By Alfredo Echenique Lugo
Sep 20, 2024, 11:42 PM EDT
Mexico will be one of the host countries for the next World Cup in 2026, along with the United States and Canada. As hosts, the Aztec team will seek to do well in this tournament to overcome the bad image they left in the last World Cup when they could not get past the group stage.
To achieve this, Mexico hired Javier Aguirre and Rafa Márquez as coaches for this process. But beyond the coaching staff, the team will need other things and recently an experienced player like Xavi Hernández provided the keys that Mexico will need to succeed in the upcoming World Cup.
According to the former FC Barcelona coach, Mexico has great potential with great players. However, they need to believe in themselves more if they want to achieve good results in the most important event in world football.
“The Mexican national team has the potential to shine in major competitions like the World Cup, but they must have more confidence to get better results in the future,” Xavi explained in an interview with Sports Multimedia during his visit to Monterrey to participate in a meeting of international football legends.
The 2010 World Cup winner with Spain also took the opportunity to make a comparison between Spanish and Mexican football, stating that they have many similarities in terms of tactics and physics.
“I have always said that Mexican football is similar to Spanish football on a tactical, technical and physical level. I think that Mexico has to believe in itself in World Cups or in big events, just like Spain did 20 or 30 years ago. They have to overcome the barrier of the quarter-finals to believe it, but they have everything,” argued the 44-year-old coach.
Finally, he also took the opportunity to praise Mexico’s current coaching staff. With Javier Aguirre as coach and Rafa Márquez as his assistant, Xavi believes they are highly prepared to take on this challenge with the Mexican national team.
“Both Javier and Rafa are more than prepared, they are Mexican, they know Mexican football, I can’t think of anyone better than them to lead this wonderful project, playing a World Cup at home. I have a good relationship with both of them, I wish them all the best. Rafa was very well prepared at Barcelona and Javier has all the experience in the world,” he emphasized.
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