Mexico manager Gerardo Martino and Poland gaffer Czesław Michniewicz spoke after their sides fired blanks on Tuesday, with contrasting opinions - Martino believed El Tri "deserved to win,", whilst from the other side, "it was a close match."

Expectations for the second game of Group C had been set high, following an incredible underdog story, which saw World Cup favourites Argentina slayed by Saudi Arabia, a side ranked outside of the top 50 by FIFA.

However, Mexico's opening game against Poland didn't live up to those, finishing as a tedious stalemate.

El Tri underwent a first half in their favour, conjuring up multiple decent goalscoring opportunities, but unfortunately for them, they couldn't make any of them count.

The second half was more equal, with both outfits desperate to break the deadlock, though despite the Mexicans' 61% possession, they endured another goalless half with Poland.

Bialo-czerwony key man Robert Lewandowski had a chance to net his first ever World Cup goal on 58 minutes, when his side were awarded a penalty, albeit, he failed to capitalize, as Mexico 'keeper Guillermo Ochoa heroically kept out the tame spot-kick.

  • "I think we deserved to win" - Mexico boss

El Tri boss Gerardo Martino was first up to face the media, conveying his clear views that his South American side should have taken all three points, following their dominant first half display.

"We deserved to go in with some kind of advantage in the first half, we had clear chances.

"In the second half the game was more even and Guillermo made a save; I think we deserved to win.

"We lacked precision in front of goal, but we had a lot of intensity and control during the match. We stopped the opponent.

"I liked the team's play during the first half; we had many high points during the match.

"In a World Cup, what is needed is to be effective in any goal opportunity you have in a match."

Mexico almost doubled the amount of shots that the Polish were able to create, so it has to be said that there was only one team in it at times: "Poland did not have many chances. The clearest chance of the game (the penalty) comes from a mistake in our game, we created that opportunity for them.

"Today I saw a stadium full of Mexicans supporting Mexico. That gave me hope; people understood that the most important thing is the National Team and today they delivered a message with their behavior."

Martino also insisted that the 'bore-draw' doesn't affect Mexico's game plan going into their next fixture against Argentina: "Today's result does not change our game plan for Argentina. Now, each of our group rivals will have two finals."

  • "It was a close match" - Poland gaffer

Next, we heard from Poland boss Czesław Michniewicz, who gave a fair reflection on the 0-0 draw.

"If you play at the World Cup and you draw 0-0 and you had an eleven that you didn't use, there will always be a shortage," he said, adding: "These things happen in sport, at many tournaments great players don't score. Sometimes it happens. No one has a grudge against Robert.

"It was a close match. The result determined behavior and change. I think it worked quite well on our side. Mexico didn't create too many chances. There were a lot of opportunities, which we expected. We waited for our opportunity and when it came, we didn't take it. But as I said earlier, no one has a grudge against Robert." - added Michniewicz.

Poland's next game takes place on Saturday, when they will come up against history-makers Saudi Arabia. The Bialo-czerwony commented on the upcoming face-off: "I know the strength of Arabia, I said from the beginning that I know the strength of Arabia, I watched their matches, for you it will be a surprise.

"Arabia didn't surprise me, except maybe that they won against Argentina. I didn't expect that, but the way they played didn't surprise me. We have a plan, we have to analyze today's game, but we will talk about it in the team.

“A draw in the first match of the tournament doesn't take away chances for us or the Mexicans. And that's the most important thing right now."

Michniewicz continued to show empathy towards the talisman Robert Lewandowski: "I feel sorry for Robert because I know how much he wanted to score at the World Cup.

"In the dressing room after the game, it was clear that he was overwhelmed by this situation. He watched his shot on the monitors in the locker room.

"He himself knows best how to cope at this point. And we will support him and we are sure that he will help the team at this tournament more than once. Today it was not easy for him, because all the time he was marked by two Mexicans who were constantly playing in contact."