ARLINGTON, Texas — This was supposed to be the big one. There are only a few dates left for national teams to get together before the World Cup, and still fewer before World Cup squads are named.
Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio may bring in more than the 23 players he’ll put on the final list before making cuts prior to send-off matches against Wales and Scotland, but Tuesday’s game against Croatia essentially is the last chance for players to make their case. Osorio seemed excited. This is a Croatia team he hoped would play in a similar style to Germany.
“We use two or three items when making decisions as to who to compete against. In this particular case, we think that Croatia, like Bosnia, Serbia, they all tend to play an elaborated type of football,” Osorio said when the match was announced.
“That means long sequences of passes and control of the game, basically, are through possession of the football. We identify ourselves with that type of football and obviously with different types of players they try to play like Germany, like Argentina, Brazil. That means keeping possession. Amongst their best players, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic. We certainly think they are one of the top teams. It’s no surprise to anyone they’re 15th in the FIFA rankings.
“I strongly believe the higher the competition there is, the best for the preparation. Croatia is going to be a very difficult team.”
Maybe not so difficult. Rakitic is here, but Modric is back in Europe. So too are Mario Mandzukic, Ivan Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic, among others. Osorio made no attempt to hide his frustration, making an unscheduled stop to speak with the press Sunday upon arriving in Dallas and elaborating Monday.
“No,” he said flatly when asked if the game would still be a glimpse into how Germany will play. “We’re thinking obviously that without Modric, they don’t have not only a generator of play in the middle but also don’t have a conductor who finds lines to pass through with the ability he has to make decisions. It’s impossible to say so because they don’t a player as good or better. If Rakitic is there, we thinking about a different player. Without Mandzukic, they don’t have a forward who plays outside going inside like he does with Juventus.”
It is Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic’s call to prioritize his team’s friendly with Peru last week over the game with Mexico on Tuesday, just as it’s Osorio’s right to save players like Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez and Guillermo Ochoa for the Croatia game instead of playing them against Iceland.
It’s also fair to ask questions about Dalic’s strategy. Peru is considered a weaker team than Mexico – Croatia defender Vedran Corluka said Croatia itself thinks so. Why roll out the top team against Peru rather than Tuesday?
“My plan was that we share time for all our players because now is the last chance to check on some players before the World Cup. We have 20 very good players, I want to check everybody, but now is the last time to check them,” Dalic said Monday. “Especially, about Luka, he was injured a month, he came back now and played in the game. It would be a big risk if Luka played two games in four days. I want to keep him for Real for Champions League and also for us. This was our plan.”
That still leaves five players who seem to have work to do with the national team after the Peruvians dealt Croatia a 2-0 defeat on Friday – the team’s first loss in the Dalic era. Instead, Dalic will use the game to see who can compete against a Mexico team that he said he doesn’t lack respect for.
His plan seems like an odd one so close to the World Cup, especially with one Real Madrid player still with the team in Mateo Kovacic, and Rakitic still in the group but other key players gone. Osorio is peeved, but of all the things you can control on the soccer field, what the opponent does isn’t one of them.
Osorio too has a plan. Lots of them in fact. He may be proudest of the individual plans drawn up for his staff and given to the players potentially in the pool. Even without Croatia’s strongest team to imitate Germany, El Tri is seeing those plans come to fruition with several players rounding into top form ahead of the stretch run.
“I think the most important of all is that we’re preparing this plan as well as possible. The plan was designed for everyone. It was each one’s individual decision [whether to follow it]. Fortunately there are concrete cases, Marco, has completed and gone through the plan. Also, Carlos,” Osorio said with Marco Fabian and Carlos Salcedo seated alongside him. “I think those two are two good examples that the plan is still being followed I wouldn’t say to the letter but 90 percent for the majority of our players. This is gratifying.”
A win over Croatia would’ve been too. Now Osorio is back in “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” territory, where a result is expected and a defeat would generate all sorts of negative headlines and emotions with just the send-off matches yet to be played before Russia. In some ways, that makes Tuesday’s match the big one, just not the one Mexico was hoping for.
