soccer
‘Tata’ Martino welcomes his Mexico team to Girona
Mexico coach ‘Tata’ Martino has been in Catalonia since last Friday inspecting his team’s pre-World Cup training facilities
El Tri coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino was on hand to welcome his players to Hotel Camiral on Tuesday, which is where the Mexico national team will stay until Thursday 17 November to prepare for the World Cup in Qatar. Martino didn’t travel with the rest of the expedition last Sunday, instead opting to arrive in Girona on Friday in order to inspect their training facilities for the next fortnight. In addition, he also went for a look around Estadio Montilivi, where friendlies against Iraq (9 November) and Sweden (16 November) will be played, leaving impressed.
Mexico bidding to go beyond World Cup round of 16 after seven successive eliminations at that stage
In Catalonia, Mexico will have the perfect conditions required to get their heads down and prepare as best they can for the upcoming World Cup. El Tri will stay at Hotel Camiral, inside the PGA Catalunya golf resort in Caldes de Malavella, where they will be well catered for. They will train, meanwhile, at La Vinya, the training ground of LaLiga club Girona, who will also be training there until their World Cup break begins; the Catalans’ last match takes place on Sunday 13 November, against Quintanar in the Copa del Rey. In any event, sharing won’t be an issue; the 20,000m2 facilities boast two soccer fields, a hybrid grass field measuring 110m x 72m and a natural grass field of 160m x 72m. In addition, there is a smaller field for specific training drills with smaller groups of players, a gym and rooms for physios and medical staff. Just a few months ago, Girona shared the facilities with another elite-level team in the shape of Manchester City, the flagship club of the City Football Group, of which the Catalans are a member.
Martino will take his first training session in Girona in the next few hours and World Cup fever will continue to build around El Tri. At present, there are 19 players (those playing Liga MX and MLS) on site from the 31-man roster announced by the coach last week, plus 15 youth team players who will provide extra bodies in training. With confidence high, the players have set themselves the goal of finally going beyond the World Cup round of 16, which is where Mexico have been eliminated in each of the last seven tournaments.