MEXICO MISSED OUT on reaching the last 16 of the World Cup despite beating Saudi Arabia 2-1.
El Tri started the final round of Group C fixtures in bottom spot but came so close to hurdling into the top two after second-half goals from Henry Martin and Luis Chavez, the latter scoring with a spectacular 25-yard free-kick.
With Poland en route to a 2-0 defeat to Argentina, Mexico knew unless they scored again they would be heading out of the competition because the Poles had collected fewer yellow cards with all other tie-breakers equal between the two nations.
But Mexican hopes were destroyed in the fifth minute of stoppage time when Saudi skipper Salem Al Dawsari worked a clever one-two with Hatan Bahbri and skilfully converted.
Mexico had last suffered group-stage elimination in 1978, having reached the knockout phase in each of their previous seven World Cups.
The sides filled the bottom two spots at kick-off but still with plenty to play for as far as qualification for the last 16 was concerned.
Mexico boss Gerardo Martino left Wolves striker Raul Jimenez on the bench for the third time at this tournament as captain Andres Guardado missed out with a muscle injury.
audi Arabia named eight of the starting line-up who had beaten Argentina in their opening game for one of the great World Cup shocks, with injured skipper Salman Al Faraj a notable absentee.
There was huge support for Saudi Arabia inside the Lusail Stadium, venue for the World Cup final on December 18.
Napoli’s Hirving Lozano was at the heart of everything Mexico produced as they got on the front foot from the start.
Chavez had already driven wide before Lozano put Alexis Vega clean through after three minutes, but Mohammed Al Owais sprang from his goal to make an excellent stop.
Mohamed Kanno had two attempts for Saudi Arabia, slashing wide and sending a free-kick just over, but it was Mexico who poured forward at every opportunity.
Chavez volleyed straight at Al Owais, Jesus Gallardo met a corner without success, and Orbelin Pineda saw deflections take the sting out of two attempts.
English referee Michael Oliver had his work cut out to keep the players in check with the sense that tempers could boil over at any time.
Every Saudi block and clearance was cheered as if it was a goal, and the decibel levels were deafening when Ali Al Hassan’s diving header on the stroke of half-time drifted wide of an upright.
The busy Al Owais pushed out a Chavez shot at the start of the second half, but Mexico broke the deadlock from the resulting corner. Chavez’s kick was flicked on by Cesar Montes and Martin reacted quickest to prod home from close range.
Mexico doubled their lead five minutes later after Hassan Al Tambakti brought down Martin and Chavez sent a spectacular curling free-kick past Al Owais from 25 yards.
Lozano soon had the ball in the net again but this time it was ruled out for offside.
The siege on the Saudi goal was relentless with Al Owais pushing away another superb Chavez free-kick and substitute Uriel Antuna finding the net only to be denied by an offside flag.
It looked as if Mexico had to score, but in the end it was Saudi Arabia who had the final word.
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Quality player, very surprised he was dropped.
I’d be very surprised if he was dropped in the first place as he needed match time. He’s better than Jager in all facets that I’ve seen, scrum, maul and as we’ve all seen, in the lose. Jager, just not seeing it with him especially scrum. Am I missing something???
@Noel Lynn: Bealham is certainly well ahead of Jager and all other TH (Furlong apart) in Ireland, but I think Jager is doing a better job than you’re giving credit for. He’s been very good at scrum time for munster, especially when he came up against Porter, and was solid against Wales. His ruck defense was excellent both clearing and counter rucking and his goal line defense was superb. His lineout work wasn’t up to scratch IMO and he still needs to improve his S&C but he’s certainly got a high ceiling and a great addition to our TH stock.
@Noel Lynn: Short answer – yes
Easily the best TH after Furlong, who seems to have recovered some of his previous form. Great to have several options here between Furlong, Bealham, O’Toole and Jager. The order is not important as they are all playing well at the moment.
Literally no one else is suprised.
@Thesaltyurchin: I’m surprised, arguably pushing Furlong for a starting spot
Bealham is a quality player but I think it’s getting a bit clearer that farrell and his coaches are huge fans of jager. To go from the ‘training squad’ to the verge of the 1st choice 23 over a couple of weeks is pretty phenomenonal
@munsterman: jager has plenty to work on to over take Bealham. He may not have over taken TO’T yet, so 1 step at a time.
@Patrick O’Sullivan: well I’ve never seen farrell move so quickly to promote a player in a meaningful match. Even players like Joe Mccarthy and crowley had to put in their time in camp for a year or so. There’s every chance that bealham will be back-up th v England but you wouldn’t bet on it
@munsterman: There’s every chance that Bealham will start and Jager on the bench if Furlong injured.
@Con Cussed: yea that’d be the most likely scenario I’d imagine. It’s quite tough on otoole who’s been very good for Ireland too
@munsterman: Agreed. It just means the pressure is now on all four to keep the momentum up. It’s a tough position and injuries abound so can see them all getting a chance in the future.
This could mean Furlong has an injury concern… I hope not!
Has anyone authoritative said that Bealham was dropped? As far as I recall the mood music before the Welsh game was that Bealham had proved himself across a number of matches to be no great step down from Furlong; and that Farrell was taking advantage of a game we were almost certain to win to have a look at Jäger off the bench.
Depressing stuff
@Kevin Ryan: when have we ever seen farrell use a competitive game to just have a look at a player? The only time he ever changes up his side much is v the most tier2 of tier2 nations in Nov or else gets A games set up
@munsterman: Giving a guy a debut as a bench prop is not really changing the side much, though. And if he didn’t pick this game, he’d have to wait until the Autumn, assuming SA too strong. Anyways, we’ll see what Farrell does with the selection for the England game.
The story around Bealham is a bit of a head scratcher. Why was he dropped? Some say he needed time off as a new dad. Personally I believe the coaches think Jager is a better prop. When your coach uses faint praise to describe your last performance then you are in trouble. I think Farrell described Bealham’s last outing as “decent enough”. In all these scenarios the public never gets a true picture until someone writes a book.
@Tom Reilly: I seem to have missed him saying that about Bealham – was that in a press conference? I checked the post Italy match press conference again to refresh my memory, and Faz was effusive in his praise of the set piece, calling it excellent and top notch, so I’m surprised he would then be naming Finlay as not being a top performer. A lot of media said that Finlay was doing as much as he could possibly do to challenge Furlong for the starting berth on the back of his performance against Italy, so I don’t think I’m the only one who thought he performed excellent in that match.
@Tom Reilly: ah, I heard it now – it was from the pre-Wales match conference. To be honest, the way I hear it, it seemed more so saying that Oli deserved a chance in spite of Bealham having a decent performance. TBH, I think he couldn’t say “Wales’ scrum is poor so this is the best chance to give Oli a tryout in the six nations window”, so has to justify it on the basis of competition for places. If he said Finlay was excellent, then he would effectively be needing to say that Oli is even better, which would be a huge amount of pressure to put on a debutant. So, he kind of has to nearly qualify Bealham’s performance so as not to put down Wales.
@JoeVlogs: As I said earlier it is hard to know what exactly is going on. I think most people think Bealham did not deserve to be dropped from a playing point of view. Maybe something else is going on.
The euphemism that Alex Ferguson developed to replace “dropped” was “rotated.” The image that most of us have of a “dropped” player is of someone so bad in the last match that they had to be replaced. Sometimes it is about building squad depth, other times you were the Lions captain last week and this week not in the 23 – an utterly unexplainable event.
I suspect that Furlong has twinged his hamstring. If Furlong is out, Bealham absolutely starts ahead of Jager – and we all know that.
@PatN: I meant calf not hamstring
Bealham should be pushing Furlong for a starting position not getting dropped
When was the last v good game from Furlong?
@Derek Casserly: Last week!
There is much debate about the word “dropped” concerning Bealham. Was he or wasn’t he dropped. IMO if a player is available for selection, has been selected everytime he is available and then he is not selected, then he is indeed deemed “dropped”.
Let’s stop using the word “dropped”. To play at elite level you need a squad of 35 players and the ability to get game time into all of them. ( let’s not repeat RWC errors from the past). Rotatated is a much better word.