PHOENIX — Nineteen games without a loss across all competitions makes Mexico the world’s hottest team. It’s the elephant in the room for Uruguay, El Tri’s opponent on Sunday, June 5 (8 pm ET, FS1, Univision, UDN).
The streak is Mexico’s best in national team history--and includes both a Gold Cup championship, and a win in the match that decided the 2017 CONCACAF entrant into the Confederations Cup. That spans almost a full calendar year, and makes Mexico one of the favorites to win this Copa America Centenario.
Uruguay will try to put an end to the streak at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale on Sunday.
“They’re good players, but we can’t be concerned about their offense or match-ups,” said Uruguay midfielder Egidio Arevalo Rios. “They have to be worried about our players, too. We have international-quality players, and we will try to control the offensive end. We hope we can put an end to their streak.”
Mexico’s players, for their part, tried to downplay their recent run of success. “We don’t think about the streak; we just take it game by game,” said defender Jorge Torres Nilo. “To win we have to beat a high-caliber team with big-time players. It's not going to be an easy team, but they also have to deal with us.“
One of the things that has helped Mexico come together–especially in the locker room, reputedly a site of discord in the recent past--is coach Juan Carlos Osorio revealing his lineup a few days before each game.
“That makes for good competition for a spot,” said midfielder Jesus Duenas. “It’s motivation to work hard day by day.”
The streak is a product, said Torres Nilo, of buying into Osorio’s philosophy. “Sometimes the fans in Mexico don’t like how we play, but the important thing really for us is that we keep winning,” he said. “We try to stay level-headed, but the reality is we know there is going to be criticism. We realize it’s always going to be there even if we win.”
