Sanchez-Carrasco: Mexico must approach Jamaica differently than Uruguay

You would think that a team riding a 20-game unbeaten streak and a 10-game winning streak doesn’t need to change a thing after picking up their most impressive win of the year, as Mexico did Sunday over Uruguay.

While Mexico were the better team over the 90 minutes, El Tri failed in the first half to take advantage of their superior possession. While they moved the ball well and were able to get wingers Jesus Corona and Javier Aquino in great possessions to attack their defenders 1 on 1, they failed to create clear-cut chances that challenged Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera into saves. The few times Javier Hernandez was able to get behind the defense, the center backs were able to recover in time to challenge his shot.

In the start of the second half when Mexico were up a man, it was Uruguay who were the ones who made the adjustments and looked more likely to score. It wasn’t until the final 15 minutes after Andres Guardado saw red and Diego Godin tied the match that Mexico came alive again and were able to get two goals in the final five minutes to take the impressive win.

On Thursday, they face Jamaica in what will be a rematch of the 2015 Gold Cup Final, which El Tri won 3-1 in impressive fashion. In hopes of a similar result, Mexico will need to change some stuff up.

Rest El Kaiser

Rafael Marquez had a Man of the Match performance and showed why at 37 he is still being called up for Mexico. He made great defensive interceptions and scored the game-winner Sunday. At 37years old and with a quick turn around against a Jamaican team that will look to use their size and speed to try and get a result, the best option for Juan Carlos Osorio is to rest captain Marquez.

Sunday was an emotionally draining game and at his age, the body doesn’t recover as quickly from little knocks the way it did 10 years ago. Mexico has the players to adjust and cope without Marquez as El Tri can switch from the 3-4-3 formation they used Sunday to one with four defenders, or if they want to keep the three-man defense push Diego Reyes back and put Jesus Molina in a defensive midfielder role.

Replacing the Prince

While the lead up to the tournament for Mexico was all about Javier Hernandez, the best player for two years now has been captain Andres Guardado. His transformation from a winger to an all-around midfielder has been crucial to Mexico as his passing and leadership is one of the main reason they have yet to taste defeat in 20 games. Sunday he picked up an odd second yellow which resulted in a red card and means Mexico will be without their midfield general.

Osorio has plenty of options to replace Guardado that will fall in the formation he wants to play. The player who plays the closest style to Guardado is Carlos Pena. Pena does tend to be a bit more attack-minded and play between the lines more, but with Mexico most likely being the aggressors in the match that could be what they need. Another option is Osorio could add another center forward like Raul Jimenez, who made an instant impact during his time on the field on Sunday. While no one will be able to replace everything Guardado brings, Osorio has shown the ability to pick the right combination of players that will each bring something to will help overcome the absence of Guardado.

Talavera out

Alfredo Talavera came up with the biggest save so far of the tournament when Edinson Cavani got behind the Mexican defenders and found himself 1v1 with the keeper in the first half. Talavera stood tall and made himself big to block the close-range shot. However, a slew of bad decisions in the second half came close to costing his side. Jamaica will try to use all set pieces as their best chances to score as it will allow for their big bodies like Wes Morgan to get up and try to smash home a goal.

Osorio already mentioned the possibility of using all his keepers during the group stage and where Talavera struggled the most is where Jamaica will look take to score from. Guillermo Ochoa could be in line to start--while he isn’t the strongest out of the air he does read the ball better than Jesus Corona, who’s the other option to start.

Osorio is known for rotating players and formations depending on the team. With Mexico a win away from locking up a spot in the knockout round he will need to do so again with some of his big names.