CONCACAF NATIONS LEAGUE
Jamie Lozano: Mexico “lucky” in CONCACAF Nations League semi-final win over Panama
Mexico will face the USMNT in the final at AT&T Stadium thanks to goals from Edson Álvarez, Julián Quiñones and Orbelin Pineda.
Mexico beat Panama 3-0 in the second semifinal of the 2023/24 Concacaf Nations League and will face arch rivals the USMNT in the final at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Despite an impressive victory on paper, head coach Jamie Lozano wasn’t especially impressed with the performance of his team, who he claimed were “lucky”.
Lozano: “The final score is very misleading”
“It’s soccer and we made mistakes. And, luckily for us, they couldn’t take advantage of them. We made some important interceptions to stop them. The final score is very misleading, but we were resolute, we knew how to withstand pressure, remain calm and make the most our opportunities. We’re happy, but we know there are many things to improve. With two days of training, you do what you think is right to win the next game,” Lozano said after the match.
“The scoreboard doesn’t tell the whole story. In two days, you can only do so much. We knew how we could create chances to score and so it proved. We worked on our set pieces, balls into space for (Uriel) Antuna also caused them a lot of problems, although he wasn’t quite clinical enough today. The smallest mistakes can settle a final,” the Mexico coach continued.
“The important thing is to get results. In international tournaments, getting through the group stage is life or death, and you have to learn to withstand pressure and take advantage of your opportunities, your moments, and be efficient in both penalty areas. We had a bit of luck when Panama weren’t able to take their chances, some were saved my ‘Memo’ (Ochoa). But we were resolute,” Lozano assessed after seeing Panama create around twice as many opportunities as his team.
Why didn’t Santiago Giménez play for Mexico against Panama?
‘Jimmy’ opted to leave striker Santiago Giménez on the bench for the while game, with a video showing a visibly upset Feyenoord forward going viral on social media after the game. Lozano explained injuries to other players had forced his hand with regard to substitutions.
“It is always a difficult decision. It wasn’t the intention not to give him game time. We wanted him to come on. We knew that with the spaces they were leaving, we were going to extend our lead, but we had three players who were struggling physically and that prevented us from putting him on.”
Mexico coach Lozano on USMNT final
Another meeting against old rivals the United States gives Mexico a perfect opportunity to win the CONCACAF Nations League for the first time.
“There are no favorites,” claims Lozano. “Whoever does things better and tries to recover better will be best prepared for the final. Both teams are intent on winning the trophy. There are a lot things for us to improve. Even though we didn’t concede a goal and scored three, the score could have been different.”
Finally, the Mexico boss pleaded with the Mexican Soccer Federation (FMF) to stick with him and his team in the long term: “I would like there to be some stability, so we can do our work. Short-term results don’t tell you much. You have to let the project grow and mature. With time, things usually come to fruition.”