Mexico Sub 23 achieved its first victory in the Maurice Revello Tournament (formerly Esperanzas de Toulon) after beating Saudi Arabia 3-2, which places them one step away from the next round.
The Aztec team opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, thanks to Alan Bautista who took an unstoppable left foot shot for the Arab goalkeeper. Although the taste for the Tricolor did not last long because Saudi Arabia had a penalty in their favor due to a handball from Rodríguez; Talal Haji, a 16-year-old Saudi player, stepped up to collect and did so perfectly, scoring the 1-1 tie, 43 minutes into the game.
For the second half Saudi Arabia took the lead with Abdulmalik Al Jaber’s goal (51′) and four minutes later the tricolors achieved the tie after the whistler ordered a penalty and Luca Martínez (55′), who plays for Rosario Central del Fútbol Argentine, put the ball in the corner and with that the game was tied at two.
The technician Ricardo Cadena made adjustments and it worked, and even the emotions kept coming and with them the goals. Martínez Dupuy left the ball for Emilio Rodríguez, who scored the third tricolor goal.
In the final minutes of the game, Mexico continued to make plays that put Saudi Arabia in danger, but the national team could not find the definition and therefore did not score the goal that could end the game.
Now on Sunday, sharp at 06:00 am Mexico will face Ivory Coast, which is the leader of Group A, and it will be the match in which El Tri has the possibility of advancing to the Final of the tournament.
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“We don’t give up”
Ricardo Cadena, coach of the Mexican National Team, acknowledged that it was not easy get a positive result; However, he stressed that, although they were aware of the physical disadvantage, they did not give up and won.
“It’s very hot here, fatigue was a determining factor in the game. At halftime we said that we had some time left to react and the idea was to come back and give it our all, I think.
“We managed our highlights well, we were able to keep a cool head despite the second goal we conceded. Above all, we did not give up and had an impeccable mentality. Physically we will always be at a disadvantage compared to the Europeans, Africans and Asians, but we tried to compensate with our team,” said the Mexican coach.
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