The defeat before Swedenwho was more effective and won with goals from Marcus Rohden and Mattias Svanberg, closed the concentration in Girona of Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino’s selectionwhich this Thursday will fly to Qatar from Barcelona this Thursday and on Tuesday they will debut in the group stage, with a key duel against the Polish team.
This stumble ahead of the 2022 World Cup upsets the Mexican fans and generated criticism from the media in that country (“Failed!”noted TUDN). Gerardo Martino He has been the main one pointed out, since the tie and later, by the call for Qatar 2022.
The South American team took to the pitch with the ambition of taking the initiative and getting closer to the rival goal soon. And before ten minutes were around the goal with two shots from the edge of the area by Vega and Luis Chávez, both neutralized by Kristoffer Nordfeldt.
With the passing of the minutes, the control of Mexico, who monopolized the ball in a first half that was played on Scandinavian soil. Mexico’s possession percentages exceeded 80%, although their dominance was sterile due to a very flat game, with no ideas in three quarters.
In fact, until Uriel Antuna shot the crossbar after a good personal action starting from the right flank, already on the brink of half-time, the clearest chance of the first half had been for Sweden: a shot from Svanberg from a pass from Anthony Langa, young striker for Manchester United, who went near the left post of Guillermo Ochoa, one of the three Mexican novelties regarding the victory against Iraq (4-0).
The other two changes were the aforementioned Antuna and Jorge Sánchez, recently arrived from Ajax, while César Montes, Héctor Moreno and Jesús Gallardo repeated at the back and Carlos Rodriguez, Hector HerreraLuis Chávez in the engine room, like Vega and Henry Martín up front.
At halftime, Martino brought on three of the players called to be important in Qatar: Andrés Guardado, Hirving Lozano and Jiménez, who reappeared on the pitch two and a half months after playing his last game with English Wolverhampton.
The team gained presence in the opposite area and Mexico caressed the goal in the 54th minute, with a shot by Jorge Sánchez that crashed into the post after bouncing off Chávez. The Swedish reply was immediate and in the form of a goal: at minute 55, Svanberg overwhelmed his marker on the right wing and put a low cross into the small area for Rohden, the Italian Frosinone midfielder, to make it 0-1.
The Mexican team responded quickly and forcefully, equalizing through Vega. The ’10’, enabled with a ball behind the Scandinavian defense, beat the goalkeeper with a great definition in the 59th minute. Already in the 84th minute, the final 1-2 came, the work of Svanberg, player of the German Wolfsburg , in a set piece action.
– Data sheet:
1 – Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa; Jorge Sánchez, César Montes (Néstor Araújo, min. 62), Héctor Moreno (Johan Vásquez, min. 62), Jesús Gallardo; Carlos Rodríguez (Andrés Guardado, min. 46), Héctor Herrera (Luis Romo, min. 62), Luis Chávez; Uriel Antuna (Hirving Lozano, min. 46), Henry Martín (Raúl Jiménez, min. 46) and Alexis Vega.
2 – Sweden: Kristoffer Nordfeldt; Emil Holm, Isak Hien, Victor Lindelof, Ludwig Augustinsson (Ken Sema, min. 83); Marcus Rohden (Magnus Eriksson, min. 83), Samuel Gustafson, Jesper Karlstrom (Emil Forsberg, min. 69), Mattias Svanberg; Anthony Elanga (Robin Quaison, min. 68) and Viktor Gyokeres (Mikael Ishak, min. 68).
Goals: 1-0, min. 55: Marcus Rohden. 1-1 min. 59: Alexis Vega. 1-2 min. 84: Mattias Svanberg.
Referee: Soto Grado (Spanish). He admonished the Mexican Alexis Vega (min. 82).
Incidents: Friendly match played at the Estadi Municipal de Montilivi before 5,395 fans.
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