Mexico 2022 World Cup squad analysis: Tata Martino’s key decisions

Mexico announced their final 26-man World Cup roster on Monday, the final day permitted by FIFA to do so. Head coach Gerardo Martino will lead a much-maligned group of players during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and hope to break the fifth-game hex that has plagued the Mexicans since 1986.

Most of the squad had been set well before Monday’s announcement, but there are some absences that will cause plenty of debate in Mexico throughout the tournament. Here’s a breakdown of the key omissions and inclusions, the player to watch and how positional flexibility influenced the final roster selections.

Diego Lainez and Santiago Gimenez left off the final roster

SC Braga winger Diego Lainez was not included in Mexico’s 26-man roster. In what turned out to be an important position battle, Lainez ultimately lost out to Roberto Alvarado. During last summer’s CONCACAF Nations League tournament, Lainez’s dribbling ability made him a key option for Martino off the bench. That continued during World Cup qualifying.

Martino has described Lainez as a key change-of-pace talent who is valuable to have in certain game situations. He has also referred to Lainez in the past as the future of the national team. However, it appears that Alvarado’s ability to play on either flank or as a false 9 gave Mexico more options than the one-dimensional Lainez.

In the weeks leading up to Monday’s announcement, Martino was expectedly cagey regarding his eventual roster cuts. But he did tell reporters on multiple occasions why players like Alvarado, Alexis Vega and Hirving Lozano were good tactical fits. Each one of them can play across the front three and contribute defensively.

A slightly less controversial omission was Feyenoord’s in-form striker Santiago Gimenez. The 21-year-old is currently the joint top scorer in the Europa League with four goals. Gimenez made the move to the Dutch club from Cruz Azul in July and finished 2022 with nine caps and two goals for Mexico. Gimenez has the profile of a traditional goal-poaching center forward. He has good size and is strong in the air, but he is far from a finished product.

In the end, the lack of experience kept Gimenez behind Mexico’s World Cup-bound strikers: Henry Martin, Raul Jimenez and Rogelio Funes Mori.

Martino hinted last week that Gimenez’s goals for Feyenoord would not be enough to guarantee him a spot in Qatar.

“I’m very happy with how (Gimenez) has battled for a place, how he’s grown, the jump that he has made and the way he’s fighting for a place at Feyenoord,” Martino told reporters last week. “An explanation can sometimes be far from what the reality is because the reality is that Santi is the Europa League’s top goal scorer. But he hasn’t played many minutes. He’s not playing consistently enough. Perhaps evaluating the goals that he has scored in so little time is worth reviewing. As is evaluating what he provides to the team in those 15 or so minutes.”

Nevertheless, Martino understood that leaving Gimenez off the final roster would be a contentious choice.

“There are decisions that are made and the explanations will never suffice. We understand that there’s always a possibility for some sort of controversy,” Martino said. “Those types of controversies are part of the day-to-day. We really value Santi. A year ago, when no one was thinking about him, we believed that he’d be fighting for a place. But now he’s up against the experience and the current form of other No. 9s, including that of Henry Martin, which is undeniable.”

Martino gambles on Raul Jimenez

Since taking over the Mexico job in 2019, Martino never lost faith in Jimenez as Mexico’s best center forward. Martino built his tactics around the Wolves striker’s ability to join the attack from various parts of the final third.

It was working beautifully before Jimenez’s severe head injury in November of 2020. Since then, Jimenez has struggled to stay healthy, which has coincided with Mexico’s dearth of goals. Jimenez has not played in a competitive match since August 31 and he was extremely close to missing out on Qatar due to a lingering groin injury.

Martino detailed what it took for Jimenez to get to be fit enough for a World Cup call up.

“If I had to give a hasty opinion about Raul at this moment, I’d say that Raul is more in than he is out. A month ago he was very much out,” said Martino before Mexico’s 4-0 win over Iraq on November 9. “There was direct communication with the (Wolverhampton) doctors. Wolverhampton sent a physiotherapist to work with us for the two weeks that Raul was with us (in Mexico City). They all traveled together to see a specialist in Los Angeles. There was communication with the (Wolves) sporting director. This is all about respect. We’re committed to doing what’s best for the player.

“If someone thought that we were going to do something crazy like take a player to the World Cup who isn’t fit to play, you’re mistaken. All that has led to what will hopefully be Raul playing at a World Cup.”

Jimenez will be in Qatar with Mexico but his availability remains in question. It’s unfeasible to believe that Jimenez will be match fit come November 22, or that he isn’t one sharp pivot away from reaggravating his groin injury, which has proven to be delicate.

This isn’t the first time that an international manager has taken an injured player to the World Cup. Sven-Goran Eriksson, for example, included Wayne Rooney in 2006 despite Rooney having broken a bone in his foot before the World Cup.

Rooney sat out the first game and then played in the second group-stage match against Trinidad and Tobago. He later injured his groin in training and missed the remainder of the tournament. In 2018, Colombia coach Jose Pekerman took star midfielder James Rodriguez to Russia even though he had not recovered from a calf injury. Rodriguez also played in Colombia’s second group stage match but was forced to miss the round of 16 defeat in penalties to England.

A similar story for Jimenez in Qatar would make Martino’s decision to include him difficult to justify. Jimenez will surely be limited at this World Cup, a competition that will test the players’ fitness like no other previous edition. Mexico fans will hope that the little that he can give will provide significant returns.

Player to watch: Hirving Lozano

Serie A league leaders Napoli have been in remarkable form and Mexico’s Hirving Lozano has contributed to it. The 27-year-old has regained a place in the starting XI and has impressed with his speed and decisiveness in front of goal. A year ago, Lozano spent considerable time recovering from a series of injuries, including a scary neck injury he suffered during the 2021 Gold Cup.

México, rival de la Selección Argentina en el Mundial, le ganó 1-0 a Perú con este gol del Chucky Lozano🇲🇽🧐pic.twitter.com/fqvzApkO2C

— Pablo Giralt (@giraltpablo) September 25, 2022

Injuries have plagued this Mexico side since 2020. Their performances have suffered as a result, and it seemed that Lozano couldn’t get out of harm’s way. He’s flying now and will be Mexico’s most dangerous attacking player in Qatar. Lozano is a game winner who can pop up at any moment and change a game in Mexico’s favor. His goal in a hard-fought, cagey friendly against Peru in September is a prime example of what Lozano can provide at the international level.

Mexico’s 26-man roster features nine players who are Europe-based professionals, but that has done little to impress Mexico’s highly critical fan base. How this team has performed over two years has soured expectations, and there is a growing consensus that this squad just isn’t talented enough. Additionally, Martino’s decision to pass on two promising young players will do nothing to ingratiate the Argentine manager to the Mexican public. And so as the debates over Martino’s roster selection continue, his legacy and that of this current generation of players will be decided in the coming days.

(Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)