LOS ANGELES – Concacaf is Mexican territory. 11 coats of arms certify it. One-eyed lion from a zoo in recurrent decline. However, he has only had two impact gunners: Luis Roberto Alves Zague, with 11 goals (1993); and Javier Hernández, with seven (2011).
The top scorer in the Gold Cup remains Landon Donovan of the United States, with 18 touchdowns, but in a total of seven editions of the Concacaf stellar tournament. Zague got 11 in a single competition, in just five games, although scoring seven against Martinique.
Javier Hernández, in six games, scored seven goals in a single Gold Cup, three of them against El Salvador, but that was enough for him to be the scoring champion of that edition.
With the notorious and notable absences in most of the campuses, with the assembly of the Mexican team that Gerardo Martino intends, is Rogelio Funes Mori obliged to be the scoring champion of this 2021 Gold Cup? Undoubtedly.
The eight absences of the United States have already been discussed, in a deplorable act of surrender by Gregg Berhalter, without even firing a bullet. Panama. Honduras and Costa Rica will also miss at least three or four players on their roster.
Playing at home, with the stands in favor, all their games, Mexico opens against Trinidad and Tobago, this Saturday, the group stage. The Trinidadians arrive from stowaways to the Gold Cup leaving French Guiana on the road, in the very poor qualifying process. Curaçao and El Salvador complement the caravan.
Beyond the defensive fragility that Mexico will find in his group, and later in the tournament, before the readjustments of the different teams, Rogelio Funes Mori will find the perfect solidarity in his team, to aspire to match the sizes of Zague and Chicharito, as scoring leaders in a Gold Cup.
In Héctor Herrera, inconsistent champion with Atlético de Madrid, he will undoubtedly have the quarterback of the Mexican offensive, and the Twin will have two accomplices of depth, overflow and punctuality in deliveries to the area, such as Hirving Lozano and Jesús ‘Tecatito’ Corona .
At the time, neither Zague nor Chicharito had companions in the attack with such a European tour and football conditions. Having Herrera, Lozano and Corona at the service of a finisher like Funes Mori, without a doubt places him in unbeatable perspectives to be a scoring champion, or at least, assume that responsibility, in his claims to play the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
In favor of Funes Mori, there is also the apparent acceptance of the group, as revealed by Héctor Moreno to ESPN.
“He is fulfilling a dream of being able to participate at the highest level. Fighting for a spot for the next World Cup. What we all need is a good reception, to be calm and comfortable so that there one can perform at their best on the field. He already knew people from Monterrey, for him it was very easy. He has been a very calm person, very open, he tries to get to add and adapt to the group and within the field to leave everything. Surely it will go very well for him and the better it goes for him, it will go for us, ”he said about El Mellizo.
Héctor Herrera himself joined the festival around Funes Mori, after scoring after four minutes against the Nigerian team, against whom Zorrillo himself scored two.
“He is not a rookie who has played few games, for something he is here, for something he was considered and he gained trust. He has done it in a very good way. The truth is that he has adapted very well to the group and we receive him in the best way. He is here to contribute his bit, ”Herrera said about Funes Mori.
So the table is set. Funes Mori forced to catch up with Zague and Chicharito as scoring champion in this 2021 Gold Cup. And then yes, no one will be able to question his presence in the third world soccer zoo, as Sepp Blatter once called Concacaf.