Final Preparations Underway for El Tri

By Jonny Rico
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The sun is shinning longer hours. Summer time is upon us. The summer of a World Cup year. This feeling only comes twice per decade, everyone must prepare for the world’s biggest sporting event. Especially the players participating in it.

The Mexican National Team said goodbye to their U.S.-based fans on Monday with a 0-0 draw against Wales at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, Calif.

El Tri will now head to Mexico City where it will say goodbye to its Mexican fans on June 2nd with a match against Scotland at Estadio Azteca. The preparations will end on June 9th when Mexico faces Denmark in Brøndbyvester, Brøndby Municipality (Denmark).

Mexico will face reigning World Cup champions Germany in its opening match of in Russia and based on today’s performance, there is plenty for manager Juan Carlos Osorio to be worried about. 

“We need to get in front of goal,” said the Colombian manager.

El Tri created plenty of chances in front of the Welsh goal. Goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey was a key factor for Wales to walk away from the Rose Bowl with the draw. Manager Ryan Giggs praised his goalkeeper’s performance and added:

“We hope he is not that busy in the upcoming matches. We hope to be able to control possession a bit better.”

The over 80,000 fans in attendance at the Rose Bowl were not happy. Heavy boos were heard at halftime and even heavier ones at the final whistle. This could have marked Osorio’s final game as Mexico manager in the United States.

El Tri is scheduled to play a friendly match against the United States on Sept. 11. Whether or not Osorio will continue on as manager after the conclusion of the World Cup is not certain. The Colombian manager has dreams of coaching his home country’s National Team.