El Tri offers another emotional roller coaster show
Because what would Mexican soccer be without a little unnecessary drama and a pinch of gratuitous suffering? This Tuesday, the national team, in its infinite generosity, decided to give us another episode of that soap opera that we love so much: an exciting 2-2 draw against South Korea that left everyone wondering if they had just watched a preparation match or group therapy to manage anxiety.
Forward Santiago Giménez, in an act of late heroism worthy of the best Hollywood films, came off the bench to score a goal in injury time and, apparently, save the honor of a nation in a friendly. Because nothing says “preparation for a World Cup” like needing the final minutes to tie against an opponent who was also testing players. Mexico, always so predictably unpredictable.
A roller coaster of emotions and goals
Raúl Jiménez, that ghost that occasionally decides to materialize in the national team, put the Mexicans ahead with a header in the 22nd minute. Fulham’s unexpected hero now has 44 goals and is just two away from catching Jared Borgetti in second place among all-time scorers. Which is ironic considering he sometimes seems to play in borrowed boots.
But of course, happiness cannot be eternal in the Tri universe. Son Heung-Min, who had the decency to wait until the second half to enter the field (46′), decided to tie the match at 65 minutes. As if a world-class player needed more than twenty minutes to decipher the mysterious Mexican defensive system. Oh Hyun-Gyu completed the temporary humiliation by making it 2-1 at 75 minutes, because what would Mexican soccer be without a bit of collective masochism?
El Tri pressed in the final minutes with that characteristic desperation that so excites and terrifies us simultaneously. Giménez came close to equalizing with a shot from outside the area that the Korean goalkeeper, doing his best superhero impression, sent into a corner kick in the 88th minute. Because obviously it couldn’t be easy.
Finally, in the 94th minute, Giménez decreed equality by cutting off a player outside the area and finishing with a shot that hit the right post. Goal of honor! Wild draw! Everyone happy! Or not? Because at the end of the day, this result means that the Mexicans ended their two-game tour of the United States without a win. But hey, at least they didn’t lose, right? Is anyone satisfied with that?
Aguirre’s experiment: genius or madness?
To face the Koreans, coach Javier Aguirre made eight changes compared to the game against Japan last weekend. Because nothing prepares better for a World Cup than trying so many lineups that not even the players know who they are playing with. Only Jiménez, midfielder Marcel Ruiz and center back Johan Vázquez repeated in the starting lineup. Master strategy or failed experiment? The result suggests that perhaps we should call it “a little of both.”
The Koreans, who beat the United States in a friendly last weekend, did something similar and only repeated two of their players. Which raises the philosophical question of the day: if two teams experiment in a friendly match and no one plays seriously, does the result really matter? Mexico took the lead when full-back Rodrigo Huescas sent a cross from the right towards the heart of the area, where Jiménez headed and sent the ball hitting the left post. A moment of brilliance that made us believe, briefly, that perhaps things would be different this time.
The South Koreans tied through Heung-Min, who received a ball inside the area and shot powerfully to leave substitute goalkeeper Raúl Rangel without a chance. Because what better time to test a backup goalkeeper than against world-class forwards? The Asian team, which was better in the complement, took the lead in a speed play in which Hyun-Gyu scored with a low shot through the Mexican goalkeeper’s first post. Of course yes.
So here we are, analyzing a draw in a friendly as if it were the final of an international cup. The next rivals in October will be Colombia in Arlington, Texas, and Ecuador in Guadalajara. Two new chapters in this endless novel of preparation for the 2026 World Cup. Can we bet how many changes Aguirre will make for those games? Ten? Fifteen? Maybe include some fans from the stadium to complete the eleven?
In the end, Mexican soccer gives us these gems of contradictions: moments of individual genius mixed with collective inconsistencies, results that taste little but that we celebrate as moral victories, and the eternal promise that “next time will be different.” Meanwhile, the fans are still here, consuming every minute of this toxic relationship in the hope that one day El Tri will love us as much as we love him.
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