The third era of Mexican men’s soccer coach Javier Aguirre started off on the right foot on Saturday as Mexico’s El Tri defeated New Zealand 3-0 in an international friendly in Pasadena, California.
Orbelín Pineda scored five minutes after the opening whistle while César Huerta and Luis Romo netted early in the second half to lead El Tri to a comfortable win in front of a lot of empty seats in the Rose Bowl.
Mexico established control early and attacked throughout the match. If not for the strong play of New Zealand goalie Max Crocombe, the final score would have been even more lopsided.
Man of the Match Romo helped get things started early. Collecting a pass wide left of goal, the Cruz Azul star lofted a cross over the defense and into the box where Roberto Alvarado neatly headed the ball down into the path of Pineda. The AEK Athens winger calmly volleyed a low shot that Crocombe could not stop.
Mexico nearly doubled its lead 10 minutes later when Israel Reyes served up Santiago Giménez but Santi’s first-time shot from 8 meters out was blocked by Crocombe.
Romo missed a chance to get on the scoresheet just before the half when Julián Quiñones found him making an overlapping run into the box. Romo’s one-timer zipped past Crocombe but clanged off the far post and out of danger.
Two minutes into the second half, El Tri hit the woodwork again. This time, Pineda ran onto a Luis Chávez cross but his side-footed flick volley banged off the near post.
Mexico’s luck changed shortly thereafter. From the top of the box, Pineda found Romo wide right and the 2020 Olympic bronze medalist fired a low cross into the goalie box where the onrushing Huerta redirected the ball inside the far post.
Just four minutes later, Romo increased Mexico’s advantage to 3-0, blasting a right-footer from just outside the box. The shot deflected off a New Zealand defender and bounced inside the right post.
Although continuing to create chances, Mexico would not find the net again. Aguirre’s men also displayed solid defense throughout, holding the Kiwis to two shots, neither of which was on target.
Aguirre, 65, is in his third stint as coach of the national team, replacing Jaime Lozano who was fired on July 16 following an underwhelming group stage exit from the Copa America.
Mexico was 10-4-7 under Lozano who had replaced Diego Cocca in June 2023, but the team was playing poorly. El Tri was just 4-1-3 this year and had scored just seven goals, conceding 10 times.
El Tri’s stumbling performances of late help explain why only 25,271 fans showed up at the Rose Bowl (capacity 89,700).
Mexico will face Canada in their next game, another friendly schedule for Tuesday in Dallas, Texas.
With reports from Reforma, Los Angeles Times and ESPN
