Gerardo Martino, willing to make good on his threat and leave these players out of El Tri

The 2-1 victory over Nigeria in AT&T Stadium gave the Mexican national team the boost confidence that they needed to face the remainder four games that they will face in the next few weeks, as they were able to beat one of the best African teams with an alternative lineup.

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Although one of the things that Gerardo “Tata” Martino will have to solve before the next game is the mistakes on defense, something that costed El Tri keeping a clean sheet, as Rodolfo Cota was responsible for the Nigerian goal.

But after one of the most irregular participations in recent history in the CONCACAF Qualifiers, he also realized, and already started to change, that the Aztec squad needs to improve the level of the roster, which is why he gave the chance of playing to some of the players that usually watch the game from the bench, as he’s going to start discarding the ones with the lowest level.

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Prior to revealing the 36-man list that the Argentine coach called up to face the summer games, reports from several sports news outlets revealed that he asked some of the usual players on the roster to earn more playing time to elevate their level in the upcoming months or else they won’t be part of the final roster.

Even if Cota is a regular with Club León, he evidenced that he doesn’t have the level to be Guillermo Ochoa’s backup, although he’s not the only one which future is hanging by a thread, as Diego Lainez and Orbelín Pineda had the chance to show that they still have the level to play for El Tri even if they were erased from their teams in the past season, but failed to succeed on their quest.

The last opportunity for Lainez and Pineda will be over the summer transfer window, as they know that they must find a new team where they can play regularly if they want to be considered by Martino for the final roster, as they have the talent but lack the playing time.

They are not the only questionable ones

Martino also knows that Henry Martín and Santiago Giménez are a coin in the air for now, as they can be the strikers that make a difference on the pitch for El Tri or leave them in disadvantage, but it will be up to their new coaches in Liga MX to help them recover their playing time, hence the level needed to be part of El Tri.

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