Mexico suffered the worst defeat with Gerardo Martino as coach

In its first presentation on European soil, Gerardo Martino's Mexico suffered the worst defeat of its cycle. Not because of the result, which was 1-0 against Wales and doesn't compare with the 0-4 against Argentina in 2019, but because of the level shown by El Tri, which was well below expectations. Kieffer Moore, 13 minutes into the first half, scored the only goal of the match that was played in Cardiff.

Attached to the intentions of their coach, the Argentine Gerardo Martino, El Tri came out to exercise possession of the ball and in the first minutes tried to open the court to the left side to take advantage of the ability of Jesús Corona. On the right side there was not much activity since the player who usually attacks from that end, Hirving Lozano, came out to play 9 in the absence of nominal center-forwards who were indisposed to play this game.

For their part, Wales assumed a cautious attitude in the opening minutes. The Dragons were retracted, but even so they knocked on the Mexican door with two shots from outside the area that required goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. Suddenly, in an unexpected and showy move, the British squad took advantage. Tyler Roberts drilled the defensive wall on the right, leaned on Jonathan Williams and he enabled Moore who signed it 1-0 with a luxury definition: fine tack shot to cross the goalkeeper.

Mexico accused a lack of resources to react until after the 30th minute when Jesús Gallardo won the position from Williams with a deep pass but ran into goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey, who made an early and timely start to clear the danger. The men of Tata Martino were finally able to string together a long possession and Tecatito Corona sneaked into the area to take a shot with a rope that walked in front of the goal.

Before the break, Mexico wove a play down the middle that Luis Rodríguez concluded with a shot from the front line that ended in Hennessey's gloves. The start of the second half was similar to that of the first. Mexico took the ball, but Wales attacked on the right with danger through a hole from Roberts and a heel shot from Hal-Robson Kanu that went wide.

At 55, Mexico was close to the tie with a left-footed shot inside the area of Chucky Lozano that Hennessey deflected with one leg. For the rest of the game, Wales controlled the game with a poor ball handling game and a stoppage on the court that prevented Mexico from establishing and taking advantage of their touch.