All Things Mexico

Mexico has gone into the empty belly of the beast and defeated the Netherlands 1-0 at Johan Cruijff ArenA. The game’s only goal — a penalty converted by Raúl Jiménez — was fortunate in that Jiménez was offside before the foul that led to the spot kick, but Mexico’s play in defense, midfield and attack was superior to the Dutch’s over the course of 90 minutes in Amsterdam.

Here are my five key takeaways after watching Wednesday’s match on ESPN2.    

#1. Tecatito is fun as hell.

It’s flown under the radar since it’s not within the FIFA International Match Calendar — meaning European clubs aren’t obligated to release players — but the Mexico national team returns to action on Wednesday night with a friendly against Guatemala at the Azteca. 

It’s been almost a year since we last saw El Tri (a 2-1 victory over Bermuda back on Nov. 19, 2019), but the likes of Miguel Layún, Uriel Antuna and José Juan Macías are finally back in action for the world’s 11th-ranked nation.

After defeating Manchester City in both their meetings last season, many predicted another trial by fire for Pep Guardiola’s side against Wolves at the Molineux on Monday night, especially so with Nathan Aké and John Stones anchoring City’s backline.

But the opening 45 minutes was a master class in command from the Sky Blues (although looking very much like the Lilywhites) with Rodri and Fernandinho protecting the backline and Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling playing in perfect harmony.

Napoli pounced on two defensive mistakes to win 2-0 at Parma in their opening match of the season on Sunday as spectators returned to Serie A for the first time since March.

Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne got Napoli's campaign off to a winning start with second-half goals shortly after club record signing Victor Osimhen was brought on for his debut.

After scoring 17 goals across all competitions during his first season with Wolves — including 13 in the Premier League — many wondered if Raúl Jiménez would experience a sophomore slump last year as defenders came to grips with the Mexican striker.

That certainly wasn’t the case as Jiménez scored 27, including 17 in the EPL and 10 during his side’s run to the Europa League quarterfinals. What’s more, he outlined his overall contribution to the side by providing 10 assists across all competitions.   

On Thursday, July 23, Liga MX returned with the beginning of the 2020 Apertura season (renamed Guardianes to honor healthcare workers). When Atlético San Luis and Juárez took to the pitch, it marked 130 days since the 2020 Clausura season was brought to an abrupt halt and eventually canceled. It’d been four long months, but we now have the complete Liga MX TV schedule to pore over. We'll keep this updated with the latest matches as the season moves along! 

Raúl Jiménez’s goalscoring exploits for the 2019-20 season began back on Aug. 1, 2019, with a brace against Crusaders in the Europa League second qualifying round. Fast forward more than a year and Jiménez has added a further 25 goals across all competitions, including a penalty in today’s 1-0 (2-1 aggregate) win over Olympiacos in the Europa League Round of 16.