Mexico’s midfielder Jonathan dos Santos will be out due to injury in the final phase of the Concacaf Nations League that kicks off Thursday in Denver, Colorado, coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino reported on Wednesday.
The presence of Dos Santos, 31, in the semifinals on Thursday against Costa Rica was at risk since on Saturday he had to abandon the LA Galaxy game against the San Jose Eartquakes of the North American Soccer League (MLS) due to physical problems .
“Jonathan underwent studies yesterday for a discomfort he had from the last game with the Galaxy and, although it is nothing serious, it will take him about two weeks to recover,” said ‘Tata’ Martino at a press conference.
The midfielder will miss both Thursday’s semi-finals and the final or Sunday’s third-place game against the United States or Honduras.
Dos Santos, who scored Mexico’s winning goal against the United States in the 2019 Gold Cup final, will be replaced in the squad by Sebastián Córdoba, a midfielder from America.
In contrast, Martino did not rule out fielding striker Jesús ‘Tecatito’ Corona at some point during the week, injured in his left leg at the end of April in a Porto game.
«It is at our disposal. Luckily he is about to forget the issue of injury, “said the Argentine strategist.
Regarding the clash against the ‘tica’ squad, Martino hopes that his players have control of the game and are very attentive to possible rival counterattacks.
«I hope that Mexico can have the leading role in the game and that Costa Rica may play better with the spaces that we can leave in the defensive part. We have to take care of that situation, “said Martino, who did not shy away from the favorite tag awarded to his team.
It is always like this. Mexico, as a great Concacaf team, has certain obligations regardless of the players who participate. The obligation is there, we do not deny it nor do we intend to change it, “he said.
“The same as we said in 2019 with the Gold Cup, we understand the same with the League of Nations and we will say the same in a month when the Gold Cup begins,” he stressed. “The obligation is to get to the last leg of all these events.” (GG) (AFP)