TATA’S CHOPPING BLOCK: PLAYERS THAT WON’T MAKE IT TO QATAR
Tata Martino’s call-ups have been under a tremendous amount of scrutiny lately. Many have accused him of having favorites and not paying attention to Liga MX and form when choosing his squad. Now, if Mexican reporter David Medrano Felix is to be believed, his last round of cuts may be his most controversial. And THAT is saying a lot!
According to Don David, to get his latest list of 31 down to the allowed 26, Martino is looking to cut Jesus Angulo, Fernando “Nene” Beltran, Erick Sanchez, and Santiago Gimenez. Yes, maybe the most in-form forward Mexico currently has, along with Henry Martin, may miss the World Cup.
The exclusion of El Chaquito is shocking as it greatly diminishes the striker options for a team already missing Tecatito Corona. El Tri has struggled to score this year only scoring six goals in the seven games they have played. Three of those goals came in a Nations Leagues qualifying game against Suriname.
Tata will add fuel to the theory that he only calls up his favorites, like Rogelio Funes Mori and Raul Jimenez, rather than in-form players. Jimenez has, unfortunately, not been the same since his injury, and has struggled to regain his form. Funes Mori has yet to live up to the expectations set on him since his original call-up. Between the two, they have only scored 5 goals this season, one for Raul, and four for Funes Mori.
For his part, in the same time frame, Gimenez has scored 10 goals, five at Cruz Azul and five since arriving at Feyenoord. If proven true, do you think Tata is making the right decision?
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