Following Mexico’s elimination from the World Cup group stage on Wednesday, the team and head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino have parted ways, Martino revealed in the immediate aftermath of the game. Mexico defeated Saudi Arabia, 2-1, but lost the goal differential tiebreaker with Poland to be the Group C runner-up.
“I am the first responsible for this terrible disappointment and frustration that we have,” Martino told reporters after the game, per ESPN’s Cesar Hernandez. “As the person in charge, it causes a lot of sadness, I fully assume responsibility for this great failure. My contract ended as soon as the referee blew the final whistle and there is nothing more to be done.”
Martino took over the Mexican men’s national team in 2019 following stints as the manager for Barcelona, MLS’s Atlanta United and the Argentinian men’s national team, among many other stops. This year marks the first time that Mexico did not make it out of the group stage of a World Cup for which it qualified since 1978. In the last seven World Cups, Mexico had been eliminated in the round of 16.
Mexico needed a multi-goal victory on Wednesday to have a chance of progression, and it led 2-0 in the second half before conceding a late goal that doomed the team’s hopes of advancing. Before that, it twice had what would have been a third goal ruled out for offside.
“For us, the objective was to score three or four goals. It’s a shame because we tried and we did our best,” goalkeeper and team captain Guillermo Ochoa said. “We created opportunities and I feel like we could have scored more goals today. We weren’t sharp, there were offside calls and it’s a shame.”
