Jaime Ordiales, the director of sports for the Mexican national team, said he feels “professionally embarrassed” after El Tri was kicked out of the group stage of the 2022 World Cup.
At a news conference, Jaime Ordiales and the president of the Mexican Football Federation, Yon de Luisa, said, “We’re embarrassed, and we have to say sorry.” “We have to deal with this failure, and it’s our fault that we have to show how embarrassed we are about it.”
El Tri had one point going into the last game of the group stage. They tied 0-0 with Poland and lost 0-2 to Argentina. The team needed Poland to beat Argentina or Saudi Arabia to lose by less than three goals.
But Albiceleste’s 2-0 win over Poland was fatal, even though El Tri tried hard and had a thrilling ending in which they scored twice and had two more goals taken away. Argentina won Group C and went on to the next round. Poland beat Mexico by a goal difference of one.
“If we had scored one more goal, we would have won,” De Luisa said. “We’re going to change how things are set up, like the number of foreign players in tournaments.”
In the last seven World Cups, Mexico has made it to the round of 16, which makes this year’s loss even worse. The last time the team made it out of the group stage was in 1978 when they lost to Poland, West Germany, and Tunisia.
El Tri will now try to change how they run things and make plans for the World Cup in 2026. Several changes have already happened. Gerardo Martino is no longer the manager, and the search for a new leader is already underway.
Ordiales said, “His contract was up yesterday.” “In the end, what counts is what happens. With a failure like this, he can’t go on. I know he works hard because I see him every day, but we work for the national team, so it’s best to look elsewhere.”
Ordiales and De Luisa said they have no plans to leave their jobs and instead want to rebuild for 2026.
“There’s no need to resign, and now that this cycle is over, the league owners will decide whether or not to keep doing this,” De Luisa said.
Mexico has already qualified for the next World Cup. The tournament will be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
