The tie between Mexico and Panama left much concern towards the future. Not only because of the result, but also because the team's performance was not as expected to be at this stage of the classification for the World Cup in Brazil 2014.
The 'Tri' was a listless team, unimaginative in attack and with few ideas to generate scoring chances. The draw left one point but it only made Mexico third in the Hexagonal, dangerously close to the disposal area, and with one more game than its main rivals.
The Mexican press, as it has done recently with the bad performances, criticized the poor playing skills that showed the selection. And the newspaper Record published an article entitled "Oh My God, what a bad game Tri had," saying it was an "awful Tricolor game, which again suffered against the rival."
Meanwhile, the sports section of The Universal published this story on its front page: "The suffering continues," noting that the team "doesn´t have offensive strength."
Mexico has the ball often, but does not create scoring chances and relies too heavily on what Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez generates---who has not been playing well lately. The team also relies on Jesus Corona as a goal keeper and that is the only thing that is helping Mexico to earn points so far.
In addition, the opponents faced until now are far inferior in quality, which is why the team is still in a qualifying spot. But there is much uncertainty about what can happen when the time comes to face stronger teams like Costa Rica or the United States.
Coach Jose Manuel de la Torre decided to change some things about the team that defeated Jamaica. He took De Nigris, who scored the victory goal, and took Reyes out, called in Giovani Dos Santos, who went by unnoticed, as well as Hector Moreno.
But the strategy did not work out as expected. The offensive game was very poor and even though they had the ball most of the time, they almost never knew what to do with it. Panama was waiting on its field and Mexico played to the sides and back, with exaggerated comfort for a team with aspirations to play the World Cup.
And although it continues in the classified area, the alarm goes off regarding the future of this selection. The press and the fans are very concerned about the poor performance of the team and are expecting a breakthrough in the next performances. If they can´t do it, if they decide to continue sailing on the sea of mediocrity, playing poorly, Brazil will become an increasingly unlikely reality for the team.
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