The Mexican national team were unable to defeat La Liga's Valencia, drawing 2–2 in the friendly where Mexican fans ended up booing El Tri for its lackluster performance.
Against a team that featured many players that play in Valencia's third division side, El Tri was unable to maintain a 2–0 lead and ended up drawing the match, once again displaying issues in all aspects of the game.
Javier Aguirre started the match with an alternative starting XI, but it was still a very poor performance—especially in the second half—from a team that featured a number of players that hadn't played together before. The fans in the Estadio Cuahutémoc in Puebla booed El Tri off the field at full-time.
The tune-up game should've helped El Tri to gather some sort of momentum before facing the USMNT on Oct. 15. Instead, there's even more doubts about how this struggling team can get a positive result from its upcoming clash against its northern neighbors.
Mexico Player Ratings vs. Valencia
Starters
GK: Raúl Rangel – 5/10 – The Chivas goalkeeper wasn't responsible for either of the Dani Goméz goals, but it wasn't a stellar performance either.
LB: Bryan González – 4/10 – The 21-year-old left-back got his first start for the national team. He wasn't able to clear a towering cross that resulted in Valencia's second goal.
CB: César Montes – 4/10 – Dani Goméz easily cleared the FC Lokomotiv center-back for Valencia's first goal. Montes wasn't aggressive enough in the action and made it easier for Goméz to find space to fire his shot.
CB: Jesús Orozco – 4/10 – El Chiquete looked lost in the action of Valencia's second goal.
RB: Jorge Sanchéz – 5/10 – Sanchéz didn't have a big impact on the game, unable to be as active as he's been in Liga MX with Cruz Azul in recent games.
CM: Luis Romo – 5/10 – A usually very adventurous midfielder that tries to venture up front played very safe and didn't exploit spaces.
CM: Charly Rodríguez – 4/10 – The Cruz Azul midfielder assisted Mexico's second goal but was completely overpowered in the box by Goméz who easily got past him for Valencia's equalizer.
LW: Alexis Vega – 6/10 – Vega was Mexico's best player in the first half and his free-kick goal opened the scoring. He was fortunate the ball hit the post and bounced off the back of goalkeeper Abril Vicent. We saw less and less from Vega as the game went on.
RW: Ozziel Herrera – 5/10 – He was adventurous going forward and scored a great goal to give Mexico a 2–0 lead. However, he was careless in possession at times and one of his loose passes led to Valencia's first goal.
ST: Germán Berterame – 5/10 – It was a difficult El Tri debut for the Monterrey striker. He played much of the game with his back towards goal and didn't have many chances. The ones he did have he failed to capitalize on.
ST: Guillermo Martínez – 4/10 – The Pumas striker had a 1-v-1 against Vicente that could've signified Mexico's second goal in the first 15 minutes. It was the clearest chance of the game but Memote's finish wasn't good, firing his shot straight at the keeper.
Substitutes
RB: Rodrigo Huescas – 5/10 – He was solid in his first minutes for El Tri, continuously sending crosses into the box from the right wing.
CB: Edson Álvarez – 4/10 – The West Ham player replaced Montés in the second half and as a center-back wasn't able to give more security to the back line.
AM: Orbelín Pineda – 5/10 – He was active when he came on and buried the only chance he had which was ruled out for offside.
LW: César Huerta – 5/10 – He tried to generate danger on the left wing with crosses and cutting in to fire long distance shots.
RW: Roberto Alvarado – 4/10 – El Piojo was timid with the ball and didn't influence the game in the time he got. He still hasn't translated his Liga MX form to the national team.
ST: Raúl Jiménez – 5/10 – The Fulham striker didn't have any clear chances but did okay in link-up play. He was well contained by Valencia's center-backs.
CM: Erik Lira – N/A
Manager
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mexico Player Ratings: A Disappointing 2–2 Draw vs. Valencia.
