Nations League: Diego Cocca makes his debut at Suriname vs. Mexico

• Diego Cocca debuts as coach of the Mexican National Team.
• Suriname hosts Mexico in the Nations League.
• Who will win?

Nations League: Suriname vs. Mexico. The new coach of the Mexican National Team, Diego Cocca, has made his official debut and the Argentinian has launched his first starting 11 against a Surinamese team that doesn’t look like the favorite to win. The match took place in the Concacaf Nations League tournament.

On Thursday, March 23, the Mexicans made their 2023 debut, after their resounding failure in the 2022 World Cup. El Tri will demonstrate its level at the Franklin Essed Stadium in Paramaribo, Suriname. Will we see something different this time?

Nations League: Suriname vs Mexico

After a forgettable first half, and making several changes to have possession of the ball, the Mexicans sought to take the lead in the second half. However, during the first minutes Suriname continued to generate danger in Carlos Acevedo’s goal.

It was not until the 63rd minute when in a stop play, the Aztec team managed to get the first goal on the scoreboard thanks to a shot from the Mexican defender Johan Vazquez. At 67 striker Santiago Gimenez missed a clear penalty option in order to widen the score. Mexico got its 0-2 victory thanks to an own goal at 81 by the local team.

Carlos Acevedo

Being the favorites, the Mexicans did not show their best in the first 45 minutes, since goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo was required to protect his goal several times. The Suriname team was superior in the first half.

Cocca’s team failed to put pressure on the rival goalkeeper since they only recorded a single shot on goal by midfielder Carlos Rodríguez. The long-distance shot went into the hands of the goalkeeper. Even on social media netizens criticized the Tri’s performance in the first half.

There will be no World Cup tie

The Mexican team is in Group A of the Nations League and will seek to lead the group. It should be mentioned that thanks to the fact that the next World Cup will take place in the United States, Mexico and Canada, these three teams have their place guaranteed as hosts.

For this reason, none of the aforementioned teams will participate in the World Cup Qualifiers, they will only have friendly matches on each FIFA date. The format will change for the next world cup so there will be more teams in the competition.

Cocca divides the team

Diego Cocca traveled to Suriname with 22 players and left 12 more in Mexico as possible starters to face Jamaica next weekend. However, after harsh criticism, the Argentine coach has revealed the reason for the divide, according to AS.

“That the players feel it that way, because it’s how we feel it. I as mainly responsible. Here there is no Selection A or B or C or anything. Here is the National Team of Mexico and each game is important. It’s not that there is one party more or less important than another. In each game the players are showing me who wants to participate in the National Team. We have to make things clear internally. This is for performance, there has to be a lot of internal competition, we need each player to be at their highest level,» he explained.