Mexico’s streak of making the knockout stage at seven straight World Cups came to an end Wednesday, with El Tri defeating Saudi Arabia but sent home from Qatar on goal differential.
El Tri entered the match after a scoreless draw against Poland and a 2–0 loss to Argentina, and while their 2–1 win put them level on four points with Poland in second place in Group C, Poland had a goal differential of 0 while Mexico’s was one goal back at –1.
Mexico’s first-round exit will almost certainly spell the end of manager Gerardo “Tata” Martino’s spell at the helm of El Tri, while the team will head back to Mexico as the first Mexican team since 1978 to not qualify for the knockouts at a World Cup in which it participated.
