The Qatar 2022 World Cup is the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the first time in history that it has been held in Qatar and a Middle Eastern country, and the second time (the first is the Korea-Japan World Cup '02) held in Asia; In addition, the Qatar World Cup is the first time to be held in the winter of the northern hemisphere, and it is also the first World Cup football tournament held by a country that has never reached the World Cup finals, which can be described as a historical precedent; Starting today, I will continue to bring you a detailed introduction to the 32 teams of this World Cup, this series of articles aims to help new fans who are preparing for this World Cup and old fans who love football but usually do not have much time to watch the game to quickly understand the 32 teams of this World Cup in order to get a better viewing experience.
World Cup Round of 32 Straw Hat Legion – Mexico
The Mexican men's national football team was founded in 1927, participated in the first World Cup in 1930, counting the Qatar World Cup, Mexico has reached the World Cup finals a total of 17 times, the total number of participation is second only to Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy ranked 5th in the world, of course, this has a lot to do with Mexico's geographical location, in Central and North America, Mexico is undoubtedly a big brother-level existence; Although the Mexican national team has participated a lot, the results have not been very good, the best results were in 1970 and 1986, and it is worth mentioning that Mexico participated as the host country in both World Cups.
From 1994 to 2018, the Mexican national team participated in the main event of the World Cup for 7 consecutive times, and each session can qualify from the group, but it stops at the round of 16, and can only play 4 games in 7 consecutive World Cups, this record can be described as unprecedented, which has become a major curse of the Mexican team, and fans also jokingly call the Mexican team "World Cup sixteen"; In the latest edition of FIFA's world rankings, Mexico ranks 13th and is also the first place in the CONCACAF region.
Current head coach – Gerardo Martino
Martino (born 20 November 1962 in Rosario, Argentina) is a former Argentine footballer who played as a midfielder for Newell Old Boys Club for most of his playing time in Argentina before becoming a football coach after retiring in 1996. As a coach Martino has a very rich coaching resume, in 2006 as the head coach of the Paraguayan national team, led the team to the World Cup twice, and led the team to the quarterfinals in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, creating Paraguay's best results in the World Cup, in 2013 recommended by Messi as the head coach of Barcelona, but led the team to average results, one season later in the class, became the head coach of the Argentine national team in 2014, led the team to win two Copa America runner-up, In 2018, he led the American professional to the first championship in the team's history, and became the head coach of the Mexican national team in January 2019.
Martino's coaching style has distinct characteristics, mainly to dare to fight, will not blindly pursue defense, in the early days of his tenure, Martino said in an interview that the biggest goal of coaching the Mexican team is to lead the team to break the team's "knockout curse" in the World Cup and participate in the fifth game, hoping that Martino can achieve his goals in this World Cup.
Large roster
The Mexican national team players do not play in the five major European leagues, most of them play in the domestic league, the following is the official preliminary list of 31 players released by the Mexican national team, from which the final players will be selected:
Goalkeepers: Ochoa (América, Mexico), Cotta (Sporting Leon), Talavera (Cougar)
Defenders: Kevin Alvarez (Pachuca), Alberto Angulo (Mexican Tigers), Néstor Araujo (América), Arteaga (Genke), Gallardo (Monterrey), Hector Moreno (Monterrey), César Montes (Monterrey), Jorge Sanchez (Ajax), John Vázquez (Cremonese)
Midfielders: Edsson Alvarez (Ajax), Roberto Alvarado (Guadalajara), Antuña (Blue Cross), Chávez (Pachuca), Guardado (Betis), Eric Gutiérrez (PSV), Héctor Herrera (Dynamo Houston), Reinz (Braga), Pineda (Athens AEK), Carlos Rodríguez (Blue Cross), Romo (Monterrey), Eric Sanchez (Pachuca)
Forwards: Corona (Sevilla), Fourness Mauri (Monterrey), Santiago Jiménez (Feyenoord), Raul Jiménez (Wolves), Lozano (Napoli), Henri Martin (Mexico America), Ernesto Rojas Bega (Guadalajara)
Main lineup forecast
The main lineup is predicted based on the team's latest start, the value of the players and the season performance, and there may be certain differences with the specific main lineup, but the difference should not be very large, you can refer to it in advance.
Note: Players are worth in pounds sterling
Although most of Mexico's players play in the domestic league, the team's forward trident are players from the five major European leagues, and they are all in their current years and have good quality, but Corona and Jiménez have been plagued by injuries this season, and whether they can be selected for the final squad depends on their recovery, if these two players cannot recover, Mexico's offensive strength will be greatly reduced; Although the players in the central midfield are not famous, most of them are the main force of domestic giant clubs, and the strength should not be underestimated, this set of lineups has a new generation of Mexico, as well as experienced veterans such as Ochoa and Herrera, the overall configuration is good, and it is an opponent that must not be underestimated.
Important player profile – Edson Alvarez
Alvarez was born in 1997, debuted in Mexico's domestic giant club Mexico Americas Academy, played as a defender on the field, can also play as a central defender, in 2019 for a high price of 13.5 million pounds to join the Eredivisie giants Ajax, and then gradually sat on the main force, this summer with the Premier League giants Chelsea frequently linked, and finally failed to transfer as desired, but this did not affect the Mexican defender's state, this season he still has a very stable play at Ajax; Alvarez's defensive ability is very outstanding, steals and interceptions are his specialty, 187cm height also makes him not suffer when competing for high-altitude balls, in addition to Alvarez also has a very good passing ability, whether it is short pass organization or long ball counterattack He is also very good; The figure below shows the ability of Alvarez by a well-known football game.
Note: This picture is intended to help you understand the characteristics of players more intuitively, and cannot represent the real ability of players, please pay attention.
Important player profile – Raul Jiménez
Born in 1991, like Alvarez, he came from the América Academy in Mexico, joined Atletico Madrid in La Liga in 2014, and after a year of play, he switched to Portuguese Premier League giants Benfica, where he made a name for himself and joined Wolves in the Premier League for a high price of 34.2 million pounds in 2019; In a Premier League match on 30 November 2020, Jimenez collided with defender David Luiz, who was still playing for Arsenal at the time, resulting in a fractured skull and underwent surgery overnight, this injury allowed Jimenez to recuperate for 10 months, and after returning to play, Jimenez recovered well and remained the team's main centre-forward; In addition to being able to serve as a fulcrum in the front, Jimenez's shooting skills and heading ability are also excellent, compared to the traditional center, Jimenez can also make a great contribution to the team on the defensive end, which is also a big advantage for him, Jimenez has been plagued by injuries this season, and he has made only a few appearances in Wolves, hoping that he can return before the World Cup; The figure below shows the evaluation of Jimenez's ability by a well-known football game.
Note: This picture is intended to help you understand the characteristics of players more intuitively, and cannot represent the real ability of players, please pay attention.
Group situation and schedule (the following times are Beijing time)
22 November, 23:59 Mexico vs Poland
27 November, 03:00 Argentina vs Mexico
1 December, 03:00 Saudi Arabia vs Mexico
Promotion forecast
Although Mexico's world ranking is the second in this group, theoretically the probability of qualifying is very large, but in addition to Saudi Arabia, the other two opponents are not weak teams, it can be said that there are wolves before and tigers, and a little carelessness will fall into a dangerous situation, but Mexico has a very rich World Cup experience, the past 7 World Cups can break through from the group, which is incomparable to the Polish team in the same group, Mexico's first match with Poland can almost open the qualification pattern of this group, Personally, I think that Mexico has a greater probability of qualifying from the group than Poland, and whether it can break the curse depends on the team's luck and creation.