Football World Cup 2018 / Mexico

Football World Cup 2018 : Mexico
Trainer	Juan Carlos Osorio
captain	Rafael Marquez
Qualified as	CONCACAF qualification winner
World rankings before the tournament	15th
Tournament result	Round of 16
Games won	2
Games tie	0
Games lost	2
Gates	3: 6

The Mexican national soccer team took part in a final round at the soccer World Cup 2018 for the 16th time and is the CONCACAF member that qualified most often for a World Cup final. She reached the last sixteen.

qualification

The team qualified through the CONCACAF qualifying games for the World Cup in Russia .

Games

Hirving Lozano, Mexico's top scorer in qualifying

Mexico didn't have to qualify until the fourth round. Together with Honduras, the team prevailed there against Canada and El Salvador. In the fifth round they both faced Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago and the USA. Mexico became the first CONCACAF team to qualify on the fourth last match day by beating Panama 1-0. Of the ten games in the fifth round, the Mexicans won six. They drew three times and only lost the last game against Honduras, whereby the Hondurans qualified as fourth-placed team for the intercontinental playoffs against Asian champions Australia , but failed in this.

Overall, national coach Juan Carlos Osorio , who took over the team in October 2015, deployed 44 players, 16 of whom had already participated in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup and 15 in the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup , with only Jesús Dueñas participating in both tournaments. 22 players were also part of the 2016 Copa América Centenario squad , with only 12 participating in one Gold Cup and Jesús Dueñas in both. With the exception of goalkeeper Rodolfo Cota , all the players in the squad for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup played in the qualifying matches. Seven players, u. a. the best goalscorer of the qualification, also took part in the 2016 Olympic Games , where the team scored 2-2 in the first group game against eventual silver medalists Germany and were eliminated in the last group game after a 0-1 against South Korea.

No player was used in all 16 qualifying games. Héctor Herrera had 15 missions and Héctor Moreno had 13 missions . Guillermo Ochoa was eight times, Alfredo Talavera five times , Jesús Corona twice and once - in the first game - Moisés Muñoz . The captain role was shared by Andrés Guardado (7 ×), Rafael Márquez (5 ×), Héctor Moreno (2 ×) and Héctor Herrera and Guillermo Ochoa (1 × each). The top scorers were Hirving Lozano with four goals and record scorers Chicharito and Carlos Vela with three goals each. A total of 16 players scored 28 qualifying goals for Mexico. Only world champions Germany had more goalscorers with 21 players. Mexico also benefited from an own goal. Only in three of 16 games did Mexico fail to score, with their opponents helping out once. In the other two games, the opponent did not score either.

Giovani dos Santos made his 100th international match in the qualifying matches : on September 5, 2017 against Costa Rica.

Fourth round

date	Venue	host		guest	Result	Goal scorers for Mexico
11/13/2015	Mexico city	Mexico	-	El Salvador	3: 0 (2: 0)	Andrés Guardado (7th), Héctor Herrera (42nd), Carlos Vela (64th)
11/17/2015	San Pedro Sula	Honduras	-	Mexico	0: 2 (0: 0)	Jesús Corona (67.) Jürgen Damm (73.)
03/25/2016	Vancouver	Canada	-	Mexico	0: 3 (0: 2)	Chicharito (31st), Hirving Lozano (40th), Jesús Corona (72nd)
03/29/2016	Mexico city	Mexico	-	Canada	2: 0 (2: 0)	Andrés Guardado (17th / penalty), Jesús Corona (48.)
02.09.2016	San Salvador	El Salvador	-	Mexico	1: 3 (1: 0)	Héctor Moreno (52.), Ángel Sepúlveda (58.), Raúl Jiménez (73.)
09/06/2016	Mexico city	Mexico	-	Honduras	0-0

Final table of the 4th qualifying round

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Mexico	6th	5	1	0	013: 100	+12	16
2.	Honduras	6th	2	2	2	006: 600	± 0	08th
3.	Canada	6th	2	1	3	005: 800	−3	07th
4th	El Salvador	6th	0	2	4th	004:130	−9	02

Fifth round

date	Venue	host		guest	Result	Goal scorers for Mexico
11/11/2016	Columbus	United States	-	Mexico	1: 2 (0: 1)	Miguel Layún (20th), Rafael Márquez (88.)
11/15/2016	Panama City	Panama	-	Mexico	0-0
March 24, 2017	Mexico city	Mexico	-	Costa Rica	2: 0 (2: 0)	Chicharito (8th), Néstor Araujo (45th)
03/28/2017	Port of Spain	Trinidad and Tobago	-	Mexico	0: 1 (0: 0)	Diego Reyes (58th)
06/08/2017	Mexico city	Mexico	-	Honduras	3: 0 (0: 0)	Oswaldo Alanís (34.), Hirving Lozano (63.), Raúl Jiménez (66.)
06/11/2017	Mexico city	Mexico	-	United States	1: 1 (1: 1)	Carlos Vela (23rd)
09/01/2017	Mexico city	Mexico	-	Panama	1: 0 (0: 0)	Hirving Lozano (53rd)
05.09.2017	San Jose	Costa Rica	-	Mexico	1: 1 (0: 0)	Own goal Costa Rica (42.)
06.10.2017	San Luis Potosí	Mexico	-	Trinidad and Tobago	3: 1 (0: 0)	Hirving Lozano (78th), Chicharito (88th), Héctor Herrera (90th + 4)
10/10/2017	San Pedro Sula	Honduras	-	Mexico	3: 2 (1: 2)	Oribe Peralta (16th), Carlos Vela (38th)

Note: Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio was banned from FIFA for six competitive games on July 7, 2017 for defamatory words and aggressive behavior towards match officials in the third place match at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup . He served five suspensions in the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2017 , one on September 1, 2017 in the game against Panama, so that assistant coach Luis Páez sat on the bench during these games .

Final table of the 5th qualifying round

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Mexico	10	6th	3	1	016: 700	+9	21st
2.	Costa Rica	10	4th	4th	2	014: 800	+6	16
3.	Panama	10	3	4th	3	009:100	−1	13
4th	Honduras	10	3	4th	3	013:190	−6	13
5.	United States	10	3	3	4th	017:130	+4	12
6th	Trinidad and Tobago	10	2	0	8th	007:190	−12	06th

preparation

Games

date	Result	opponent	venue	Goal scorers for Mexico
November 10, 2017	3: 3	Belgium	Brussels	Andrés Guardado (38th), Hirving Lozano (56th, 60th)
November 13, 2017	1-0	Poland	Gdańsk	Raúl Jiménez (13th)
January 31, 2018	1-0	Bosnia and Herzegovina	San Antonio ( USA )	Hugo Ayala (65.)
23 March 2018	3-0	Iceland	Santa Clara ( USA )	Marco Fabián (37th), Miguel Layún (64th, 90th + 1)
March 27, 2018	0: 1	Croatia	Arlington ( USA )
May 28, 2018	0-0	Wales	Pasadena ( USA )
2nd June 2018	1-0	Scotland	Mexico city	Giovanni dos Santos (13th)
June 9, 2018	0: 2	Denmark	Brøndby

Remarks:

Teams in italics are not qualified for the World Cup.

Against Bosnia and Herzegovina, only players who play in Mexico or the USA were used, while Bosnia and Herzegovina predominantly used players who were the first, second or third international matches for this.

Quarter

Team Quartier is the "training base Novogorsk Dynamo" in Khimki in Moscow , where the team also trained.

Squad

On June 4, Oswaldo Alanís , Jürgen Damm , Erick Gutiérrez and Jesús Molina were deleted from the provisional squad . Due to a tendinitis in his left knee, Néstor Araujo left the squad early. For Rafael Márquez it is the fifth World Cup participation, with which he can set the record of compatriot Antonio Carbajal and Lothar Matthäus .

position	No.	Surname	society	Calls	Gates	Last use	birth date						World Cup participation	World Cup games (before 2018)	World Cup goals (before 2018)
goal	01	Jesús Corona *	CD Cruz Azul	055	00	02.06.2018	01/26/1981						2006, 2014	0	0
	13	Guillermo Ochoa	Standard Liège P	094	00	06/09/2018	07/13/1985	4th					2006, 2010 , 2014	4th	0
	12	Alfredo Talavera	Deportivo Toluca	027	00	June 21, 2017	09/18/1982						2014	0	0
Defense	21st	Edson Álvarez	Club America	012	01	06/09/2018	October 24, 1997	4th		1
	02	Hugo Ayala	UANL Tigres MA	043	01	06/09/2018	March 31, 1987	2
	23	Jesús Gallardo	UNAM Pumas	023	00	06/09/2018	08/15/1994	4th		1
	07th	Miguel Layún	Sevilla FC	064	06th	06/09/2018	06/25/1988	4th		1			2014	4th	0
	15th	Héctor Moreno	Real Sociedad San Sebastian	092	03	06/09/2018	January 17, 1988	3		2			2010, 2014	6th	0
	05	Diego Antonio Reyes	FC Porto M	055	01	03/27/2018	09/19/1992						2014	1	0
	03	Carlos Salcedo	Eintracht Frankfurt P.	021st	00	06/09/2018	09/29/1993	4th		1
midfield	10	Giovani dos Santos	LA Galaxy L	107	19th	06/09/2018	05/11/1989	1					2010, 2014	8th	1
	06th	Jonathan dos Santos	LA Galaxy L	036	00	06/09/2018	April 26, 1990	1
	08th	Marco Fabián	Eintracht Frankfurt P.	039	09	06/09/2018	07/21/1989	1					2014	3	0
	18th	Andrés Guardado	Betis Seville	148	25th	06/09/2018	09/28/1986	4th		1			2006, 2010, 2014	8th	1
	16	Héctor Herrera	FC Porto M	065	05	06/09/2018	April 19, 1990	4th		2			2014	4th	0
	04th	Rafael Marquez	Atlas Guadalajara	144	17th	06/09/2018	02/13/1979	3					2002, 2006, 2010, 2014	16	3
Storm	20th	Javier Aquino	UANL Tigres MA	053	00	02.06.2018	02/11/1990						2014	1	0
	14th	Chicharito	West Ham United	102	49	06/09/2018	06/01/1988	4th	1				2010, 2014	8th	3
	17th	Jesus Corona	FC Porto M	036	07th	06/09/2018	01/06/1993	2
	09	Raúl Jiménez	Benfica Lisbon	062	13	02.06.2018	05/05/1991	2					2014	1	0
	22nd	Hirving Lozano	PSV Eindhoven M	028	07th	06/09/2018	07/30/1995	4th	1
	19th	Oribe Peralta	Club America	067	26th	06/09/2018	01/12/1984	1					2014	4th	1
	11	Carlos Vela	Los Angeles FC	068	18th	02.06.2018	03/01/1989	4th	1				2010	2
Coaching staff	Trainer	Juan Carlos Osorio					06/08/1961	3

¹ MA - The club was champion of Apertura in the 2017/18 season, MC - The club was champion of Clausura in the 2017/18 season, M - The club was champion of its country in the season before the World Cup, P - The club became in the season before the World Cup winners of his country, L - The club was the last of its conference in the season, but relegation is not possible.

²only the games and goals that were played or scored before the start of the World Cup are given. Sources: Kicker special edition WM 2018, rsssf.com: Mexico - Record International Players , soccerway.com: Mexico , as of June 9, 2018, after the game against Denmark.

³ In years in italics without commitment.

1. ↑ Positions according to information from the Mexican Association.
2. ↑ Numbers according to the official squad list
3. ↑ Clubs in italics play in the season before or during the World Cup in the 2nd division of their country, M = champions in the World Cup year, P = cup winners in the World Cup year

Finals

Group draw

Moscow (VR) Yekaterinburg (VR) Rostov-on-Don (VR) Samara (AF) Khimki

Mexico's venues and quarters (blue / italic)

For the draw of the qualifying groups on December 1st, the Mexicans were assigned to pot 2 and could therefore be drawn into a group with defending champions Germany, record world champions Brazil, vice world champions Argentina or host Russia. In Group F Mexico meets world champions Germany , Sweden and South Korea .

Mexico and Germany met for the first time at the 1978 World Cup in the preliminary round. The 6-0 defeat against the defending champion at the time is Mexico's biggest defeat, one of the two biggest defeats at the 1978 World Cup and Germany's only victory at the World Cup in Argentina. In 1986 the two met in the quarter-finals of the second Mexican home World Cup and Mexico lost 4-1 on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes. In 1998 they met in the round of 16 and Mexico lost 2-1 after taking a 1-0 lead with two late goals. This continued the last sixteen curse the Mexicans had begun four years earlier and which lasted until the 2014 World Cup. They also met twice in the FIFA Confederations Cup : In 2005 Mexico lost the game for third place 3: 4 a.s., 2017 in the semi-finals 1: 4. There are also a number of friendly matches. Overall, the record is negative with one win - at the Azteca 2000 Cup - and five draws and five defeats. (The Mexican federation also takes the games against the GDR into account in its statistics as games against Germany / Alemania and thus comes to two wins, seven draws and nine defeats.)

The Mexicans have played against Sweden nine times with two wins, three draws and four losses, including the first meeting in the preliminary round of the 1958 World Cup. The last time they met in January 2009 was in the USA, where the Mexicans played many of their friendlies and Sweden won 1-0. The Mexicans have played against South Korea twelve times so far, with the Mexican Federation counting the first game at the 1948 Olympic Games, which was lost 3: 5, as a game against North Korea. Both met only once at a World Cup: Mexico won 3-1 in the preliminary round in 1998. They also faced each other in the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup , where Mexico lost 2-1, and in the quarter-finals of the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup , in which South Korea played as a guest, which Mexico lost on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes. All other games were friendly games or games in smaller tournaments. In a total of twelve games, the Mexicans have six wins, two games ended in draws and four were lost.

Apart from Moscow , the Mexicans have not yet played in any of the preliminary round venues.

Group stage / group F matches

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2018 / Group F

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Sweden	3	2	0	1	005: 200	+3	06th
2.	Mexico	3	2	0	1	003: 400	−1	06th
3.	South Korea	3	1	0	2	003: 300	± 0	03
4th	Germany	3	1	0	2	002: 400	−2	03

Sun., June 17, 2018, 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. CEST) in Moscow (Luschniki Olympic Stadium)
Germany	-	Mexico	0: 1 (0: 1)	35 ′ Lozano
Sat., June 23, 2018, 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. CEST) in Rostov-on-Don
South Korea	-	Mexico	1: 2 (0: 1)	26., Hand penalty ′ Vela , 66 ′ Chicharito
Wed., June 27, 2018, 7:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. CEST) in Yekaterinburg
Mexico	-	Sweden	0: 3 (0: 0)	74. ′ Álvarez

1. Group game

• Sun., June 17, 2018, 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. CEST) in Moscow ( Luschniki Olympic Stadium ) Germany - Mexico 0: 1 (0: 1)
  

prehistory

Before the encounter, there had been only one victory for the Mexicans in 15 games between a Mexican and a German team (including the GDR national teams ). This came about in 1985 as part of the Azteca Cup 2000 , which was held only once , when Mexico beat a so-called German B-Elf 2-0 in their home Aztec stadium . So far, there have been three matches in a soccer world championship, all of which the Mexicans have lost. After Mexico's highest ever World Cup defeat (0: 6 in the preliminary group of the 1978 World Cup ), El Tri had proven to be a full opponent twice and only narrowly and somewhat unhappily failed: in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup in their own country after goalless 120 minutes with 1: 4 on penalties and in the round of 16 of the 1998 World Cup (after a 1-0 lead) Mexico lost 1: 2 in the end.

Match report

Even in the early stages, the future goalscorer Hirving Lozano had his first opportunity when he was free-standing from about the same position from which he later scored the winning goal. But the German defender Jérôme Boateng was just able to block his first shot on goal . The Mexicans had a second great opportunity after a free kick kicked by Miguel Layún in the 14th minute, which Héctor Moreno was able to head on the German goal from around 7 meters away, but failed because of the brilliantly reacting Manuel Neuer .

The Mexicans presented the German team with some problems in their fast attack game, but mostly did not play it consistently to the end. Her best counterattack led to the only goal of the game. After a one-two with Andrés Guardado , Chicharito stepped forward and served Hirving Lozano, who was also running, and who was able to prevail against Mesut Özil and turned dry from a distance of 9 meters from the goal. Just four minutes later, Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa made a brilliant save to defend his side's 1-0 lead, which lasted until the end when he barely blocked a dangerous free-kick by Toni Kroos against the crossbar.

In the end, the Mexicans, who could have won higher with a more consistent counterattack, had the necessary luck when Mario Gómez came to the header completely free, but the ball passed the goal and shortly afterwards the substitute Julian Brandt with a tight long-range shot only that External network met.

For Germany it was the first World Cup opening defeat since 1982 ( 1: 2 against Algeria ), while Mexico won for the first time outside of Mexico against Germany.

Voices for the game

We can compete against anyone. We have great players and we showed it today. (Hirving Lozano, Mexico's winning goal scorer)

It was a very important game for Mexican football, for Mexico's history, because very few people thought we could start the World Cup against the world champions and score three points. (Guillermo Ochoa, Mexico's goalkeeper)

If the Mexicans had played their counterattacks better and to the end, it could have been a disaster for Germany. (Frankfurter Allgemeine)

The intensity was extremely high - which was mainly due to the refreshing Mexican team: The Osorio protégés bought the DFB team, acted more determined in the duels and repeatedly benefited from an unsorted defense of the world champion. (Kicker sports magazine)

40,000 compatriots got goose bumps when the first notes of the national anthem rang out: "Mexicans, off to battle." This first stanza was much more than an anthem. Rather, it was a warning of what was to come. (Excelsior)

Mexico was better because it really wanted to, because everything can be achieved with willpower and passion. Mexico wants more than a fourth game and has underlined that impressively. “Viva México!” Rang out through the stadium. (Record)

2. Group game

• Sat., June 23, 2018, 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. CEST) in Rostov-on-Don South Korea - Mexico 1: 2 (0: 1)
  

The South Korean national soccer team had to learn that a tough and sometimes unfairly played game does not always lead to success. Their players received four warnings, while the Mexican players did not see a single yellow card . After the seventh foul by the Koreans within the first eleven minutes that Ki Sung-yong had committed against Héctor Herrera , Mexico had the first chance. After the due free kick Chicharito came to the header , which he could not accommodate in the goal. Ten minutes later, the Koreans caused a stir in the Mexican penalty area for the first time . First there was a "triple" chance for Son Heung-min , whose first two shots were blocked by Carlos Salcedo and Héctor Moreno and whose third shot missed the target. A minute later, Ki Sung-yong headed on goal, but Guillermo Ochoa was on the post. Immediately after this first double chance for the Koreans, the Mexicans took the lead with a penalty converted by Carlos Vela . This was due after Jang Hyun-soo had fended off a cross from Andrés Guardado with a handball . After falling behind, the Koreans stepped up their attacking efforts and there were opportunities on both sides, but they remained unused, so that Mexico went into the break with a narrow 1-0 lead.

In the 58th minute, El Tri had a great opportunity to expand their lead when Guardado pulled a long shot in the direction of the corner of the goal but was able to fend off South Korea's goalkeeper Cho Hyeon-woo . Eight minutes later, however, Cho was also powerless when Chicharito, who had been voted “Player of the Game” , was able to increase it to 2-0 after a quick counterattack by Hirving Lozano and scored his 50th international goal. After this two-goal lead, the Mexicans increasingly withdrew into their own half and left the initiative to the Koreans, who, however, failed to develop compelling opportunities. Only in the third minute of the total of five minutes of stoppage time did Son score the 1: 2. Mexico's goalkeeper Ochoa had no chance to defend himself in his long-range shot from 20 meters, which was taken with a lot of spin . But the Koreans' goal came too late, so that the Mexicans got their second victory at this World Cup. It should also have been encouraging for the Mexican Football Association that the Eh Puto shouts from their own fans could not be heard during this game , for whom the association was fined 10,000 Swiss francs by FIFA after the game against Germany . This time the Mexican fans enjoyed themselves instead with verses from Cielito lindo and the traditional refrain México México ra ra ra .

3. Group game

• Wed., June 27, 2018, 7:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. CEST) in Yekaterinburg Mexico - Sweden 0: 3 (0: 0)
  

The Mexicans could have made history because they have never won three consecutive World Cups. But they made history in a different way: after 15 seconds, Jesús Gallardo saw the yellow card for a foul against Sweden's Ola Toivonen . It was the fastest yellow card in World Cup history . The Swedes, who had to assume, according to the group constellation, that they would only get through if they won, began accordingly committed and developed some good chances. Emil Forsberg gave the first warning shot in the fifth minute of the game, but Mexico's goalkeeper Ochoa cleared in the usual World Cup form. In the 12th minute, an overhead kick from Marcus Berg just missed the Mexican goal, before Carlos Vela had the first chance for Mexico in the 17th minute, but aimed from the edge of the box past the goal. Even more scoring chances on both sides did not lead to success, so it went goalless into the dressing room.

After a low cross by Berg in the 50th minute, the ball landed at Viktor Claesson , who apparently accidentally passed it on via the Mexican defender Jesús Gallardo to the advanced Ludwig Augustinsson , who was completely unrestricted to shoot and the ball from five meters away to 1 : Swedes 0 lead in goal. The moment of surprise was now on the part of the yellow-blue, who came in the next five minutes against obviously unsettled Mexicans to two further high-class opportunities. Another chance arose in the 60th minute when Marcus Berg penetrated the Mexican penalty area and could only be slowed down by Moreno with a foul. Andreas Granqvist converted the penalty that was due to make it 2-0. Mexico threw everything forward, but couldn't get through against the Swedish defense. In one of the few counterattacks of the Swedes, Edson Álvarez underwent an own goal to 3-0 in the 74th minute, so that Mexico were definitely defeated. Nevertheless, they were now at least second in the table, which would be enough to advance because there were still no goals in the parallel game between Germany and South Korea. And so from now on the Mexican fans were more busy watching the parallel game than watching the tragedy of their own team. Then came the unexpected good news of the leadership of the South Koreans (90th + 2nd minute), who even scored another goal a few minutes later (90th + 6th minute). As a result, Mexico qualified second in the group behind the new leaders Sweden for the round of 16, which the Mexicans reached for the seventh time in a row at a World Cup. Despite the 3-0 defeat, the Mexicans deserved progress because they never slipped to third or fourth place in the table during the entire tournament.

Koreans, brother, you are Mexican now

After the end of the two games, the cheers of the Mexican fans knew no bounds. After the public viewing in Mexico City, several hundred Mexican fans went to the South Korean embassy to show their thanks and appreciation. The South Korean ambassador Kim Sang-il greeted them with the words: "The Korean people congratulate the Mexican national team and their fans on making it into the round of 16." During the celebrations, the enthusiastic fans shouldered the consul Byoung-jin and sang "¡Coreano, hermano, ya eres mexicano! "(Eng." Koreans, brother, now you are Mexican! "). The consul later told the press: “I have never seen anything like this in my entire diplomatic career. Football arouses passion ... and madness. "

But the celebrations about the unexpected success of South Korea were not limited to the terrain in front of the South Korean embassy, ​​but were practiced everywhere in Mexico and also at the meeting of the two nations in Russia.

Knockout round

• Round of 16: Mon. July 2, 2018, 6:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. CEST) in Samara ( Kosmos-Arena ) Brazil - Mexico 2: 0 (0: 0)
  

prehistory

Mexican fans near Red Square in Moscow .

Between the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup 1999, which took place on August 4, 1999, and the final of the 2012 Olympic football tournament , which was held almost exactly 13 years later on August 11, 2012 , Brazil and Mexico met twelve times. Mexico won seven times, while Brazil only won 3 games. The other two games ended in a draw. Therefore, El Tri was considered a "fear opponent" of the Seleção in this era . This hopeful record of the Mexicans stood against the negative overall record for Mexico (10 wins, 8 draws, 23 defeats) as well as the previous World Cup record before the World Cup round of 16; because in a total of 4 World Cup matches Mexico has never scored a goal against the Seleção (in 1950 it was 0: 4, in 1954 even a 0: 5, in 1962 a 0: 2 and in 2014 the first point win with 0: 0) and It should stay that way at the fifth meeting. In addition, Mexico failed for the 7th time in a row in the World Cup round of 16.

Match report

Mexico went into the game with self-confidence and were the determining team for the first 20 minutes. But then Brazil increasingly took over the game, especially as the Mexicans withdrew a little in view of the high temperatures to conserve their strength. Brazil's superstar Neymar had a first chance for the Brazilians in the 25th minute, but was also unsuccessful because of Mexico's brilliant goalkeeper Ochoa, as did his team-mate Philippe Coutinho a few minutes later . The break went goalless. The pressure from the Brazilians increased in the second half. After Ochoa had another brilliant save against Coutinho, he was powerless in the 51st minute when Willian made a sharp cross in front of the Mexican goal, which Neymar turned into the lead for the Seleção. The fact that Ochoa parried several times and stood out as the best Mexican man, illustrates the balance of power on the pitch. In the 88th minute, however, Ochoa was again powerless when this time Neymar hit the ball in front of the goal and Roberto Firmino scored the goal to make it 2-0.

Mexico's coach upset with Neymar

Neymar was not only involved in both goals, which made him the "Man of the Match", but he was again noticed in negative ways. In the 71st minute he was sitting on the floor with the ball between his legs, apparently looking for a way to delay the game and throw the Mexicans out of rhythm. When Miguel Layún grabbed the ball and stepped lightly on Neymar's ankle during this action, Neymar slumped theatrically and rolled over on the floor in pain. Mexico's Colombian coach Juan Carlos Osorio had no sympathy for this acting performance : “It's a shame for football. It is a negative example for the world, for children and for football. There shouldn't be that much acting because that had a huge impact on us. I think we lost the thread because of the referee's decisions in the second half. Football should be a physical sport. "

Individual evidence

1. ↑ fifa.com: "Juan Carlos Osorio suspended for six games"
2. ↑ In Scotland, both goalkeepers, who each played one half, made their first international match. Only one player had played more than 10 international matches. ( Mexico 1-0 Scotland )
3. ↑ Mexico - Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 (Friendship 2018, February) In: weltfussball.de , accessed on February 6, 2018.
4. ^ Mexico v Bosnia & Herzegovina national team, 31 January 2018 In: eu-football.info , accessed on 6 February 2018.
5. ↑ fifa.com: 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia - Team Base Camps
6. ↑ dfb.de: Group opponents Mexico without Araujo for the World Cup
7. ↑ ^{a b} ESTADÍSTICA - SELECCIÓN MAYOR
8. ↑ ^{a b} Tom Marshall (ESPN): Mexico must refocus at World Cup after historic win vs. Germany (English; article from June 17, 2018)
9. ↑ FAZ from June 18, 2018, article by Christian Kamp: Germany under pressure
10. ↑ Bad start: Lozano punishes weak DFB-Elf (article from June 18, 2018)
11. ↑ Stephany Fuentes (Excelsior): México sorprende al mundo; vence a Alemania (Spanish; article of June 17, 2018)
12. ↑ Note: At the last 6 world championships Mexico were eliminated in the round of 16, so always after the fourth game.
13. ↑ Diana Pérez (Récord): México da campanada en Rusia 2018 con histórico triunfo vs Alemania (Spanish; article from June 17, 2018)
14. ↑ Mark Weidenfeller (Sportschau): Sweden takes Mexico by surprise and wins the group (article from June 27, 2018)
15. ↑ RUSIA 2018: Mexicanosfestjan en Embajada de Corea del Sur (Spanish; article from June 27, 2018)
16. ↑ "¡Coreano, hermano, ya eres mexicano!" (Spanish; article of June 28, 2018)
17. ↑ Mexico & Korea Fans Incredible Reactions & Celebration on YouTube
18. ^ "Coreano, hermano, ya eres mexicano" on YouTube
19. ^ Balance sheet Brazil - Mexico at fussballdaten.de
20. ↑ Bad record against Mexico: Seleção meets the feared opponent (article from June 17, 2014)
21. ↑ Mexico sells dearly and fails deservedly - patient Brazil thanks superstar Neymar (article from July 2, 2018)
22. ↑ Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio on Neymar: "A shame for football" (article from July 2, 2018)