The reason why Gerardo Martino preferred to start Alfredo Talavera over Guillermo Ochoa against Uruguay

Mexico National Team faced Uruguay on the second friendly game of the summer with an unseen lineup, not only because Gerardo “Tata” Martino is still experimenting with the players to find the last ones that he’ll take to Qatar, but also because he decided to change the formation.

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The usual 4-3-3 that the Argentine coach is used to start since his arrival at the Mexican national team was left behind to try a new formation: 5-2-3, as he’s prioritizing the defensive side of the team, hoping that the attacker will have enough speed to counterattack.

But the change of formation was not the thing that surprised the most, as Martino also decided to leave Guillermo Ochoa on the bench and give Alfredo Talavera the starting role as goalkeeper, even if Ochoa has been training with El Tri for the past couple of weeks.

Why did Martino decided to sit Ochoa?

During the press conference prior to the first friendly game of the summer, a 2-1 victory against Nigeria, Martino said that he was going to start the players that had been training together the most, as several of them ended their participation in Liga MX earlier.

That’s why he decided to start Rodolfo Cota against the Super Eagles, although his mistake might have costed him his place in the final roster for Qatar. Against Uruguay, the Argentine coach decided to repeat the formula and give Alfredo Talavera the chance of proving himself

Although Martino has most of the roster decided, he’s still unsure about some positions, including the reserves goalkeeper, as he knows that he needs one that can be a reliable backup if anything happens to Ochoa, which is why he will give the chance to the three reserves to have at least a game to see who is the one that arrives at Qatar behind the Club América goalkeeper.

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