to the Mexicans by scoring the second over the Poles.

From then on, the classification was being defined by the number of yellow cards, with an advantage for Poland, who had taken 5 until then, against 8 for Mexico. The two teams were identical in the first tiebreaker criteria, with two goals scored and zero difference.

Mexico looked to expand, but either missed the aim or stopped at goalkeeper Alowais.

As time passed, Saudis gave spaces, but Mexico did not take advantage. When he scored, once again, he was offside. In the final minutes, only the goal would give the vacancy to the Mexicans, since in the cards Poland was leading the classification.

In a counterattack, the Saudi Aldawsari ended the Mexican dream.