The Mexican team started the road to the World Cup in Qatar with an emphatic 4-0 win over Iraq on Wednesday in a friendly in Girona, with goals from Alexis Vega, Rogelio Funes Mori, Jesús Gallardo and Uriel Antuna from in penalties for the team coached by Argentine Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino.
Mexico
40
Iraq
Mexico: Alfredo Talavera; Néstor Araújo, César Montes, Héctor Moreno, Jesús Gallardo; Carlos Rodriguez, Hector Herrera, Luis Chavez; Roberto Alvarado, Henry Martin and Alexis Vega. Luis Romo, Rogelio Funes Mori, Kevin Álvarez, Uriel Antuna, Jesús Angulo and Érick Sánchez also played.
Iraq: Jalal Hashim; Ahmed Al-Kaabi, Karrar Al-Abbasi, Ali Atiyah, Munaf Al-Tekreeti, Hamzah Al-Hamadani; Mohammed Majid, Ibrahim Alkaabawi, Amjed Al-Magsoosi, Hussein Almajidi; and Aymen Ghadban. Ahmed Gurgo, Hasan Sayyid, Hiran Rafiq, Amir Al-Ammari, Alai Hussain and Amar Muhsin also played.
The objectives: 1-0, min. 3: Alexis Vega. 2-0, min. 48: Rogelio Funes Mori. 3-0, min. 68: Jesus Gallardo. 4-0, min. 90+2: Uriel Antuna from a penalty.
Referee: Cuadra Fernández (Spanish).
Incidents: Played at the Estadi Municipal de Montilivi in front of 1,661 fans.
view the game file
The Mexican team -part of Group C of the World Cup with Poland, Argentina and Saudi Arabia-, concentrated in Girona to prepare for the World Cup, hardly needed three minutes to make their superiority clear: Jesús Gallardo crossed from the left Wing and Vega scored the first goal of the night with a shot from the edge of the small area. Soon after, a visiting defender deflected a header from Luis Chávez who was already on target.
Iraq, clearly inferior, played a 5-4-1 that many times turned into a 6-3-1, so Mexico controlled possession at all times and monopolized the ball, almost always in the opponent’s field : the Mexican fans he started singing the passes between his players with ‘oles’ in the 18th minute.
In an untroubled first action for goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera, Mexico multiplied its advantage before the break with a shot by Héctor Herrera denied for a corner by the Iraqi goalkeeper, a shot by Vega from on the balcony of the area crossed from the crossbar and a shot to the side of the net by Gallardo, from the pass of Carlos Rodríguez.
At the break it started to rain, but this was the only change in the script, because the second half also started with Mexican dominance (79% possession in the first half) and with a goal in the 3rd minute: Uriel Antuna ran down the right and crossed for Rogelio Funes Mori to score 2-0.
Along with Antuna and Funes Mori, defenders Kevin Álvarez and Jesús Angulo and midfielders Luis Romo and Érick Sánchez also entered the pitch during the break. Martino has not changed.
The 3-0 came after playing time (68′), with a great shot from the left and inside the area by Gallardo. Already in extra time, Antuna converted a penalty with his hands to wrap up Mexico’s victory in their first World Cup warm-up match. The second and final is next Wednesday with Sweden, also on Spanish soil.
Source: La Verdad
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