Mexico vs. Australia Post-Match Synopsis and Analysis

It was an exciting game out of Dallas Texas. Mexico hosted Australia in a packed AT &T Stadium, bursting at the seams with an exited Mexican crowd. Mexico came back to draw the game against the Socceroos in dramatic fashion. From going down a goal in the first sixteen minutes of the starting half from an Australian set piece, to trailing by two goals eighteen minutes into the second half, El Tri clawed its way back to scavenge a point from this friendly bout. In what was Jimmy Lozano’s first match as the full-time coach of the Mexican National Team, the audience received a mixed bag of the same shortcomings Mexico has always been guilty of, accompanied by some brief moments of good Football from both sides. The details unveiled in this post match Analysis.

The Lineup for Mexico was an interesting one. El Tri had Ochoa in between the posts. The defense consisted of Jesus Gallardo at left back and Julian Araujo at right back. Johan Vasquez and Edson Alvarez were the center backs chosen to start.

The Mexican side’s midfield consisted of coach Jimmy Lozano’s talisman Luis Romo starting as the center defensive midfielder. Veteran Hector Herrera and Greek starlet Oberlin Pineda played just ahead of Romo to complete the midfield trifecta.

Mexico’s attacking trident consisted of Alexis Vega at left wing, Uriel Antuna at right wing, and Santi Gimenez as the lone striker.

It was an interesting choice of call ups to say the least, but with some of the European players not called in, many guessed that Jimmy was bound to try something experimental.

Kick Off, it was evident from the onset that the artificial pitch left a lot to be desired at the AT &T Stadium. One has to wonder the extent this affected the play of the game. The match started off as a cagey affair. From out the gate, Australia pressed high up the pitch, deep into Mexico’s territory. El Tri struggled to keep the ball at times, but things looked pretty even.

15th minute. Memo Ochoa made a save from a long-distance strike that looked to be going out of bounds and gave away a corner for the Socceroo outfit. As both teams lined up for the corner kick, the height difference between the two sides was as plain as day. When the ball was whipped in, Australian defender Harry Souttar got the better of his mark, Genoa’s Johan Vasquez, to head the ball across goal into Memo’s right corner. It was a brilliant set piece Goal for Australia that silenced the almost exclusively Mexico home crowd.

36th minute, after going a goal down Mexico tried to rally and pin the Australians back. There was some good link up play that lead to Mexican left back Gallardo to be one-on-one with Australian Goalkeeper Mathew Ryan. Gallardo tried to be cheeky and aimed his attack between Ryan’s legs. The Australian keeper was having none of it. A wasted opportunity for Mexico.

40th minute, Mexico lost possession and looked vulnerable to the Australian counter attack, but Alexis Vega surprised everyone by coming in clutch with a vital recovery of the ball. Soon after, the Mexican side went into half time one goal down.

45th minute second half started and both sides seemed evenly matched. Mexico had more possession but with no real penetration.

54th minute, Mexico gets the ball into the Australian box, Luis Romo hits the ball in what might have been a shot at goal or a pass, but instead it touches the hand of Australian midfielder Keanu Baccus, who had his left arm away from his body. The ref immediately calls for a Penalty.

55th minute, Penalty for Mexico! Gimenez steps up to shoot it. The Mexican player readies himself, then hits the ball with his left foot to the right side of the Goalie, who guesses the right direction. Ryan guessed right but was unable to get to the ball, that for a moment looked as though it was going in, until it hit the post. Gimenez with the Penalty Miss! The disappointment was written on the face of almost everyone in the stadium, save for the odd Aussie fan sipping on Foster’s beer.

60th minute, both teams make substitutions. For Mexico, Vega is replaced by debutant Cesar (el Chino) Huerta and Raul Jimenez replaces Santi Gimenez.

A couple minutes go by, then Mexico losses possession and falls prey to a counter attack.

61st minute, Riley McGree attacks down Mexico’s right side. McGree enters Mexico’s goal box where Julian Araujo tries to stop him, but misses the ball completely and instead clips McGree, who goes to ground. The ref gives the Penalty for Australia immediately. Memo Ochoa tries to sike out Martin Boyle by standing in front of him and saying who knows what. The refs send him to his box where he readies himself. Ochoa tries to anticipate the shot and goes left, but Boyle drives the ball center right into open net. Goal for Australia, 2:0

68th minute Mexico breaks free for a counter. Uriel Antuna bolts down the right side. He is trailed by Australian player Alex Robertson, who takes Antuna down once he loses the foot race. The ref calls the foul without a second’s hesitation.

69th minute, Raul takes the penalty. He does a stutter step and shoots the ball to his right side. Mathew Ryan guesses the right direction again, but is unable to get to the ball. Raul’s shot does not go wide. Goal for Mexico, 1:2

After Raul’s goal, the game gets a little chaotic. Neither team can hold onto the ball for a bit, then Mexico starts to gradually get more of it as the valiant Australian press starts to give out and the players start slowing down their tempo.

77th minute, Mexico makes another pair of substitutions. Jordi Cortizo makes his debut as he comes on for Oberlin Pineda and Erick Sanchez comes on for Hector Herrera. With these substitutions, Mexico starts looking more dangerous. There are a few good plays generated by Mexico that go nowhere.

82nd minute, Jimmy Lozano makes another pair of substitutions bringing on Roberto Alvarado for Uriel Antuna and Kevin Alvarez for Julian Araujo.

83rd minute, center back Johan Vasquez launches a long ball that cuts through Australia’s press like a knife through butter. The pass finds Chino Huerta, who goes past two defenders, then beats the Goalkeeper to the top left corner of the Goal, Goal for Mexico, 2:2

Huerta starts to tear up as the crowd with over 50,000 spectators goes wild. The game resumes soon after.

85th minute, Jackson Irvine collides with Roberto Alvarado, where Irvine rolls his ankle causing what seems to be a serious looking injury resulting in Irvine’s substitution. Let’s hope he is ok. From this point on, Mexico is the more dominating of the two for the remainder of the game, but without a lot of penetration.

90th minute, Ref adds on 5 more minutes of injury time.

93rd minute, foul on Huerta who looks inspired and dangerous.

95th minute, ref calls the game, Mexico 2:2 Australia

Post-match Analysis for Mexico:

It was evident from the onset that the Australians brought an intensity and physicality that the Mexican players struggled to cope with. Mexico’s backline looked vulnerable. Araujo did not win over any fans with that penalty give away. Vasquez was easily vanquished on that early set piece goal. One of Mexico’s biggest weaknesses is how shaky they look without the ball, and they have been historically bad at set pieces. Today’s friendly was an excellent learning experience because it exercised some recurring weaknesses for Mexico. Let’s hope Jimmy Lozano learns from the mistakes made today because there were quite a few.

Lozano’s starting midfield of Herrera, Oberlin and Romo looked, at times, out of sorts. Herrera does not have the legs he once did and significantly slowed the game for Mexico. Oberlin went missing for long sects of the game. Romo misplaced a hand full of easy passes. All in all, the midfield looked to be drowning at times underneath the constant Australian pressure. For the majority of the game, Mexico was unable to establish themselves as the ball possession protagonists they are used to being against their usual CONCACAF opposition.

Mexico’s attack seemed largely toothless. Vega lost the ball too easily at times, often muscled off the ball, or beaten in a race by the Australian defenders. Antuna had a better match than Vega but not by much. Antuna brings a lot of speed, but there is not a lot of end product to his game. Though, he won Mexico a vital penalty to get them back in the game. Gimenez had a bad night. He looked good on some one-on-one duals, but if he is going to be Mexico’s superstar, as many are touting him to be, Gimenez needs to bury the chances he is given. The penalty miss for Gimenez will haunt him without a doubt, hopefully he can learn from this and come back stronger.

Lozano up against the ropes made the substitutions that evidently changed the momentum of the game in his favor, and credit must be given for that. Huerta had a dream debut for the national team and all of Mexico can rejoice at the idea that there is still talent to be found hidden in Mexico, waiting to be given a chance. An interesting bit about Huerta’s goal is how common it’s becoming for teams to bypass the press by picking out long balls to the attackers from the back. This is something that possession giants like Manchester City, and many other teams are employing more to counter said press. It is interesting to see an international side like Mexico, that prides itself in possession play, try and execute this counter press tactic with success. It shows us that Jimmy Lozano is not out of his depth and implementing new tactics to find different solutions than the one’s Mexico is used to. All in all, it was an exciting game between two up and coming teams, playing on an awful pitch. Hopefully something is done about the AT &T Stadium, because the fans and players deserve more.