Mexico stops before the wall of a racana Poland

Mexico stops before the wall of a racana Poland

Those of 'Tata' Martino deserve more and Lewandowski could not debut in a World Cup when he missed a penalty

MADRID, 22 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Mexico crashed (0-0) against a harsh Poland in the first day of Group C of the World Cup in Qatar, played at the 974 Stadium in Doha, and missed the surprising defeat of Argentina, although it could even lose if the striker of the FC Barcelona Robert Lewandowski would have scored a penalty in the second half.

With the handbrake put on by that historic defeat (1-2) of Argentina against Saudi Arabia, a country that decreed a holiday for the feat, Mexico and Poland faced styles without taking risks in a fight in which those of Gerardo 'Tata ' Martino deserved more for push than for chances and play.

The 'Tricolor', with the possession football of the 'Tata' Martino school that led him to the Barça bench. Opposite, a crouching, ultra-defensive Poland, with a scheme of 5 in the rear and in search of a withering counter that would culminate Robert Lewandowski's 'Golden Boot', betraying that generation led by Zbigniew Boniek and Lato who dazzled with their game of hall in the World-wide one of Spain'82 of the Naranjito.

The world upside down. The ball was from Mexico, who had a couple of options in a header from Alexis Vega and a shot from Jorge Sánchez that put Szczesny in some trouble to take the lead before the break in a duel conditioned by Argentina's previous setback of Leo Messi.

Instead, Poland shook the game with an error. A VAR penalty committed against Lewandowski was not scored - the third he missed with his team - in the 58th minute by the Barça striker, who continued without scoring in a World Cup and caused Mexico to feed its morale and cheered up chances by the save of the veteran, 37 years on the card, Francisco Guillermo Ochoa.

Czeslaw Michniewicz's group seemed to raise the pressure line, but it was a mirage. His team seemed to build a wall with the 974 recycled containers used in the construction of the removable stadium that will be history after the World Cup, and entrenched themselves behind in defense of the tie.

Mexico tried with their heart, but neither their legs nor football were on their side in the final stretch. After the defeat of Argentina, Saudi Arabia is the leader of the group and those of 'Tata' will play their first 'final' in Qatar 2022 against Messi and company next Saturday (8:00 p.m.) in Lusail.

For his part, an absent Lewandowski, far removed from the one who dazzled at Bayern Munich, will continue trying to launch his resume as a goalscorer in a World Cup against the Saudis a few hours earlier (2:00 p.m.), and improve a version that he removed today in his chair to his compatriots Boniek and Lato.

MEXICO: Ochoa; Jorge Sanchez, Cesar Montes, Hector Moreno, Jesus Gallardo; Luis Chávez, Edson Álvarez, Héctor Herrera (Carlos Rodríguez, min. 71); Hirving Lozano, Henry Martín (Raúl Jiménez, min. 71) and Alexis Vega (Antuna, min. 84).

POLONIA: Szczesny; Bereszynski, Cash, Glik, Kiwior, Zalewski (Bielik, min. 46); Krychowiak, Kaminski, Szymanski (Frankowski, min. 72); Lewandowski y Zielinski (Milik, min. 87).

--REFEREE: Chris Beath (AUS). He admonished Jorge Sánchez (min. 29), Héctor Moreno (min. 56), for Mexico, and Frankowski (min. 76), for Poland.

--ESTADIO: 974 Stadium.