TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico -- Mexico has now gone 270 minutes without conceding a goal. The last was the Netherlands’ Klaas-Jan Huntelaar penalty, which left Mexican hearts in shreds and the team out of Brazil 2014 at the round of 16 stage, again.
Of those 270 minutes, only Francisco “Maza” Rodriguez has featured out of the four center backs that played at the World Cup, and the Cruz Azul player only went 45 minutes in the first match against Chile.
The new generation of Mexican defender is slowly being given the chance under coach Miguel Herrera and Thursday’s 2-0 victory over Honduras was further evidence.
“El Piojo” tried Enrique Perez on the right of the back three, Julio Cesar “Cata” Dominguez in the center and Oswaldo Alanis on the left.
There were reasons to be hopeful and the balance was good. Honduras defeated Mexico the last time the two met, but was restricted to just a couple of real chances in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas. And the bottom line was that it was another clean sheet.
All three looked comfortable on the ball and Herrera seems to be looking for exactly the kind of player to start the attacks as Rafa Marquez has been, especially when he’s played for Mexico in the 5-3-2 system.
Dominguez and Alanis combined in the 15th minute to provide Mexico’s first real chance, with the latter playing the type of positive pass forward Herrera will have applauded.
“The three center backs bordered on perfection,” was Herrera’s glowing review after the game.
Yet the positives were offset by teething errors. Early in the match, the trio took time to get to grips positionally and Honduras created the first opportunities on goal.
There were even a couple of mistakes in distribution of the ball, but Marquez – in particular – has made those kind of mistakes over his career. The key for him is that they have been by far outweighed by the positive outcomes his range of passing has created.
The trio isn’t the physically imposing, although Alanis showed what he can do in the opposition’s end of the field with a well-taken header for a goal.
Herrera does, however, seem to be on the right lines with his defense, especially if he is going to persist with the same system and not switch to a back four. He can only use what he has and needs time to settle the new players in. All three of the starters on Thursday play in a back four at their club sides – Perez as a right back for Atlas – and need game time to adapt. It’s a long process and only really Hector Moreno is guaranteed to be there throughout the process to Russia 2018, providing he can get fit and back to form.
The likes of Dominguez and Perez don’t have the same aura about them as Rodriguez, Carlos Salcido or Marquez, but they are the best Mexico has, at least for now.
Hugo Ayala, Perez, Hiram Mier, Dominguez, Alanis, Miguel Herrera and Diego Reyes – if he starts playing at club level – know Herrera is watching and the door is open to them to stamp their authority on this team and become a permanent fixture in it.