Mexico trained in Brazil's capital Tuesday, a critical session ahead of Wednesday's final Olympic group stage match against South Korea.
The training session was notable for a number of reasons, no least of which because it took place at the installations of Brasília's fire department. It also included Raul Lopez and Carlos Fierro, two players who, like firefighters, have arrived to quickly solve an emergency.
The issue is that two attacking players his side had relied on, forward Oribe Peralta and midfielder Rodolfo Pizarro, will watch Wednesday's match from Mexico. Peralta is set to undergo surgery for a nasal fracture suffered in Sunday's uninspiring win over Fiji, while Pizarro will miss at least two months with a leg fracture.
"It's tough to know" how much the absences will hurt, Mexico coach Raul "Potro" Gutierrez said at a news conference Monday. "That's soccer. Before the hit that Oribe took he also hadn't scored (in that game), so we're going to try to make sure our team works together, that we score and that we keep competing. We're continuing with the same idea of a championship and a medal."
To get that medal, someone must replace the production that Peralta and Pizarro, both of whom scored in Mexico's 2-2 tournament opener against Germany, provided. Lopez, who generally lines up at right back but also can play farther up the pitch and is effective on set pieces, and Fierro aren't the only options coach Gutierrez has at his disposal.
One of his biggest weapons his been misfiring in the opening two matches. Hirving Lozano, who made his mark with Mexico's senior team in the Copa America Centenario after leading Pachuca to a championship, didn't look to be losing steam earlier this summer when he opened the Apertura with a two-goal performance against Leon.
But after Lozano had a disappointing showing in Mexico's draw with Germany and got the hook at halftime of the game against Fiji, you have to wonder if the heavy match load is starting to catch up with the 21-year-old. But "El Chucky" has come through before, and his country needs him without the calming influence of Peralta and the five Olympic goals the America forward has scored.
Gutierrez also could give Erick Torres a chance. After a breakout 2014 campaign with Chivas USA and an impressive follow-up act with Chivas, "El Cubo" has become a largely forgotten man with the Houston Dynamo and the Mexico youth team, with his last goal coming in October of 2015. He's done well enough in training sessions to have been a late-match sub in Mexico's opener against Germany, and he has to be longing for a chance to prove that he's still capable of scoring in big occasions.
Erick Gutierrez, who rescued El Tri in that contest with Fiji, clearly can score goals, but it shouldn't fall to the central midfielder to put the ball in the back of the net. This is a match in which Mexico needs a strong attack.
The stakes are high. After El Tri crashed out of the Copa America, the mood around Mexican soccer is volatile. A loss to Korea, an opponent Mexico beat in 2012 on the way to winning the top prize, and likely elimination from the Olympics would not reflect well on the state of the game in the country, nor any of the players currently involved. It's one thing not to defend the gold medal — it would be another not to get out of the group stage.
If Guiterrez's men are going to get past a Korea team that beat Fiji more easily than they did and fought Germany to the same result, it's going to take a standout performance from someone, be it Lozano, Torres, Fierro, Lopez or an unexpected boost like Gutierrez. If that doesn't come, the rest of the squad will join Peralta and Pizarro back in Mexico earlier than expected.
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