Photo Credit: Mexican National Team
By Jonny Rico
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The current FIFA World Cup champions Germany and the reigning Olympic champions Mexico went head to head to kick off each team’s participation in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Twice El Tri held the lead over Germany and twice the European side had to come from behind to draw level and earn a point.
Mexico came out with an aggressive game plan looking to pressure the German side in every portion of the pitch. The high pressure and high tempo of the Mexican game plan was relentless as it looked to force Germany into defensive mistakes that it could take advantage of.
The 2012 Olympic hero for Mexico Oribe Peralta was back to lead a new generation of Mexico player. Peralta, who scored both goals for Mexico in its 2-1 win over Brazil four years ago to secure the Gold Medal, opened the scoring with a header in the middle of the box six minutes into the second half of the match.
Serge Gnabry nearly tied the game for Germany two minutes later but his shot from inside of the box went wide of the goal. But in the 57th minute Gnabry did not waste his chance for a second time and put the ball past Mexican goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera.
Both teams were fully committed to the back-and-forth and neither tried to grab possession of the ball to slow down the pace of the match. Four minutes after the Germany equalizer, Mexico were on top once again. Rodolfo Pizarro got the final poke of the ball after a Marco Bueno diving header was saved and bounced off the crossbar.
El Tri was fully aware of the danger that the German side presented in each set piece play. And it was reminded of that when Matthias Ginter, with the mark of Mexican left-back Jorge Torres Nilo on top of him, broke free in the middle of the box to head in a corner kick cross past Talavera to once again bring the scoreboard level with Mexico.
By the late stages of the match both sides were content to finish the debut match with a point.
Mexico
