Santiago Giménez talks about when Tata Martino left him out of Mexico World Cup squad

Among the many dark chapters in Mexico’s recent soccer history, there is one that the fans have still not forgiven: the absence of Santiago Giménez at the Qatar 2022 World Cup. It was a decision questioned by all and was a valid response at the time, given the positive form the Mexican was going through last year.

After the elimination at the group stage, the first time El Tri failed to get through for 7 editions of the tournament, the question became even more pertinent and worrying.

A year after the event, the striker himself finally spoke about the decision, making his case to the TV show Hugo Sanchez presents. He opened up on the words that Gerardo Martino, the then-Mexico coach, had for him when he left him out.

‘I’ll be honest, it was sad for me, it was a World Cup, a dream’

“I remember once he told me” Santi said, “‘today you are better than this striker, today you are at below and it depends on you’. After that talk I started to do things right, but in the end, he left me out. I have nothing against Tata, on the contrary, I am grateful because he gave me confidence when I was 19-years-old, he took me to the senior team, I have no ill-feeling towards him”.

“I’ll be honest, it was sad for me, it was a World Cup, a dream”, he continued, “I understand that there are always more matches and it’s my turn to play in the next one”. His humble words do not, however, hide the fact that both at that time and nowadays, Giménez was and is the Mexican striker with the best goal-scoring rate, both for club and country.

Currently, Giménez is happy at Feyenoord: he is an undisputed starter, top scorer in the Eredivisie and one of the most in-demand strikers for the summer transfer market. Undoubtedly, and despite the explanations given by ‘Tata’ at the time about the lack of playing time in Europe, the disappointing World Cup might well have been very different for Mexico with the Chaquito on the pitch.