The players that are benched on their teams but will arrive in Qatar thanks to Gerardo Martino

With one game left to be played, Mexico National Team ensured that they have one of the three and a half tickets to Qatar 2022 that CONCACAF gives out, as only Canada MNT, USMNT and Costa Rica have possibilities of having direct passage to the World Cup.

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But they still have to earn at least one point in the last game, on Wednesday in Estadio Azteca against El Salvador, to guarantee the direct ticket to the World Cup and leaving Costa Rica as the team that waits until June to the playoffs.

The results have been positive for the Mexican squad, although what doesn’t convince is the way they perform, as they usually win by the bare minimum, and some of the players that Gerardo “Tata” Martino keeps calling, given that they haven’t contributed to El Tri.

Amongst all the players that Martino considers to be essential to his system, there’s at least two that don’t play on a regular basis with their teams, as they’ve been relegated to the bench, either for lack of chances or poor performances.

Diego Lainez, the benched player that is a star for El Tri

Since his arrival in La Liga in 2019 to Real Betis, Lainez has struggled to find a place in the starting XI of Los Béticos, as he has played 71 games in the three seasons he’s been on the roster, although for most of those games he’s had just a few minutes on the pitch.

He arrived at Betis as one of the most promising Mexican players, which is why they paid $15.4 million for his permanent transfer, but his talent has been diming given the lack of opportunities he’s received, as he’s only scored four goals in the three years he has in Spain.

Jesús Gallardo, erased from Monterrey’s starting XI

Jesús Gallardo arrived in Monterrey in 2017 after his fantastic performances with Pumas, but in recent years he has seen his form diminished and with it his playing time, especially since Javier Aguirre arrived to the team.

In the current season, he’s played in 9 games of Liga MX, although he’s played less than half of the minutes and has started only three games, all of them while Aguirre was still coaching. Since Victor Manuel Vucetich took over, he has played less than 90 minutes.

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