In Mexico there are no survivors of that ‘toxic’ Copa América 2016. And considering what happened in that last participation and how everything collapsed in Santa Clara, it is better this way.
In other words: none of the current players on the Mexican National Team were in the 7-0 defeat against Chile. After eight years of absence from this tournament, El Tri has a 100% new team.
Most of the players who were in that disaster that deformed a generation continue to play soccer, but none of them are anymore on the Mexican National Team. They are not even Guillermo Ochoa, ‘Chucky’ Lozano or Raúl Jiménez, active in that match on June 18, 2016 in California and who were part of the team in 2024, before the forced generational change was implemented.
So, how many current Mexican teams were in the last major tournaments?
· Copa América 2016: 0 repeat
· World Cup Russia 2018: 1 repeat (Edson Alvarez)
· Qatar 2022 World Cup: 12 repeat
In other words, the generational change is more propaganda than reality if we consider that half of the players summoned to the 2022 World Cup (where Mexico was eliminated in the group stage for the first time in more than 40 years), are on Jaime Lozano’s listbut at least as far as the last participation in the Copa América is concerned, El Tri is clean of those players who allowed the worst defeat in their history.
Will Mexico have a better Copa América? Well, no matter how flawed that generation eight years ago may have been, we must recognize that there were better players and the team arrived at a better time; while now, not many expect to go very far after the group stage.
I mean, yes, no current team player was in the disaster eight years ago and it is appreciated that new players are finally being given the opportunity, but Mexico still misses many of those ‘toxic’ ones.
