Mexico in a friendly against Australia as El Tri's search for a striker continues. With both teams appearing in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, this will be a quality test for Mexico despite Australia only playing three matches since the World Cup. After winning the Gold Cup, things are finally trending in the right direction for El Tri but with that being a minimum expectation for the team, they have to keep pushing.
Texas, United States this weekend.
El Tri's form over the past few months has been fantastic. Since their 3-0 humiliation at the hands of continental rivals the United States in the CONCACAF Nations League semi-finals back in June, the Mexicans bounced back by winning the subsequent CONCACAF Gold Cup.
After thrashing Honduras and Haiti in the group stages, followed by a shock defeat to Qatar in a dead-rubber, El Tri dominated the knockout round, defeating Costa Rica and Jamaica without conceding a goal before defeating Panama 1-0 in the final at SoFi Stadium in California, with Santiago Gimenez scoring the only goal of the game.
Santi Gimenez missed from the spot. The goal completely flipped the momentum, with Australia forced to sit back and absorb pressure more often.
Then came Cesar "Chino" Huerta. The 22-year-old UNAM Pumas winger came off the bench to make his debut with the senior team, and he capped it off in style. In the 83rd minute, Huerta got on the end of Johan Vasquez's deep lobbed pass and blasted in a left-footed volley.
Mexico and Australia are utilising the international window to set up a string of friendlies starting with a meeting between the two sides on September 9.
Mexico are building up towards the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals in November with clashes against Uzbekistan, Ghana and Germany in the coming weeks, all being played in the USA.
Australia head coach Graham Arnold has announced a vastly changed Socceroos squad for the game, with a number of fresh faces among the players being called up to face the reigning CONCACAF Gold Cup champions at the weekend.
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