Mexico’s Jesus “Tecatito” Corona has suffered a serious injury in training with Sevilla that will likely see him miss the 2022 World Cup. The Spanish club announced on Thursday that he will miss around four to five months after breaking his left fibula, while also rupturing ankle ligaments.
For Sevilla, Erik Lamela is the most likely replacement in the lineup, but things are a lot more complicated for El Tri. The 29-year-old has scored 10 goals and assisted 10 more over his 71 caps with the national team but, his work-rate and ability in the box are hard to replace, causing Tata Martino quite a few headaches with under 100 days to go until the cup begins.
Mexico are already in a tough group as they’ll face Poland, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia in Group C and things just got a lot tougher. El Tri are built on their defensive strength, only allowing eight goals in World Cup qualifying, which was the second best in Concacaf behind Canada. The concern is around putting the ball in the back of the net, which will only grow with him likely being unavailable.
Striker Raúl Jiménez is also sidelined for Wolverhampton, and while he’s expected to be healthy for the World Cup, playing time will become a concern after Bruno Lage has added Gonçalo Guedes from Valencia. This puts a lot of pressure on Hirving Lozano of Napoli and the rest of the attack, especially as Martino is already on thin ice for inconsistent performances.
Mexico have upcoming friendlies against Paraguay, Peru, Colombia, Iraq, and Sweden ahead of the World Cup, so they’ll be able to test the attack against quality opponents. But if the ball isn’t going into the back of the net ahead of Qatar, El Tri could end up entering with more questions than answers, making it unlikely that they’d advance out of Group C.
