The Real Reason why México lost

Moments like this are hard. They can break you, especially if you have invested a significant time of love, passion, and money into the beautiful sport. I understand you. But let’s move on. Ya paso… 

Let me start by saying that I was fortunate enough to catch only the first half of the game. It was an exciting first half. Mexico dominated the ball and controlled it. I don’t wanna get into specific names of who made poor plays. No bad vibes here. But I do want to share the names of the 3 players of Mexico that I thoroughly enjoyed watching this World Cup in Russia 2018.

1. El Chucky “Hirving” Lozano, the now infamous striker that fired that missile at Germany in its debut. Promising young talent. Glad he is developing as a player outside of the traditional Liga MX teams. He’s doing great as a striker at PSV club in the Netherlands.
2. Carlos Vela – I think the Los Angeles Football Club did a fantastic move by acquiring Vela as their first player of the club. Rightfully so. The way he organically maneuvers the ball through openings and players is spectacular. Side note to buy myself a LAFC Vela #10 jersey this fall (the number of legends).
3. Andres Guardado, the up and coming Team Captain. He has been consistent key player and has made a permanent name for himself in la seleccion 

The mood was quiet and too relaxed. The airplane staff turned off the WIFI so no one was able to get on the internet to stream the second half of the game. It was a safety issue. So I rocked my chair back, put my soundproof earplugs in and went on my two hour plane ride confident that Mexico would take out Brazil, only and if they continued to do what they did the first half… but that did not happen. Mexico started strong. They always do. Here are some of the reasons why Mexico has lost in the Round of 16th, for like a whole century, permeating a curse that won’t let the team advance to the sacred “fifth game” of the World Cup.

1. FIFA is one of the most corrupt organizations in the world. It is sad that the beautiful sport has fallen into the hands of some of the most wealthiest people in the planet. Andrew Jennings in “Foul” suggests that shady and lucrative pay-offs are the reason why the WC ended up being hosted in Russia this year. Read more about his book here. He also mentions Quatar. Like who in the right mind thought it was a good idea to host the WC in the dessert, in the summer, in a country where alcohol sales are prohibited. Something does not make sense. Mexico has been on FIFA’s hit list for sometime and you could really feel it this world cup.
   • FIFA has punished Mexico two times this WC. All because of the fans of la seleccion, one for the homophobic and distasteful chant of “eeehhhh p*&%” and another because of the “behavior of the Mexican fans” while in Russia. I cannot think of any other teams that were fined like us.
   • Say what you want but the refs favored Brazil over Mexico and this may have been one of the reasons. We also lost to a better team.
2. Inconsistent team rotations led to the ultimate demise of the team. The best squad was the group of players against Germany.  Coach Osorio got too comfortable trying new things in the game, which ultimately resulted in the loss. Some players were over sensationalized and over hyped by the media. I’m not going to bash on the players that didn’t do anything for the team but Marquez, a 38 year old, shouldn’t have been included in the squad against Brazil. He shouldn’t have been in the squad this World Cup, PERIOD. Not after his recent ties linking him to organized crime and money laundering. It just didn’t make sense. I understand his experience and great skills but it was a bad sign for me as a fan and many agree.

   

   3. Lastly, we have this tendency to hype Mexican players up so much that we often stay quiet when they don’t match up on the field. There were a few players like this that started every game to no avail. The Mexican federation should stop creating players that generate jersey sales because of their name and focus on developing Mexican talent. We have a lot of great players to just keep bringing back the same old players. If you are a fan… YOU know who they are.

I am genuinely curious to hear the reason and logic as to why they all thought it was a good idea to die their hair this way. It’s a painful process. It’s also not the place to pull off these types of “hey look at me” moves.  Was it for fun? For a cause? Or just ego?

All in all, thank you for the memories, boys. You did great. More players in Liga MX should consider playing in Europe (English Premier, La Liga, German Bundaslisga). We have the firepower to do so. To be the best, you have to play with the best and I think we are starting to get this.

See you all in Quatar. Thanks for reading.