Mexico isn’t out of the 2024 Copa America altogether, but it has slowly, ineffectually slid into early elimination.
The team failed to score for the second straight game on Sunday as they drew 0-0 with Ecuador at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and missed a dramatic chance to score the winner in extra time after a penalty was overturned by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
The draw meant Mexico finished third in Group B behind Ecuador and Venezuela, and questions raged all summer about this generation of Mexican players, the system that developed them and whether coach Jaime Lozano was the right man to lead Mexico to the 2026 World Cup.
On Sunday, they began the match with energy and enthusiasm, emboldened by prideful players eager to lift the spirits of their soccer-crazed country but unable to do so.
They rushed into tackles and went into 50-50 duels, occasionally winning possession high up the field and pumping up the rabid Arizona crowd, but they rarely created clear-cut chances, even when they could have done so.
Every time they ventured into the final third, there was a total lack of creativity.
When they would put together a clever pass in their head, they didn’t have a teammate off the ball to make it happen.
Every time they tried to shoot or head the ball, it went high or wide. None of their 10 shots in the first half were on target.
With each incursion that proved impossible to overcome, the words of US defender Tim Ream in March came to mind.
“Their attack was predictable. They’re the most direct team in the history of Mexico,” Ream said after the team’s 2-0 win over Mexico. “We knew exactly what was going to happen and we knew exactly how to make the game ours.”
This was certainly the case in Ecuador.
Ecuador also knew a draw would be enough. Having scored against Venezuela and Jamaica in previous matches, Ecuador had the advantage on goal difference and therefore did not need to score again to advance to the quarter-finals against Argentina. The onus was on Mexico to score a goal and slip into second place in Group B.
and El Tri I could not do it.
They cried out for a penalty but in the end they didn’t get one.
Feyenoord’s Santiago Jimenez burst into the penalty area but didn’t look the fearsome striker he was in the Netherlands.
Luis Romo finally got Mexico’s first shot on goal in the 64th minute, but his shot hit Ecuador goalkeeper Alexander Dominguez at the throat.
A minute later, Julián Quiñonez tried Domínguez, Jiménez pounced on the rebound but it hit the post. They could not score.
This means they are the first top seed to be eliminated from the 2024 Copa America.
But their seeding was deceptive. Though on paper they were CONCACAF’s second-best team, they were in the midst of a long-overdue rebuild. Lozano, who clearly had more job security than his predecessor, left out several key players, including Hirving “Chucky” Lozano and Raul Jimenez, from the tournament’s 26-man roster. The idea was to field unknown domestic stars who could contribute in 2026, a roster narrowed by national team veterans.
“We’re two years away from the World Cup,” Mexico sporting director Duilio Davino said after the national team was announced.[As co-hosts,] We have qualified and we want to use this fantastic opportunity to plan our path to 2026 without thinking about the immediacy of the result.”
Speaking at the same press conference in Mexico City, Lozano agreed: “The most important thing is what we build for 2026 and 2030. If we focus on results, we will end up with pretty much the same results as always.”
In other words, they tacitly admitted that they would not win the Copa America this time.
But fans expected more: more than one goal in 270 minutes, more than a group stage exit with little evidence of progress.
Instead, it was a reminder that the rebuild was forced, that generational change was not natural. It wasn’t fueled by a wave of promising young players. It was dictated from on high by executives who wanted new blood, and it’s unclear whether that new blood will be enough to put Mexico back where it belongs: in or around the top 10 international soccer teams in the world.
A warning in the Copa America, and perhaps a convenient excuse for failure, was that El Tri’s captain and best player, Edson Alvarez, limped out of the tournament 27 minutes into Mexico’s opening match.
But the end result was clear.
Venezuela, which has never qualified for a World Cup, tops its group with nine points and will face Canada in the quarterfinals on Friday in Arlington, Texas.
Ecuador will face Argentina in Houston on Thursday.
Mexico doesn’t play an official match until November.
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