Mexico wanted to beat Ecuador of their closing Group B match to advance to the Copa America knockout stage, however all they might handle was a 0-0 draw. They practically discovered a lifeline within the closing seconds of added time when the referee initially awarded Mexico a penalty however after reviewing the video the decision was overturned.
Mexico managed to attain only one aim in 270 minutes throughout group play in a dismal match for the 2026 World Cup co-hosts. In direction of finish of Sunday’s recreation, three bulletins had been additionally remodeled the tannoy at State Farm Stadium warning followers to cease a discriminatory chant. A press release warning the referee had the appropriate to droop the match if the homophobic slur continued was additionally proven in Spanish on the massive display.
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And Ecuador’s prize for holding off Mexico? A quarterfinal date with world champions Argentina in Houston on July 4.
Stuart James and Thom Harris assess the important thing speaking factors…
Will Argentina be apprehensive by what they noticed on this match?
Nerves? Perhaps. Sufficient to fret Argentina? Completely not.
This was a must-win recreation for Mexico, and one which Ecuador would have relatively not left to probability, however for lengthy spells of a scrappy, tetchy recreation, it appeared as if neither aspect actually had what it took. Poor first touches, aimless lengthy balls, slips, falls and fouls, a goalless opening 45 minutes specifically had all of it.
A passage of play on the half-hour mark summed it up, as Alan Franco needlessly bounced a five-yard cross as much as Piero Hincapie’s chest. The left-back had no selection however to regulate, and volley it wildly down the road. Two minutes later, the normally pristine Bayer Leverkusen centre-back skewed one other lengthy ball horribly out of play. When Ecuador did break into the ultimate third – like they did with Enner Valencia on 80 minutes – it was baffling decision-making that allow them down.
Mexico weren’t bursting with concepts both, and though they noticeably upped the depth within the second half as their want for a aim turned higher, one of the best probabilities arrived from set-pieces, penalty-box pinball and moments of individualism, relatively than something manufactured within the dressing room. A 96th-minute penalty, ultimately overturned by VAR, would have been essentially the most dramatic get-out-of-jail card of the competitors.
With the defending world champions awaiting within the subsequent spherical, issues must be tidied up. Argentina have saved clear sheets in seven of their final eight aggressive video games, and will definitely not be damaged down with no extra intricate plan.
Santi Gimenez’s goalless group stage
Misplaced causes. Santiago Gimenez spent numerous time chasing these on one other irritating night for the Mexico striker, who leaves the Copa America with no aim to his title and his barren streak for his nation prolonged to 12 matches.
It was not for an absence of making an attempt. A header that sailed inches over within the first half was adopted by a right-footed shot that hit the skin of the publish within the second interval. In between occasions, Gimenez by no means stopped operating the channels, searching for out the lengthy balls that Mexico hoped would deliver some pleasure.
His massive probability had come within the earlier recreation, in opposition to Venezuela, and also you marvel how in another way issues may need turned out for Gimenez if he had cleanly linked in entrance of aim in Los Angeles.
Prolific in a Feyenoord shirt, the 23-year-old has been unable to switch that type to worldwide soccer. Inevitably, questions shall be requested in Mexico concerning the choice to go away Henry Martin and Raul Jimenez, two skilled strikers, at dwelling. However the high quality of Mexico’s attacking play extra typically advised that any centre ahead would have struggled to make a lot of an affect right here.
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What went flawed for Mexico?
The frustration will linger for a while for Mexico, whose hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of the Copa America had been extinguished in predictable trend.
Predictable as a result of Mexico have carried so little attacking menace, with their solitary match aim scored by the left-back Gerardo Arteaga in a gap recreation in opposition to Jamaica that feels a very long time in the past now.
Defeat in opposition to Venezuela, when Orbelin Pineda missed a penalty, meant that El Tri wanted to beat Ecuador to progress – an end result that not often appeared doubtless in a recreation that uncovered Mexico’s limitations. They huffed and puffed however there was a evident lack of high quality.
Mexico didn’t progress from the group stage on the 2011 and 2015 Copa America tournaments however this newest setback will damage. On the face of it, Mexico had a form draw, but they had been nonetheless unable to discover a well beyond two second-tier CONMEBOL nations.
The concentration is going to now fall on Jaime Lozano, the coach who had been assured that he would stay in place till the top of the 2026 World Cup. Will elimination within the group stage right here immediate a rethink?
What’s subsequent for every staff?
Argentina vs. Ecuador — Thursday, July 4, 9:00 p.m. ET (NRG Stadium, Houston, TX)
Mexico is eradicated from the match.
What did the managers say?
Ecuador coach Felix Sanchez on going through Argentina: “They’re defending world champions, Copa America champions, they usually have one of the best gamers on the planet, taking part in at one of the best golf equipment on the planet. They’ve a strong group, and have developed a transparent concept underneath the identical coach (Lionel Scaloni)… We’re going to need to play an ideal recreation, however we go into it motivated. It’s 11 vs 11 and we’re going to do the whole lot we probably can.”
Mexico coach Jaime Lozano on his future: “Everytime you don’t obtain your goals there are going to be doubts, but when the gamers believed till the top it’s for a purpose, it’s not straightforward to create that union, this circle and this dedication that they’d for seven weeks earlier than and through this competitors. There’s a course of and others will resolve what occurs subsequent however for me it’s clear that we went out and had been protagonists.”
Lozano on what’s lacking for Mexico: “We’ve got improved quite a bit defensively, however now we have now to seek out that stability and work on that endurance, that closing contact within the attacking third. We’ve gained quite a bit from these gamers on this match and it’s an expertise that can assist us.”
Required studying
(Prime photograph: Chris Cuduto/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)