Mexico is excited with a victory over France, because they beat the rival who seemed most dangerous in the group stage 4-1 and showed that they are in Tokyo 2020 to win a medal, as their predecessors did in London 2012.
France, with the prestige of being World Champion, was only present for 45 minutes, because Mexico found no aim in front of Paul Bernardoni’s goal, and in the second half it was practically vanished by the best version of the Mexican Olympic team.
Mexico has wings, at the feet of Alexis Vega and Diego Lainez, light players with the ability to score goals. The Chivas team undid the French team, while Lainez was the one who pushed his team against André-Pierre Gignac’s team.
On the other side was Gignac, who showed little of the talent with which he terrorizes Liga MX, and Florian Thauvin was erased from the field by Erick Aguirre, the last reinforcement of the Rayados del Monterrey. With the two threats controlled by the Tricolor, the rest of the job was on the attack.
Lainez hid the ball without brake, uncontrollable, found the space to send a cross and that Alexis Vega scored in his third opportunity against the French goalkeeper. That goal, 1-0, became a cascade, because Mexico did not back down and wanted more.
Lainez’s dribbles ignited Sebastián Córdova, who scored 2-0. There was anxiety, because Jorge Sánchez neglected his side and César Montes had to provoke a penalty, Gignac scored at 69 and it seemed that the French Revolution was starting.
It was time to move the pieces from the bench and from there came the reaction, because Uriel Antuna entered for Diego Lainez, and the Chivas player met his partner Alexis Vega.
Vega, at minute 80, escaped and enabled Antuna to score 3-1. Then France collapsed again and Eduardo Aguirre, who came off the bench, took the opportunity to score 4-1, with less than five minutes played in the Tricolor debut.
The Mexican National Team celebrates in the first match of Tokyo 2020, host Japan is coming and South Africa is still missing, but Jaime Lozano’s team is excited to fulfill the promise they made before leaving for Japan: to return to Mexico with an Olympic medal.