Football
One Nación, ESPN Staff 6y

Mexico, Juan Carlos Osorio critics should not celebrate Germany win - Jonathan dos Santos

MOSCOW -- Jonathan dos Santos said the criticisms aimed at Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio were made to hurt the team and he regrets that those detractors now want to be a part of El Tri's historic victory over Germany.

Mexico won 1-0 at the Luzhniki Stadium, handing an opening-game defeat to the defending World Cup winners for the first time since 1982 after Hirving Lozano's 34th-minute goal.

Osorio had acknowledged his critics after the game -- saying "I'd like to thank all the people who supported me, and also those who did not" -- and Dos Santos defended his coach on Monday.

"Every move [Osorio] has made has a reason after it," Dos Santos said at a news conference on Monday. "He knows a lot about soccer, he knows what he is doing. Therefore, all these criticisms are made, as we say in Mexico, to [screw us over].

"He has already proven himself. The only bad thing about it is that people now want to jump onto the bandwagon, people who have already given him a bad rap. He is OK, though, he's already thinking about the next training session. We are happy for him. This victory is more than well-deserved for him."

Dos Santos, who did not play in the game, admitted that it can be hard for him not to take part because he cannot decide its fate.

"Those of us who did not play are [still] extremely happy," Dos Santos said. "I wasn't able to sleep until the wee hours of the morning [before] since I was so stressed out. That's why I'm so happy we were able to start the tournament on the right foot.

"No one expected us to achieve such a thing yesterday except for ourselves. We made history. This is something which the Mexico national side has never done before. There is a lot of things left for us to face, though."

Meanwhile, Miguel Layun also stepped up in defence of Osorio, who he said was the reason for the win.

"I have never been nor will be able to understand all the criticism directed toward our manager," Layun said. "When you get to see someone with this kind of commitment, who works so hard as he does, you cannot explain to yourself how people are able to have these kinds of radical, harsh and baseless opinions directed against him. He is a genius and that's why he does things differently."

For example, Layun said, Osorio laid the foundations for the tactics Mexico deployed against Germany well before the tournament began.

"This match against Germany was planned ages ago," the defender said. "We followed his instructions to a T. We knew very well how to play against Germany, how they were going to behave and respond, so we were ready to act accordingly. We did so and that's how we won this historic match for Mexico."

Layun was overwhelmed by the fans' presence in the stadium, and he said Mexico is ready to "write a wholly new and wonderful story."

"The support we had was amazing," Layun said. "As soon as we got onto the pitch and started listening to our supporters, it was a great moment. We had goosebumps. Being able to experience these things away from home impacts you in such an intense way. That made us feel committed. It drove us."

And Layun, like teammate Andres Guardado, said it will be important to maintain that level of expectation in upcoming Group F games against South Korea and Sweden.

"We still have [won] nothing yet," Layun said. "We must play against South Korea with the same attitude and try to beat them.

"We have gone through so much that we are not going to stop at this point. We have worked so hard in order to reach what seemed unreachable once, that at this point, you have a sense of professional fulfilment. ... Right now, we still have dreams to turn into a reality in this World Cup."

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