The ‘Tata Martino era’ ends, Mexico begins a long and tortuous path

For the Mexicans, it will be four years without qualifying until the next World Cup, as they will be one of the hosts. This will be the long and tortuous path that awaits Mexico — now, the team is looking for a new coach after the ‘Martino era’ ended, this Wednesday (30), with the elimination in Qatar.

After leaving the country out of the round of 16 for the first time since 1994, the Argentine Tata Martino, 60, began the press conference at the Lusail stadium announcing the obvious: “My contract ended at the end of the match”.

An hour earlier, his team beat Saudi Arabia 2-1, an insufficient result to overcome Poland, who have the same four points as the Mexicans and advanced to the round of 16 on goal difference.

internal reviews

Tata has been the target of the press and fans for many months, but in the heat of the moment on Wednesday, the players themselves dared to criticize his management.

“Against Argentina, we didn’t quite understand their plan. We defended for a while, but we didn’t create chances. That way we can’t score goals, and we ended up losing,” said Luis Chávez, 26.

The midfielder, who scored the second goal against Saudi Arabia with a spectacular free-kick, signaled the defensive planning chosen by Martino in the 2-0 defeat against Argentina, with five defenders, three midfielders and two forwards, without a striker. of reference.

The main point is the feeling of inferiority that such a scheme transmits in front of a world power, considering that the Mexican team has been trying for decades to reach the elite of football.

Tata acknowledged this Wednesday that he lacked ambition on the day: “Being 0-0, we could have changed the tactical system and played the second half as we usually do, more open”.

Long cycle, many unknowns

After his fifth World Cup, Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa commented on his perspective for the future of the national team.

“It’s not a result that can say if we were evolving or not. There are good things that need to be maintained, it’s a mistake every time we have to think that the cycle is over and start from scratch”, he said, adding that the team is made up of a group of promising youngsters who debuted in this Cup and will have more experience to compete in the next edition.

In addition to Chávez, 26 years old, César Montes and Alexis Vega, both 25 years old, left a good impression in Qatar. The three are expected to migrate to European football soon.

The little competitiveness of the Mexican championship is one of the usual explanations in the debate about the failure and ills of Tri.

With these issues, Mexico will face a long cycle until 2026, when it will organize the World Cup alongside the United States and Canada.

“It won’t be easy, they won’t play the qualifiers, just the Gold Cup, whose level we all know. Hopefully we can play the Asia Cup or the America Cup,” said Ochoa. The emblematic goalkeeper added that “Playing only friendlies in the United States will not benefit us. We have talented people, but we need to run, the world level is getting higher.”

With Martino acknowledging that he was “the main person responsible for the resounding failure”, now it is the Mexican Federation that must go after it and find a new coach — one of the hottest seats in world football awaits him.