Why does Mexico not have a stronger NT?

VorZakone

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Are there other popular sports in Mexico next to football?

With a 130M population (top 10 worldwide) you'd expect them to be a more prominent country in international football. Even Uruguay with a 3.5M population have outperformed Mexico in the last decade.

I don't recall any other sport being popular in Mexico like cricket is in India.
 
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VorZakone

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Because cartels compete with clubs to recruit young lads with a knack of finding the target.
In all seriousness, the cartels aren't everywhere though, are they? They don't terrorize all 130M Mexicans I assume.
 

USREDEVIL

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Being an American I'd wager to guess that they just don't do well against the European teams. They have a very good record in Concacaf even against Brazil and Argentina. But against the Euros they just aren't as competitive as Brazil and Argentina have been.
 

antohan

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Are there other popular sports in Mexico next to football?

With a 130M population you'd expect them to be a more prominent country in international football. Even Uruguay with a 3.5M population have outperformed Mexico in the last decade.
What do you mean "even Uruguay"? For 100 years Uruguay has been and remained -bar a handful of years- the country with most Copa America wins.

Argentina pipped us to the top in 1993, we got back on level terms and reclaimed the lone lead in 2011 eliminating Messi's Argentina, in Argentina, at Messi's hometown.

"Even Uruguay", bloody hell.
 

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Was generally my dark horse team in World Cups growing up. Always thought Giovani Dos Santos could have done way more with his talent. Ochoa seemed to be exciting to watch as well somehow even though he was in goal. They always seem to have two or three decent players but lack depth. Absolutely no idea why though.
 

432JuanMata

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What do you mean "even Uruguay"? For 100 years Uruguay has been and remained -bar a handful of years- the country with most Copa America wins.

Argentina pipped us to the top in 1993, we got back on level terms and reclaimed the lone lead in 2011 eliminating Messi's Argentina, in Argentina, at Messi's hometown.

"Even Uruguay", bloody hell.
No need to get offended I think he meant in the way that yous have a very small population but are always competitive, sure I’m in Ireland and we have 4,7m people and we are woeful :(
 

RedDevilCanuck

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Basketball and NFL are big there too. Proximity to the states and all that.
 

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The question should be: What are Uruguay doing that other countries dont?

With a population of close to 5mil they are brilliant and always produce world class players.
 

Sandikan

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Same question with Russia.
Even after losing a tonneload of breakaway countries over the years they are still above Mexico in population.
 

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Mexican football has many of the same problems that English football has, notably a very 'insular' attitude.

The Liga MX for a while has been one of the wealthiest leagues outside Europe, with a lot of money from TV, sponsors and rich owners. They have been able to import players from South America, and hold on to their best Mexican players for longer (or often driving up the price putting European players off). Many Mexican players have preferred to stay at home rather than play for mid-table club in a La Liga or Serie A, when the financial incentives are not great and they would have to fight for their place. Often it's different if Utd coming calling for Chicharito. When Guardado played for Valencia, he said that he could easily make more money at a club in Mexico. If would be much better for the Mexican MT if more Mexican players in their mid-20s moved to Europe to play in one of the top leagues in the world to broaden their horizons and develop, even if it is for a smaller club in a major league, freeing up space for younger Mexican players who do well at youth tournaments to get more starting minutes in Liga MX. Numerous Mexican players return from a U-20 World Cup and don't start in Liga MX.

In general Mexican football is a money making machine, with a vast array of sponsors in Mexico and the USA. You can argue that the Mexican NT is the best supported sporting team in the USA bar none, with them frequently selling out huge NFL stadiums for friendlies against Ecuador, Paraguay, New Zealand etc (and from what I gather the ticket prices often aren't cheap). But with them money often comes recklessness, complacency and / or entitlement, and many stupid decisions.

Also often I've noticed too much satisfaction about being the best in CONCACAF, when that's really not a good achievement given their resources compared to Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama etc.
 
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There are two broad reasons, as far as I can tell (@GuybrushThreepwood has done a good job of addressing the bulk of it):

• Historically, football powerhouses have been divided into two distinct blocs — Europe and South America, and it's not coincidental that they strongest teams have almost always emerged from there. There were significant advantages to belonging to one of these blocs: coaching methods could be transmitted/shared more easily (e.g. Reynolds to Michels for totaaalvoetball or Rappan to Hererra for catenaccio), close rivalries with strong teams or continental tournaments would propel you further (iron sharpens iron and what have you), the players could easily transfer within the bloc and have a more eclectic experience (many of them returned and aided the evolution of the game in their countries), et cetera. Mexico would have have a far more robust historical footballing tradition if it was aligned with the CONMEBOL (which has the likes of Brazil and Uruguay and Agentina), instead of the CONCACAF (which has no real giant or reference point).

• Their domestic league is a spectacle that is flushed with money, doesn't have many with elite football nous to direct the operations, and is not conducive for the actual creation or promotion of top-notch talents — with a lot of distinctly average players being imported at cost of emerging ones and the likes of Boselli (failed to launch at Genoa and Wigan) ranking in the Top 3 for scorers in recent years:

Furthermore, their funneling system to top domestic leagues and clubs in Europe is not very efficient — some of this can be traced back to the first point as Argentina or Brazil have a strong and long-established tradition of exporting top players to the likes of Madrid and Juventus and Milan from the '50s as well as directly youngsters to top academies. You get exceptions with players like Sánchez, Márquez, Chicharito (or dos La Santos when he joined La Masia) but those are few and far between.
 

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Being an American I'd wager to guess that they just don't do well against the European teams. They have a very good record in Concacaf even against Brazil and Argentina. But against the Euros they just aren't as competitive as Brazil and Argentina have been.
Physicality? They always strike me as busy & tenacious but lacking in that top quality.

I’d bet it’s more to do with poor coaching.
 

utdalltheway

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Baseball seemingly is popular too, which I didn't know until I was talking to a Mexican guy at work and he was all about it.
He said it was the sport he grew up with in the Guadalajara area, irrc.
 

Eggric

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Pragmatically, Mexico has some major factors in its favor that would suggest that they should have a very strong national side at World Cups. Take the capital (Mexico City) where many of the best Mexican players play (Club America, Pumas, Cruz Azul etc):

1. The players live, train and play at very high altitudes (+2250 meters above sea level), so should in theory have great cardio. (For perspective, that's more than twice the altitude of Mount Snowdon!)
2. They also experience all 4 seasons every day. It is freezing cold in the middle of the night, and it gradually heats up to tropical temperatures by the mid-afternoon, every day. So the players are adaptable when playing under any weather condition, anywhere in the world. They play some games in extreme sun with no shade, and many others under floodlights on cold, stormy evenings.
3. The players regularly travel vast distances in-between various home and away league and cup games around Mexico, across mountains, deserts, jungles and coastal regions - just like teams do in World Cups when they play 3 group games in different cities.
4. The population is huge (top 10 in the world) - and football is a national sport, so they have many players to choose from.

However there are some serious issues, that mean Mexico will never be as successful as they could be:

1. Unprecedented corruption. I won't go into this too much, but it's scary how deep this runs.
2. Some of the policies in club football are, to put it mildly, out-dated. Guadalajara FC (Where we bought Chicharito from) doesn't allow foreign players to play in their club. I'll let you draw your own thoughts on that one.
3. The actual quality of their top flight football is nowhere near as good as the English 2nd tier (Championship). The pace is surprisingly slow, perhaps due to altitude, and the average BMI of some players is definitely a lot higher than you would find even in League 1 or 2 in England.
4. Colin Kazim-Richards (remember him?!) is scoring goals for fun in the Mexican top flight... with 10 goals in 31 games...
 
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The question should be: What are Uruguay doing that other countries dont?

With a population of close to 5mil they are brilliant and always produce world class players.
They are sandwiched between 2 soccer World superpowers in Brazil and Argentina. A bit like the way Belgium are sandwiched between France, Germany and Holland.

Mexico players more often than not seem to stay in Mexico or play in the MLS. Whereas Brazilian and Argentinians come to play in Europe by the truckload. I don't know why Mexican players don't move to Europe in bigger amounts.
 

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Imo, countries with weak leagues or countries that don't have a mechanism for exporting young players will find it impossible to develop a strong national team.
 

limerickcitykid

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3. The actual quality of their top flight football is nowhere near as good as the English 2nd tier (Championship). The pace is surprisingly slow, perhaps due to altitude, and the average BMI of some players is definitely a lot higher than you would find even in League 1 or 2 in England.
4. Colin Kazim-Richards (remember him?!) is scoring goals for fun in the Mexican top flight... with 10 goals in 31 games...
These just simply aren't true.

I am a season ticket holder for a Championship club and have seen plenty of Liga MX sides in the CCL. There is nothing at all that puts Liga MX nowhere near the Championship. The average BMI of players? Smacks of something you've pulled straight from your hole.

First off what world are you living in that 10 goals in 31 games is considered scoring for fun for a striker? Second of all those aren't his stats anyway. He has 13 goals in 42 league appearances and 1 goal in 7 in cup competitions. Nothing about those numbers says scoring for fun. His league record comes to roughly a goal every 220 minutes, not particularly outstanding and actually worse than his record in Eredvisie.
 

Eggric

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These just simply aren't true.

I am a season ticket holder for a Championship club and have seen plenty of Liga MX sides in the CCL. There is nothing at all that puts Liga MX nowhere near the Championship. The average BMI of players? Smacks of something you've pulled straight from your hole.

First off what world are you living in that 10 goals in 31 games is considered scoring for fun for a striker? Second of all those aren't his stats anyway. He has 13 goals in 42 league appearances and 1 goal in 7 in cup competitions. Nothing about those numbers says scoring for fun. His league record comes to roughly a goal every 220 minutes, not particularly outstanding and actually worse than his record in Eredvisie.

The players are a lot stockier than I expected. Also, the players aren't the tallest in the world. (With regards to general diet and nutrition, Mexico recently overtook the USA as the most obese country in the world (Several sources: do a Google search for "obesity in Mexico")

I got his stats from wikipedia, which states 10 games in 31 goals. Not sure if it is as accurate as your source, so apologies for that I guess.

As I was going off wikipedia - 10 goals in 31 (right or wrong) is a good record for someone of Colin Kazim-Richards quality. Put into perspective, Greenwood has 5 goals in 25 appearances (according to wikipedia, again- apologies if this not correct?).
 

VanKenny

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Im mexican, and while the reason why we are mediocre could fit in 10 pages, im going to keep it short and sweet:

There are two main reasons; Corruption, and mentality.

Corruption: Think about the best south american players history has given us. Pele, Neymar, Aguero, Di Maria, Tevez, Luis Suarez, Ivan Zamorano, Maradona. What do all of them have in common other than being great footballers? They grew up in absolute poverty. They showed talent at an extremely young age and at 5 years old they were playing and wrestling on the pitch against kids twice their age. Naturally they get scouted and they get the chance to make it pro.

In Mexico, that doesnt happen. Check this statistic: 90% of the mexican liga MX players come from the 10% richest cities on the country, and only 10% of the players come from the other 90% (poorer) cities.

Coaches, directors, owners, etc often CHARGE a young player and his family money just to put him on the teamsheet. If a kid wants to make his pro debut often he gets asked money in return, big sums of money that for a really talented but very poor player its impossible to get.

Basically anyone wants to get money, from the team captain all the way to the runners of the clubs.

Thats basicaly the grasp of it, but it gets much deeper than that.





Mentality:

Mexican people as a whole have a defeatist mentality. They may say they are superior or as good as anyone, yet deep inside they dont believe it. When things get tough, mexicans have self doubt.

Also mediocre mentalities. Giovani Dos Santos was a great talent yet he could be seen partying or trying to get girls every weekend, then ended up at MLS at like age 28 or something. Carlos Vela is as talented as any player in the world yet "he doesnt like football that much", was close to signing for Barcelona but he went for the MLS instead, now hes playing like a crack there because theres no pressure there.

Chicharito had the right mentality, yet didnt have the talent the other two did. Btw those three all come from rich families or are related to historical football families on top of that.


Rafa Marquez was our last great world class player, and he too comes from a rich family. Mexican football cant be fixed unless we pull it from the roots and start from scratch, but that will never happen.
 
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FootballHQ

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Always wondered this. They never seem to be a nation that has a surprise run at the world cup, always last 16 and no more. Until last 10 years you didn't get a huge amount of their squad coming to play in europe.

Remember then being so much hype for front 3 of Nery Castillo- Vela and Dos Santos around 2008.
 

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Apparently the answer is corruption. Getting into football is based on money, not talent.
 

Demyanenko_square_jaw

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Not being familiar with many of their players, i've often been quite impressed since the 90s by their national team at World Cups and Copa America. They usually play a nice high tempo passing game with a lot of movement, pressing and determination, though they weren't as good at the last world cup. I can't think of many times i've seen them genuinely outclassed by European teams. They played Croatia off the park in 2014 and were unlucky against Netherlands too that year.

However they've gone out at the round of 16 stage every single time at the world cup since '94. A lot of those were very tight games against strong sides, but it does suggest a bit of a mental block.
 

Andersonson

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Mexican football has many of the same problems that English football has, notably a very 'insular' attitude.

The Liga MX for a while has been one of the wealthiest leagues outside Europe, with a lot of money from TV, sponsors and rich owners. They have been able to import players from South America, and hold on to their best Mexican players for longer (or often driving up the price putting European players off). Many Mexican players have preferred to stay at home rather than play for mid-table club in a La Liga or Serie A, when the financial incentives are not great and they would have to fight for their place. Often it's different if Utd coming calling for Chicharito. When Guardado played for Valencia, he said that he could easily make more money at a club in Mexico. If would be much better for the Mexican MT if more Mexican players in their mid-20s moved to Europe to play in one of the top leagues in the world to broaden their horizons and develop, even if it is for a smaller club in a major league, freeing up space for younger Mexican players who do well at youth tournaments to get more starting minutes in Liga MX. Numerous Mexican players return from a U-20 World Cup and don't start in Liga MX.

In general Mexican football is a money making machine, with a vast array of sponsors in Mexico and the USA. You can argue that the Mexican NT is the best supported sporting team in the USA bar none, with them frequently selling out huge NFL stadiums for friendlies against Ecuador, Paraguay, New Zealand etc (and from what I gather the ticket prices often aren't cheap). But with them money often comes recklessness, complacency and / or entitlement, and many stupid decisions.

Also often I've noticed too much satisfaction about being the best in CONCACAF, when that's really not a good achievement given their resources compared to Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama etc.
Great answer. Thanks for sharing!
 

VanKenny

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Not being familiar with many of their players, i've often been quite impressed since the 90s by their national team at World Cups and Copa America. They usually play a nice high tempo passing game with a lot of movement, pressing and determination, though they weren't as good at the last world cup. I can't think of many times i've seen them genuinely outclassed by European teams. They played Croatia off the park in 2014 and were unlucky against Netherlands too that year.

However they've gone out at the round of 16 stage every single time at the world cup since '94. A lot of those were very tight games against strong sides, but it does suggest a bit of a mental block.

USA beat us in 2002's round of 16, was one of the most painful defeats of the national team. On 2006 we gave Argentina a HELL of a game and was decided on extra time by the most ridiculous goal ive seen to this day. 2010 Argentina wiped the floor with us though.

2014 we were great against Croatia, but Brazil wiped the floor with us too. Somehow we tied that game after Ochoa made like 20 saves haha.
 

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Because cartels compete with clubs to recruit young lads with a knack of finding the target.
This. Come join us or we kill your whole family and then ask you one more time.

Plus, of the over 33000 drug-related homicides in 2018 I have to imagine there were one or two kids that had the potential to at least make a career in football.

That and what @VanKenny said in the first half of his post is spot on and, imo, you get a big clue to the answering the OP's question.
 

lex talionis

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My two cents is that Mexico actually put up consistently very good NT sides, but they run up against Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany, who are almost always outstanding and who, among them (and France now) lend each other the trophy.

England and Spain each have their one WC trophy, but you could ask the same question why they haven't had more WC wins. Portugal and The Netherlands are very small countries so no complaints with their records historically.

The Mexico NT have a hard time getting past the round of 16 because unlike Brazilians and Argies, Mexican footballers rarely leave Mexico to play club football and facing top European sides is a hard adjustment. And when they have to face Brazil, they're usually playing one of the top 3 or 4 sides on the planet. Then why is Brazil consistently better than Mexico? That's just the way it is. Brazil are consistently better than everyone else except for a magical side that comes along like France 1998 and 2018, Spain 2010 and England 1966. Brazil expect to win the WC every time, whereas Mexico would be thrilled to make the QF. Mexico has a competitive and rich national league and Mexican fans are pretty happy with what they've got.
 

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2014 was their best chance really. Were leading Holland up to 89th minute and didn't even take it to extra time. Would've had Costa Rica in quarter finals.

Other 3 world cups they've had either Argentina or Brazil so tough draws allround.

They were actually very lucky to qualify for that world cup, U.S helped them out by scoring two injury time goals in Panama to get them a play off (v New Zealand rather than Commebol team which would'be been far more difficult).

Perhaps missing a world cup would wake them up a bit. Interested to see the USA response for 2022.
 

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Was trying to think of a great Mexican manager aswell, they seem thin on the ground compared to many of the South American nations who can appoint when they hit hard times e.g. Tabarez at Uruguay. Pellegrini will probably be next Chile manager aswell.

Javier Aguirre managing in La Liga but he's already been their manager at a world cup (2002).
 

VanKenny

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My two cents is that Mexico actually put up consistently very good NT sides, but they run up against Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany, who are almost always outstanding and who, among them (and France now) lend each other the trophy.

England and Spain each have their one WC trophy, but you could ask the same question why they haven't had more WC wins. Portugal and The Netherlands are very small countries so no complaints with their records historically.

The Mexico NT have a hard time getting past the round of 16 because unlike Brazilians and Argies, Mexican footballers rarely leave Mexico to play club football and facing top European sides is a hard adjustment. And when they have to face Brazil, they're usually playing one of the top 3 or 4 sides on the planet. Then why is Brazil consistently better than Mexico? That's just the way it is. Brazil are consistently better than everyone else except for a magical side that comes along like France 1998 and 2018, Spain 2010 and England 1966. Brazil expect to win the WC every time, whereas Mexico would be thrilled to make the QF. Mexico has a competitive and rich national league and Mexican fans are pretty happy with what they've got.

NT puts up decent sides every WC, and we often give top teams really tough games, but thats it, that has been our thing for the last 10 world cups or so. Just being a "decent" team. Not one single 5th game appearance, that has more to do than just having really hard opposition, thats on us.

If you think about it, individually we never have lots of actually great players to choose from. We have had two great players that could be considered world class: Marquez and Hugo Sanchez and thats about it. Forget about having a top 50 or top 100 player on the Balon d' Or standings on the last 10 years, i mean thats weird, not a single one?

A country with 130 million people absolutely obsessed with football, and cant produce one single top 50 or top 100 player? If you look at Argentina there are thousands of them spread over all the european leagues, but we have a dozen maybe.

Uruguay as shown in the OP is the best example. They have had Forlan, Cavani and Suarez in the last 20 years, absolutely top tier strikers, in a country of 3M. Our best has been Chicharito in the same timeframe, thats ridiculous. Jimenez seems like hes on his way to being above Chicharito but thats about it, those two are top 50 strikers in the world if anything, but the three Uruguayans are easily top 5 at their time.

We just dont produce quality, thats the end of it.
 

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Guardardo's been a good player in europe at PSV and a few clubs in Spain.

Ochoa european career been a disappointment but he's always a brick wall in world cups.

Raul Jimenez is one of the best number 9s in premier league imo, done very well after his struggles at Atletico Madrid and particularly Benfica.

Hirving Lozano was excellent at PSV and in world cup although seems to have struggled at Napoli. Will probably see him in premier league at West Ham or somewhere like that soon.

Hector Herrera decent midfielder although just a squad player at Atletico Madrid.

There's a decent core there. Likes of Vela and Dos Santos could easily still be playing in good standard at europe if they had a bit more desire and ambition.

Compare that to 2002:

https://www.worldfootball.net/teams/mexiko-team/wm-2002-in-japan-suedkorea/2/

Just four players in europe then. Marquez at Monaco and guys in Spain like Blanco.

2006 had just 3 and one of those was Jared Borgetti who hardly played at Bolton although excellent targetman for NT.

2010 had about 8.
 

SteveJ

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Mexican people as a whole have a defeatist mentality. They may say they are superior or as good as anyone, yet deep inside they dont believe it. When things get tough, mexicans have self doubt.
I appreciate that you're Mexican yourself but is it right to label an entire nation of so many varying personalities and mindsets in this way?
 

VorZakone

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Im mexican, and while the reason why we are mediocre could fit in 10 pages, im going to keep it short and sweet:

There are two main reasons; Corruption, and mentality.

Corruption: Think about the best south american players history has given us. Pele, Neymar, Aguero, Di Maria, Tevez, Luis Suarez, Ivan Zamorano, Maradona. What do all of them have in common other than being great footballers? They grew up in absolute poverty. They showed talent at an extremely young age and at 5 years old they were playing and wrestling on the pitch against kids twice their age. Naturally they get scouted and they get the chance to make it pro.

In Mexico, that doesnt happen. Check this statistic: 90% of the mexican liga MX players come from the 10% richest cities on the country, and only 10% of the players come from the other 90% (poorer) cities.

Coaches, directors, owners, etc often CHARGE a young player and his family money just to put him on the teamsheet. If a kid wants to make his pro debut often he gets asked money in return, big sums of money that for a really talented but very poor player its impossible to get.

Basically anyone wants to get money, from the team captain all the way to the runners of the clubs.

Thats basicaly the grasp of it, but it gets much deeper than that.





Mentality:

Mexican people as a whole have a defeatist mentality. They may say they are superior or as good as anyone, yet deep inside they dont believe it. When things get tough, mexicans have self doubt.

Also mediocre mentalities. Giovani Dos Santos was a great talent yet he could be seen partying or trying to get girls every weekend, then ended up at MLS at like age 28 or something. Carlos Vela is as talented as any player in the world yet "he doesnt like football that much", was close to signing for Barcelona but he went for the MLS instead, now hes playing like a crack there because theres no pressure there.

Chicharito had the right mentality, yet didnt have the talent the other two did. Btw those three all come from rich families or are related to historical football families on top of that.


Rafa Marquez was our last great world class player, and he too comes from a rich family. Mexican football cant be fixed unless we pull it from the roots and start from scratch, but that will never happen.
Thanks for your contribution mate. Just curious, where does this defeatist mentality come from?
 

VanKenny

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I appreciate that you're Mexican yourself but is it right to label an entire nation of so many varying personalities and mindsets in this way?
Thanks for your contribution mate. Just curious, where does this defeatist mentality come from?
Its well known here, and it appies to everything not just football. Of course its a generalization and not everyone is like that, and we are slowly breaking that mold, but still mostly true. It all comes down to the same, corruption.

Mexico is leaded by bad people, thats pretty much it. A few have tried to change that from the core and they end up dead. Everyone in power does things with their own best interests in mind.

Mexico has 7 out of the 9 ecosystems in the world, we have oil, we have the richest mineral mines as well worldwide, we have people of all races, we have two oceans at our sides and the richest country at our north. We could be a first world country but that aint happening anytime soon, not without A LOT of changes.
 

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Was trying to think of a great Mexican manager aswell, they seem thin on the ground compared to many of the South American nations who can appoint when they hit hard times e.g. Tabarez at Uruguay. Pellegrini will probably be next Chile manager aswell.

Javier Aguirre managing in La Liga but he's already been their manager at a world cup (2002).
This guy was great. Might not have been the best coach ever, but god, he was entertaining!

 

Charles Miller

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I watch mexican sports media in the youtube. They have a wrong diagnostic of the situation imo. They think playing the Copa America would make them grow. I dont think this is case, because if they can't be more competitives by playing all world cups, its not the Copa America that is going to change anything. Its at clubs level that your football can evolve.

In order to be more competitive, they need to play the Libertadores and other Conmebol competitions on regular basis. They did it in the past sometimes, but they need to stay in the Conmebol for decades to get strong. Also, to win the first world cup is really tough anyway.
 

FootballHQ

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With the way they play they'd probably be a really good fit for Jorge Sampaoli thinking about it.
 

MalcolmTucker

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Im mexican, and while the reason why we are mediocre could fit in 10 pages, im going to keep it short and sweet:

There are two main reasons; Corruption, and mentality.

Corruption: Think about the best south american players history has given us. Pele, Neymar, Aguero, Di Maria, Tevez, Luis Suarez, Ivan Zamorano, Maradona. What do all of them have in common other than being great footballers? They grew up in absolute poverty. They showed talent at an extremely young age and at 5 years old they were playing and wrestling on the pitch against kids twice their age. Naturally they get scouted and they get the chance to make it pro.

In Mexico, that doesnt happen. Check this statistic: 90% of the mexican liga MX players come from the 10% richest cities on the country, and only 10% of the players come from the other 90% (poorer) cities.

Coaches, directors, owners, etc often CHARGE a young player and his family money just to put him on the teamsheet. If a kid wants to make his pro debut often he gets asked money in return, big sums of money that for a really talented but very poor player its impossible to get.

Basically anyone wants to get money, from the team captain all the way to the runners of the clubs.

Thats basicaly the grasp of it, but it gets much deeper than that.

Very interesting, I had no idea.

Mentality:

Mexican people as a whole have a defeatist mentality. They may say they are superior or as good as anyone, yet deep inside they dont believe it. When things get tough, mexicans have self doubt.

Also mediocre mentalities. Giovani Dos Santos was a great talent yet he could be seen partying or trying to get girls every weekend, then ended up at MLS at like age 28 or something. Carlos Vela is as talented as any player in the world yet "he doesnt like football that much", was close to signing for Barcelona but he went for the MLS instead, now hes playing like a crack there because theres no pressure there.

Chicharito had the right mentality, yet didnt have the talent the other two did. Btw those three all come from rich families or are related to historical football families on top of that.


Rafa Marquez was our last great world class player, and he too comes from a rich family. Mexican football cant be fixed unless we pull it from the roots and start from scratch, but that will never happen.
Where do you stand on the mentalities of Mexican boxers? Sure you have your Margaritos (who was still tough despite his cheating) but there are plenty of examples of Mexican pugilists with a strong warrior mentalities.
 

Lay

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Didn't they once send the B team to the Copa America and the full squad to the Gold Cup? Totally wrong mindset in my opinion.