There is a long history of striking futility in the Mexican National team. What the heck does that even mean? In a nutshell, Mexican teams and their strikers lack the firepower and are rarely lethal when it comes to scoring goals.

One of the reasons Hugo Sanchez is regarded as the greatest Mexican soccer player ever is because he broke that barrier. El Penta Pichichi went to Europe and survived all the taunting sessions when he arrived in Madrid and went to become one of the most prolific goal scorers in the history of the league.

El Tri Strikers History Lesson

The problem is that Hugo Sanchez is a generational or maybe even a once-in-a-lifetime player. If we look at the other top all-time leading scorers for the Mexican National team, we can certainly categorize them as great Mexican players, but not world-class; Hugol, however, is in that category.

Sanchez is not in the top 5 all-time leading scorers in the national team, but keep in mind that he only played 58 matches while scoring 29 times for La Selección Mexicana. Jared Borgetti is the only player to best Sanchez’s .50 goal per game average. We are not even going to dive into what Hugo did at the club level, that will be time for another story, but you can catch some of his best goals with Real Madrid here.

Striker Crisis for Mexico

We do not want to get carried away with Hugo Sanchez or any of those legends from the past. One player on that list, however, is Javier Hernandez. Chicharito is already Mexico’s all-time scoring leader, and he is only 32 years old. The concern with Javier, from the fan’s perspective, was his form last year. When Hernandez joined the Galaxy last year, there was so much hype surrounding his arrival, but it failed to materialize. Plagued with injuries, Chicharito only played 12 games while scoring two goals for the Galaxy. If the Little Pea gets back into fitness, and he’s working hard to get there, there’s a chance this could be a year of redemption for him.

Raul Jimenez is currently the most prolific striker for the Mexican National team. Jimenez has been a goal-scoring machine at both the club and national team level. Everything changed in a matter of seconds when the Wolverhampton striker clashed heads with Arsenal defender David Luiz during a Premier League match late last year. The collision forced Raul to have emergency surgery, and he has been sidelined ever since. Things are starting to look optimistic for Jimenez, he’s back in training, and there’s a chance he could return to the pitch at some point later this year.

Striker Options

Raul’s injury was a huge blow to the Mexican National squad; fortunately for them, they have not played a game since November 17th last year against Japan, which he scored. No one knows when Raul will return to the pitch, but what we do know is that El Tri has several upcoming games in March. Versus Wales and Costa Rica on 27th and 30th respectively.

In addition to the potential return of Javier Hernandez to El Tri, which players make the case to fill the void left by Raul Jimenez?

Hirving Lozano

El Chucky is considered one of the best Mextranjeros of the moment. He was sidelined with a second-degree sprain to the hamstring in his right thigh but has been on a tear this season. Lozano appeared to have gained the confidence of Gennaro Gattuso after a very rocky start to that relationship. He should be ready and available in March for the Mexican squad.

Henry Martin

Martin has been called up to La Selección eight times and scored two goals. The Club America striker has been a consistent part of the team’s success this regular season. I would be surprised if Henry were left out when the upcoming list of players is presented.

Jose Juan Macias

The Chivas starlet is tied for third place in the 2021 Guardianes scorers table. Macias has been able to deliver for Guadalajara, particularly during a time of need. There is much speculation surrounding the future of JJ, but the reality is that he will be someone who Tata and his scouts will continue to keep a close eye on. The question will remain if Macias plays for the senior team or the Olympic U-23 side. Jimmy Lozano has put Jose Juan on his preliminary roster.

Carlos Vela

I might get some heat for this, but most of us know that Vela is considered one of the best players in Major League Soccer. Charlie Candle did not have the record-breaking season in 2020. However, he continues to be one of the most dangerous players in the league. Yes, many of us have heard the now infamous interview by El Super Mojado on him returning to the Mexican side, but he never really discarded returning to the team. Vela is still a force to be reckoned with and should be considered, if not for the matches in March, at some point this year.

Honorable Mentions

Santiago Ormeño, Angel Sepulveda, and Alan Pulido are three other players who Tata Martino should strongly consider. Out of the three, Santi is the most intriguing because of his current form and because the Peruvian National team has him on their radar. It will be interesting to see who makes the list and is left out when the convocatoria comes out next March. However, with Jimenez still working on getting better, Mexico should have not a shortage of strikers who can alleviate the void, at least temporarily.

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El Tri Online was founded in December 2017 to serve English-speaking fans of Mexican Soccer. Our mission is to create compelling Mexican soccer content and share it via our website, streaming apps, social media, and any other medium for English-dominant Mexican-American fans of the Mexican National Team, Liga MX, and their players.

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