Mexico’s 3-2 loss to Colombia on Tuesday dominated the headlines in the country after Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino’s side let slip a 2-0 lead, with the Record newspaper describing El Tri’s “sinking ship” as the ‘Tritanic’.
With the World Cup less than two months away, Mexico’s second-half performance was labelled catastrophic as Colombia mounted a spirited comeback to win in California.
“Tata’s squad is sinking. It sailed at full speed and dominated the first half with goals from (Alexis) Vega and (Gerardo) Arteaga, but Colombia came back and Mexico melted in an embarrassing manner,” Record said on its front page.
The defeat was Mexico’s second in three matches after they were beaten 1-0 by Paraguay last month before edging Peru 1-0 over the weekend.
Newspaper ESTO also focused on the manner of the defeat.
“The Tricolor had two faces, one good first half and a second one where they didn’t know how to react,” it reported.
“The worrying thing is that there are seven weeks to go until the Tricolor appears in Doha against Poland. Colombia exposed all of Mexico’s shortcomings.”
Reforma’s Cancha newspaper was far more succinct with a one-word headline: “Disappointment.”
“The Tricolor excited its fans with a good first half, but in the second one it collapsed against Colombia, raising doubts ahead of Qatar,” they added.
Martino was targeted by fans after the match as well as criticised by the media.
ESPN Mexico said the team were heading to the World Cup with “many doubts around them, the same ones that have lasted during Gerardo Martino’s last two years in charge.”
Others highlighted the over-confidence with which Mexico’s players approached the second half against a team that failed to qualify for the World Cup.
“Mexico forgot that they were playing a CONMEBOL level rival and paid the price,” Excelsior newspaper said.
Mexico play two more warm-up games against Sweden and Iraq in November before heading to Qatar for their World Cup Group C opener against Poland on Nov. 22.
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