Mexico’s Luis Chávez: “We didn’t understand the coach’s tactics.” | OneFootball

Speaking at a press conference after his team’s exit from the World Cup despite a 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia, Mexico midfielder Luis Chávez criticised Mexico coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino’s approach in Qatar, saying:

“In the second game [with Argentina] we didn’t understand what he wanted us to do, we defended well for a period of time, but we did not create any chances – so goals could not be scored and we ended up losing that game. Personally, I feel very sad, we stopped doing a lot of things in the first two games and we reacted a little too late. We hoped to be able to qualify but, in the end, we didn’t make it… I’m leaving [Qatar] very down about it.”

Chávez scored arguably the goal of the tournament so far in the win over Saudi Arabia via a long-range free-kick but it wasn’t enough to maintain Mexico’s streak of making the last 16 at every World Cup since 1986 as Argentina and Poland qualify from Group C.