Welcome to the second of three 2018 FIFA World Cup mini series. If you did not read the first article, in which I managed Belgium, you can check that out here.
As you can tell by the title and thumbnail, I managed Mexico during the 2018 FIFA World Cup on Football Manager 2018 for this article. Now, as many of you may know, I was born in America and I’ve lived my whole life here.
Some of my fellow Americans (especially the Trump-supporting type) might accuse me of being a “traitor” and “unpatriotic” for managing Mexico.
My answer to that is, despite the political tension between our two nations, El Tri are the strongest CONCACAF team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and therefore represent North America’s best hope of doing well this summer.
Besides, I live an hour and 30 minutes away from the Mexican border, and Spanish is widely spoken here, so Mexico is a part of my everyday life even though I am not Mexican and do not speak Spanish.
Now that I got that out of the way, let’s look at our 2018 FIFA World Cup journey with El Tri.
Group Stage Opponents: Germany, Sweden, and South Korea
Pre-Tournament FIFA Ranking: 15th
Objective: Reach the Quarterfinals
Squad and Preparation
As I did for Belgium, I selected the same preliminary squad that Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio picked in real life.
Goalkeepers (3): Guillermo Ochoa (Standard), Alfredo Talavera (Toluca), Jesus Corona (Cruz Azul)
Defenders (7): Carlos Salcedo (Eintracht Frankfurt), Diego Reyes (Porto), Hector Moreno (Real Sociedad), Hugo Ayala (Tigres), Edson Alvarez (Club America), Jesus Gallardo (Pumas), Miguel Layun (Sevilla)
Midfielders (6): Rafa Marquez (Atlas), Hector Herrera (Porto), Jonathan dos Santos (LA Galaxy), Andres Guardado (Real Betis), Marco Fabian (Eintracht Frankfurt), Giovani Dos Santos (LA Galaxy)
Forwards (7): Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez (West Ham United), Raul Jimenez (Benfica), Oribe Peralta (Club America), Jesus Corona (Porto), Carlos Vela (LAFC), Javier Aquino (Tigres), Hirving Lozano (PSV)
Before the flight to Russia, we took on Northern Ireland and China PR in the United States. After drawing against the Northern Irish, we dispatched China PR 2-0 thanks to two goals from Javier Hernandez.
I picked Northern Ireland and China PR because they are similar teams to Sweden and South Korea.
The Group Stage
Germany vs Mexico
In our first match against the defending World Champions, we narrowly lost 3-2. At one point, we were leading 2-1 but two Mesut Ozil goals gave Die Mannschaft the three points. Not the best start in terms of not gaining a point, but at least we gave them a game.
Mexico vs South Korea
Next up was South Korea, who we easily beat 2-0 thanks to goals from Javier Hernandez and Marco Fabian. I wasn’t surprised that it only took nine minutes for Hernandez to open the scoring.
Oddly, goalkeeper Jose de Jesus Corona was injured, making it the first time that I’ve had an injured goalkeeper in a match on FM18. Our final game against Sweden would decide if we would advance to the Round of 16.
Sweden vs Mexico
Another Javier Hernandez double sealed a 3-1 win over Sweden and booked our place in the Round of 16 behind group winners Germany. I was a little worried when John Guidetti pulled a goal back to make it 2-1 but Los Angeles FC striker Carlos Vela restored the two-goal cushion in the 64th minute.
Knockout Stage
Brazil vs Mexico (Round of 16)
We were drawn with Group E winners and tournament favorites Brazil in the Round of 16. I was hoping to keep our backdoor shut, stifle Neymar, and take the game to extra time at 0-0 but Philipp Coutinho killed off that hope in the 47th minute.
Just like in the Germany game, we coped with a footballing powerhouse but failed to earn anything (except for some praise in the media for making things difficult). Our dream of reaching the quarterfinal was smashed by Neymar and co.
Top Performers
Javier Hernandez was our best player at the FIFA World Cup, scoring the most goals, recording the most assists, and having the highest average rating.
Hernandez was also the joint third highest scorer at the 2018 FIFA World Cup with five goals, tied with Thomas Müller, Adnan Januzaj, Eden Hazard, and Kelchi Ihenacho.
On that note, let’s see if Hernandez can replicate his virtual goal-scoring exploits into the real-world tournament !
Thanks for reading ! Please drop a like and share !
Any comments, questions, or suggestions ? Please contact me over on @FMWelt on Twitter.
FM Welt 