Mexico holds embarrassing record despite winning the last game
In the third round of Group C of the World Cup in Qatar, Mexico faced Saudi Arabia. In the first half of the game, the two sides could not get the ball into the goal until Mexico scored two points in the second half thanks to Henry Martín and Luis Chávez, but Saudi Arabia scored a goal in stoppage time from Salem Al-Dawsari. In the end, although Mexico won 2-1, they failed to advance as they wished.
Mexico failed to score in the first two matches of this World Cup. First, it played against Poland 0-0, and then lost to Argentina 0-2. Therefore, in the final group match against Saudi Arabia, it is crucial to win by a big score to have a chance to advance. In the first half of the game, the two teams showed a strong desire to win, and there were 9 fouls and 3 yellow cards in the fierce body collision. In the 47th minute of the second half, Henry Martín scored the first goal for Mexico; in the 52nd minute, Luis Chávez scored a free kick into the net.
Although Mexico won this game, compared with Poland with the same points, its world cup journey can only stop at the top 32. With the elimination, Mexico’s record of advancing to the top 16 for seven consecutive times also came to an end. Looking back on the last time Mexico entered the group stage but was eliminated in the round of 16, it was an old event in 1978.