'Chicharito' Javier Hernandez was able to net his 22nd career goal for El Tri, but it wasn't enough for Mexico to overcome Poland in Warsaw on Friday night. Despite some bad luck and a red card, the hosts were the better side throughout most of the evening and deserved at least the 1-1 draw that they got, if not a bit more. 'Chepo' Jose Manuel de la Torre made a couple of changes from his Gold Cup winning side and neither paid off, as Mexico were nowhere near their best.
Mexico Vs. Poland, 2011 International Friendly: Full Time, El Tri Outplayed In Disappointing Draw
Pawel Brozek scored the opening goal of the game in the 27th minute, finishing from close range on a low cross from Adrian Mierzejewski, who put in a great ball. ‘Kuba’ Jakub Błaszczykowski was ineffective as Mexico concentrated in shutting down Poland’s left side, but they got plenty going through the middle and down the right.
It didn’t take long for Mexico to wake up and find the equalizer, as Hernandez netted in the 35th minute off of a corner kick, assisted by Andreas Guardado. It seemed as if Mexico were going to come out with some momentum in the second half after finishing off the first half, but nothing of the sort happened.
Poland came out guns blazing in the second half and were the much better side to start the period, as Aldo de Nigris came in for Chicharito while Sinha and Jesus Molina continued their first half struggles. Some good goalkeeping by Alfredo Talavera and some good last ditch defending by 'Maza' Fransisco Rodriguez and Hector Moreno kept Poland from scoring again, but Molina and Carlos Salcido had rough games and most of Poland's attacks came from the areas in which they were responsible defensively.
Ludovic Obraniak saw a red card for a 70th incident in which he lightly kicked Moreno, then Moreno embellished the contact. The referee was not necessarily wrong for showing red to Obraniak, as his kick technically constituted ‘violent conduct’ under the rules, but Moreno’s consistent harassment of Obraniak and faking of an injury was unsporting, and that’s being kind.
In the end, the extra man didn't matter much as Mexico failed to find a winner. They created a couple of scoring opportunities, but Przemyslaw Tyton had a couple of good saves down the stretch, completing a very good performance that will have Wojciech Szczęsny thinking about stepping up his own game to keep his place between the sticks for Poland.
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