Mexico Vs. Belarus: Is Cold Weather To Blame For El Tri’s Shocking Upset? [VIDEO]

It was frigid conditions in Borisov on Tuesday when Mexico travelled to the small Eastern European country of Belarus ranked 106^th in FIFA’s latest world rankings. Nobody thought El Tri would lose the match. Then again, nobody knew how Mexico would perform in such freezing cold conditions and ultimately the team played just as poor as the weather and they were upset 3-2 by host country.

Mexico’s loss was their first defeat since losing to the Netherlands in the second round of the World Cup in Brazil earlier this year. It didn’t help matters that coming off an emotional 3-2 victory against the Dutch last Wednesday, head coach Miguel Herrera played an experimental lineup that did not include stars Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, Hector Herrera or the MVP of last match, Carlos Vela.

El Tri’s second unit lacked firepower on the pitch and appeared to let the excruciatingly cold conditions in Belarus get the better of them. Before the match, “El Piojo” talked about how the weather would affect both team.

“They are cold over here. Aside from all of the cold, they are also cold, but you have to adapt wherever you go,” said Hererra. “Everything is adaptation.”

Unfortunately for El Piojo, his team did not adapt and Belarus was the better team on the pitch. The Eastern European team was physical and outplayed Mexico throughout the day in below zero conditions. The one bright spot for Mexico was the play of Atletico Madrid striker Raul Jimenez who has been struggling offensively as of late.

Jimenez scored two goals in the 48^th and 53^rd minute to give Mexico an early 2-1 lead. In addition to Jimenez, the Dos Santos brothers of Jonathan and Giovani got a lot of playing time together on the pitch and were involved in both of El Tri’s goals on Tuesday.

The match was Mexico’s last of 2014 and despite the fact that they finished the year with a loss, they have a lot to be proud of as Mexico proved to the world they can play with teams like Chile, Brazil, the Netherlands and more. They just need to avoid those cold weather conditions in 2015.