MEXICO CITY -- There were two ways to look at Edson Alvarez's 91st-minute goal against Curacao at San Antonio's Alamodome. First, you couldn't be happier for the youngster, who has taken advantage of all the playing opportunities he has received from Juan Carlos Osorio. Second, you wonder how Alvarez, a natural centre-back and/or defensive midfielder, can have a better finishing touch than all of El Tri's strikers at the Gold Cup.
After three group stage games, plus the preparation games against Ghana and Paraguay, Morelia's Angel Sepulveda has been the only striker to get his name on the scoresheet, and it can be said that Sepulveda is not a natural striker but rather a striker with winger characteristics. There's an evident striker problem in Mexico's Gold Cup team, but this malaise also extends to the team that participated in the Confederations Cup.
In the 34 games that Osorio has been in charge of El Tri, the team has scored 56 goals, two of those coming on own-goals scored by Uruguay and Portugal. The group comprised of Mexico's best striker options -- Raul Jimenez (4), Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez (6) and Oribe Peralta (3) -- has scored 13 goals. And the second group, comprised of El Tri's best options from the wings -- Jesus "Tecatito" Corona (5), Hirving Lozano (3) and Carlos Vela (3) -- has scored 11.
At first glance, the numbers look balanced. The scoring contributions from the strikers and wingers look positive, but questions arise when looking specifically at the players' goals-per-minutes-played ratio. Chicharito scores one goal every 228 minutes, Jimenez one every 278 minutes, Vela one every 264 minutes, Peralta one every 253 minutes, Lozano one every 368 minutes and Corona one every 165 minutes.
Unless there's a sudden change in Osorio's plans, the six players listed are going to be Mexico's main scoring targets in the upcoming World Cup. But what has to be highlighted is that in the 2016 Copa Centenario, only Chicharito, Corona and Peralta were able to get on the scoresheet with one goal apiece, while in the recent Confed Cup, Chicharito, Peralta, Jimenez and Lozano were able to get on the scoresheet with one goal apiece. In the two main tournaments with Osorio at the helm, there hasn't been a striker or winger who has stood out above the rest, a certain go-to guy who might be able to escape the opponent's marking and grab a crucial goal.
When analyzing the team under Osorio, it makes sense to consider two distinct periods, with Mexico's 2-1 win against the U.S. in Columbus the dividing point. That first hexagonal call-up included players such as Vela and Jonathan dos Santos, who didn't participate in the Centenario but have clearly helped Mexico raise its game since then. If we include Rafael Marquez and Miguel Layun's goals in Columbus, Mexico has scored 30 of its 56 goals under Osorio since that November 2016 game.
What has stood out since then has been that El Tri have scored nine of their goals from set-piece plays, beginning with Marquez's header to win it in Columbus. Santos Laguna's Nestor Araujo has scored twice from a set-piece play, against Costa Rica and Russia. The only two strikers who have scored off set pieces since Columbus have been Chicharito and Alan Pulido, whose absence in the ongoing Gold Cup is highly noticeable because he was meant to be Mexico's most dangerous scoring threat in the tournament.
The set-piece element is perhaps one of the principle takeaways from Osorio's tenure. It used to be that set pieces were El Tri's Achilles heel, but with Osorio, they have been one of the most consistent ways the team has gotten on the scoreboard. Since the Columbus win, the two most influential attackers have been Chicharito, who has scored three of his six goals under Osorio on set pieces, and Vela, who's contributed with two goals and an important four assists.
It's complicated to make deep conclusions about Osorio's time in Mexico because in the Centenario, the team didn't count with Vela or Jona, while in the Confederations it didn't count with Tecatito, who is by far the current Mexican footballer with the best goals-per-minutes-played ratio and has all the skills to be that go-to guy when the team needs an important play in a critical moment. And let's not forget Pulido's injury that will prevent him from making a legitimate case for why he should be on Mexico's final World Cup roster. Those events are out of Osorio's control.
The numbers suggest that the attack made up by Vela, Chicharito and Tecatito could create plenty of scoring options for Osorio, but between June 1 and June 8, when El Tri played against Ireland and Honduras, the attack made up by Vela, Tecatito and Raul also gave results. Over those two games, Mexico scored six goals.
The Gold Cup is shedding light on the fact that Mexico's goal-scoring options aren't vast, and that Osorio needs to maximize what little he has available. From now until the World Cup, Mexico's attack needs repetition in order to build consistency, which has only been shown in tiny bits since that 2-1 win on U.S. soil.
The decision of putting Raul or Chicharito in the wings noticeably cuts their influence on the field; they should remain where they shine the most -- inside the box -- and let Vela, Tecatito, Lozano and others do the work in the wings. But what's also worrying is that once Chicharito, Jimenez and Peralta leave Mexico's striker picture, the options are almost nonexistent, and it's not looking like new strikers will pop up in the picture anytime soon.