Henry Martín on Mexico’s World Cup exit: “We’re to blame”

Mexico’s 2022 World Cup campaign was a resounding failure on many levels. Tata Martino’s team didn’t even managed to get through the group stage - with just one win, against Saudi Arabia, a draw against Poland and defeat to Argentina. El Tri ended third in Group C and were only their way home - failing to make it past the group stage for the first time since 1978. Days after the failure, forward Henry Martín broke his silence and admitted that the players are the ones to blame for the disappointment.

“I really feel that we played well in all of the three group games. Against Poland, we were doing very well but needed to attack them more. They suffered when Argentina attacked them and that is what we needed to do. Against Argentina, I thought our approach was very good, but they have Messi... in one move they changed the game,” he said.

“Against Saudi Arabia, we set out to win. We did everything that we should have done earlier in the tournament. It was really our fault that we left it so late. Everyone blames Tata because that’s the easy thing to do, but we are the ones who are to blame,” he added.

To end, the América striker said that he was full of confidence in the final group game against Saudi Arabia. “There were some long faces, we were very sad, and of course we didn’t want that. Personally, on the day of the game, I left the hotel feeling very confident because I had faith in the team - that was the feeling I got from my team mates. I knew that I was going to score and that I could help the team a lot,” he ended.

Henry Martín started the games against Poland and Saudi Arabia, scoring Mexico’s opening goal in the last game. La Bomba had been competing for a place in the side with Raúl Jiménez and Rogelio Funes Mori.