FIFA World Cup 2018: Mexico

Mexico could become one of the most interesting teams of the tournament. They have a lot of interesting players in their squad, compared to other nations from America, a high number of players from the Mexican squad even play in Mexico so far. After losing in the Gold Cup in the semi-final last year against Jamaica and in the semi-final at the Confederations Cup against Germany, they want to play a successful tournament this year as well. The first game against Germany is quite likely the most important. In a group with them, Sweden and South-Korea Mexico is the favourite to reach the next round as the second placed team. The problem is, when they would reach the second place in their group, their opponent in the next round most likely would be Brazil.

So, winning against Germany is a big challenge but not that unrealistic due to their playing style which could be uncomfortable for the possession game of Germany. Mexico´s coach developed a strong team over the last years.

Squad

Coach: Juan Carlos Osorio

Osorio started to coach Mexico in 2015. With him as a coach, Mexico stands for offensive football with quick flat combinations and a focus on dominating the game. He installed a well-structured positional play at Mexico. Not only does he use a lot of different formations he also experiments with player positions. A lot of the Mexican players play in different positions with the national-team because Osorio wants to have a flexible squad in order to change formations during the game. Furthermore, a lot of rotations during possession are only possible if all players can play multiple positions.

Goalkeepers

Guillermo Ochoa, Alfredo Talavera, Jesús Corona

Defenders

Carlos Salcedo, Diego Reyes, Hector Moreno, Rafael Marquez, Hugo Ayala, Edson Alvarez, Miguel Layun

Midfielders

Hector Herrera, Andres Guardado, Marco Fabian, Jonathan dos Santos

Attackers

Hirving Lozano, Giovani dos Santos, Javier Aquino, Jesus Gallardo, Jesus Corona, Carlos Vela, Chicharito, Raul Jimenez, Oribe Peralta

Tactics

From a tactical standpoint, Mexico is one of the most interesting teams in that World Cup. Juan Carlos Osorio is known for using the concept of the positional play. At the Mexican national team, he installed different formations and systems which help his team to dominate the game. Usually, Mexico uses a 3-4-3 formation which gives them a lot of diagonal passing options and creates a connected shape in possession while overloading the centre. Besides the 3-4-3, Osorio sometimes lines-up his team in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1. However, the formation is not that important, in possession the Mexican players move a lot and switch positions. The constant flow during possession makes it hard for the opponents to use man orientations and challenge them to constantly stay compact without being outnumbered on one side of the pitch.

It is really impressive how well-structured they are with the ball. Usually, the ball-carrier has three passing options. Normally, they are positioned between the lines in order to hinder the opponent from watching the ball all the time. Along with the positioning between the lines they use the third man concept to get one of their midfielders in an advantageous position.

Usually, they try to play through the middle. That’s why three midfielders are positioned between the midfield-line of the opponent. Furthermore, their defensive midfielder occupies the space behind the first pressing-line in order to give the centre-backs a direct passing option. When they build-up with a back-three the centre-backs pushes wide to stretch the opponent´s defensive shape. Especially, the offensive players rarely hold their position they move all the time to overload certain areas.