Gallardo is ‘Iron Man’ in Martino’s Mexico
The Monterrey wing-back has clocked up 3,678 minutes, alongside Ajax’s Álvarez and América’s Ochoa
On the eve of the release of Tata Martino’s squad list for the Qatar World Cup, it is worth reminding ourselves of Mexico’s most frequently used players since his first appearance in March 2019 against Chile. This is where Jesús Gallardo began his astonishing collection of minutes for El Tri, ending up with well over 3,000.
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The number of 3,678 minutes approximates to around 40 of the 61 games Martino has managed over three years at the helm, showing a strong preference for the wing-back. The Pumas UNAM academy graduate tops the list of the ten ‘iron horses’ along with Edson Álvarez (Ajax), Guillermo Ochoa (América), Néstor Araujo (América), Héctor Moreno (Monterrey), Héctor Herrera (Dynamo Houston), Carlos Rodríguez (Cruz Azul), Luis Rodríguez (Tigres), Raúl Jiménez (Wolves) and Jesús Corona (Sevilla).
From these ten players it is surprising to see that Luis ‘Chaka’ Rodríguez has not featured recently nor has Jesús Corona, the latter through injury. In relation to the top five, together with Gallardo, we can see that Edson Álvarez also has over 3,000 minutes (3,244) after which the participation then drops to under 3,000 (which is still over 30 games, on average).
The full list:
- Jesús Gallardo 3678 mins
- Edson Álvarez 3244 mins
- Guillermo Ochoa 2880 mins
- Néstor Araujo 2659 mins
- Héctor Moreno 2541 mins
- Héctor Herrera 2440 mins
- Carlos Rodríguez 2303 mins
- Luis Rodríguez 2290 mins
- Raúl Jiménez 2162 mins
- Jesús M. Corona 2098 mins