Márquez admits "terrible mistakes" after Mexico's rout at the hands of the US

The final score, 3-0 in favor of the United States, stings more than it reflects what actually happened on the field. At least that's how Rafael Márquez told it after living through his first clash with Mexico's longtime rival as the national team's head coach. He walked out of State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, with a bittersweet feeling: his team competed, but ended up handing over all three goals.

The match was played on Saturday and produced some unexpected protagonists on the American side. Two teenagers, Julian Hall and Cavan Sullivan, got the scoring started by capitalizing on mistakes from Mexican goalkeeper Raúl Rangel. Later, with the Mexican defense sagging again, Malik Tillman sealed the rout. Three goals that, by Márquez's own admission, were born more out of his team's errors than the opponent's merit.

"We do need a bit more clarity in the final third and to create more chances. That's my takeaway," the coach explained in the postgame press conference. He was even more blunt about everything else: "The other problems were terrible mistakes where, in the end, you basically hand the other team those three goals."

The strange part is that the game didn't start that way. Mexico controlled the ball with authority in the first half, racking up 61% possession and four shots on target, though without converting any of those chances. Things stayed level until the 28th minute, when Hall broke the deadlock and changed the course of the night.

A bitter start

The loss leaves Mexico without a win in the September and October FIFA windows: two draws and now a defeat. With this result, Márquez becomes the first Mexican coach, not counting interim stints, to fail to win any of his first three games in charge since Manuel Lapuente back in 1997. A stat that carries weight, though the coach himself preferred to look ahead.

It's simple. In soccer you win, you draw and you lose, you have to be ready for that. The most important thing is knowing how to bounce back, being self-critical to understand what we did well and what we did wrong, and continuing to work.Rafael Márquez

Márquez also insisted there were things to take from the performance, especially in how the team competed before conceding the first goal. "It's a process, and I trust we can maintain the level we showed against Colombia, at least until the 28th minute [today], when the goal came. I think there are positive things to take away, but obviously we have to be self-critical, understand what happened and recover as quickly as possible because we have another game coming up."

On the individual front, Santiago Giménez started at center forward and gave way to Armando González in the second half. The forward, on loan at FC Porto from AC Milan, had been unable to play in the first two matches of this call-up due to a physical issue. "I do think Santi needs more minutes, obviously, to get into better shape, especially since he was coming off a knock," Márquez said. "He couldn't play the first two games; we trust him and hopefully he'll keep finding more opportunities to build up his rhythm."

There's no rest on the schedule now: Mexico will look for Márquez's first win as national team coach on Tuesday against Chile, in Los Angeles. The pressure to snap the winless streak arrives right on time to test whether the coach's self-criticism translates into results.