Miguel Herrera changed 10 of his players from the team that beat the Netherlands last week, and his B team wasn't quite up to the occasion against Belarus on Tuesday. Striker Raul Jimenez netted a brace, but his second-string defense and midfield were extremely shaky in a 3-2 loss.
Belarus vs. Mexico: Final score 3-2 after wild second half
Raul Jimenez scored twice, but it wasn’t enough.
Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
The first half was mostly uneventful, with both teams struggling to create clear chances. Belarus’ best came in the 22nd minute when Hugo Rodriguez botched a clearance, but Nikolai Signevich shot the rebound wide. El Tri almost scored in the 42nd minute off a nice through ball by Giovani dos Santos to Arturo Gonzalez, but Sergey Chernik was in good position to make a comfortable save.
It appeared a dull match was going to play out, but the second half was a completely different affair. Just 10 minutes into the period, both sides had already scored twice.
Jimenez netted the first of his two goals in the 48th minute, and he was impressive in the build-up as well. He held the ball up in a sea of defenders and laid off a pass to start the move, then took off towards the goal. Despite getting knocked down, he was ready when Jonathan dos Santos chipped the ball into the box, took it down and finished past Chernik.
Paul Aguilar gave away the lead for Mexico two minutes later, barging down Sergei Kislyak in the box. Igor Stasevich had his penalty saved by Alfredo Talavera, but Kislyak was alert and won the battle to the rebound, which he finished off to level the match.
Jimenez struck back by tapping in a cross by Giovani in the 53rd minute, but once again, his team conceded the lead quickly. On the second occasion, Nikolai Signevich was the scorer, heading in a cross by Anton Putsila.
Ilya Aleksievich had a huge miss in the 78th minute, shooting way wide of an empty net off a Putsila cross. But Belarus would make sure his error was mostly forgotten three minutes later, when Pavel Nekhajchik found himself in the right place at the right time. A bad pass deflected off a Mexico defender and right into his path, and with no one around him, he scored the winner from 10 yards.
Belarus: Chernik, Shitov, Poutevich, Yanushevich, Volodko (Matveichyk 76’), Kislayk (Dragun 61’), Aleksievich, Gordeichuk, Putsila (Bordachev 85’), Stasevich (Nekhajchik 79’), Signevich (Kalachev 57’)
Goals: Kislyak (51’), Signevich (55’), Nekhajchik (81’)
Mexico: Talavera, Aguilar, Rodriguez, Dominguez (Reyes 89’), Venegas, Ponce (Vela 70’), J. dos Santos, Corona (Herrera 54’), Gonzalez (Guardado 65’), G. dos Santos (Hernandez 80’), Jimenez
Goals: Jimenez (48’, 53’)
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