It is telling that Hernández is able to retain possession and link the play with the rest of the attack. The same applies to the immobile Blanco to a lesser degree. Mexico’s problem is currently that Vela and Dos Santos are too raw and inconsistent to both start. While Dos Santos provides a direct threat via his dribbling he all too often goes on hero runs and does not release the ball quickly enough. By contrast Vela tries to pass too often, a character flaw of Arsenal players in recent times, and is less effective operating in a wider role as Mexico requires.

I think Hernández upfront supported by Guardado and Dos Santos would have been too much for South Africa to handle and led to increased chance conversion. I was also surprised that Aguirre removed the wide threat posed by Aguilar and did not replace it with Barrera.