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It is midnight in Denmark and Juan Carlos Osorio is up late and having trouble sleeping. Having recently arrived in Europe from Mexico with the Mexican national team, Osorio is wrestling with the time difference, his insomnia is only made worse by the million-piece jigsaw puzzle in his mind he is working feverishly to solve.
The puzzle is the winning game plan that transforms his Mexican team into something special, a group greater than the sum of its parts. One capable of making a deep run, even if few outside Mexico, and not all inside Mexico, see El Tri lighting up Ru sia this month.
Osorio has spent months traveling the world in search of knowledge, advice, historical precedents and motivational tools to convince his team that reigning champion Germany can be beaten, and that falling in the tournament's Round of 16 doesn't have to be Mexico's fate, as it has been for six straight World Cups.
"Were going to try and play and attack against anybody, regardle s of how big a team they are, and try to win games by playing without fear," Osorio told Goal in an exclusive interview. "In the past(for Mexico Jedd Gyorko Jersey in World Cups) I think the idea was to not concede goals and see what happens at the end. Thats fair, and fine, but this time around we will try to be more offensive-minded and more driven towards winning games rather than just waiting until the end and seeing what happens."
Both during his tenure as Mexico coach Dexter Fowler Jersey , and in his research into the program's past, Osorio noticed a trend he set out to destroy. He believes El Tri has long had a habit of getting up for, and playing with their fiercest relentle sne s against,inferior opponents in CONCACAF, but too often that same energy and desire to be protagonists hadfailed to appear against higher-profile competition.
In Osorio's eyes, that trend has helped directly contribute to the current run of six defeats in World Cup round of 16 matches the first step of the knockout rounds which has often come against traditional powerhouses like Argentina (twice), Germany and most recently the Netherlands. But the streak also includes a lo s to Bulgaria in 1994 and the memorable 2002 lo s to the United States.
In Mexico, theelusive fifth World Cup game has developed its own legend, but Osorio doesn't buy into the myth. When he looks at the streak he sees Mexican performances that simply weren't good enough to win, Yadier Molina Jersey even the controversial lo s to the Netherlands in 2014, which was ultimately decided by a questionable penalty.
"We cannot spendtime thinking about curses or bad luck or bad decisions. I only care to deal in what is real," Osorio said. "To win those kind of games, you must be proactive and you must be willing to attack and you cannot be afraid to fail.
"Its about being proactive and positive," Osorio said. "We can win games, and we can score goals, as long as we have enough players getting into the attacking third. If we do, we will have chances, and we can score goals."
Goals haven't exactly poured in for Mexico in recent matches El Tri managed just one goal in its three pre-World Cup friendlies but where Mexico fans have seen cause for concern, Osorio has seen opportunities being created, and matches in the past year against opponents who are at the level El Tri will likely face in the knockout rounds.
"The players believe we can play against top teams because weve had very good games against Uruguay, Portugal, Belgium, Poland," Osorio said. "The teams we have played in the last year or so that have really stretched us to compete at that level."
Mexico is facing yet another path filled with stiff challenges, beginning with its opening match against Germany on Sunday, and potentially including a round of 16 match against Brazil.The Germany match has been Osorio's central focus, and it is a match he has worked on convincing his team can be won. Germany is the heavy favorite as reigning World Cup champions, and because of its 4-1 win against Mexico in last year's Confederations Cup. Osorio remembers that match more for what Mexico showed, and for the experience it gave his team against the World Cup title-holders.
"The Adam Wainwright Jersey German squad will have a lot of players that played in Confederations Cup, and we played against them," Osorio said. "People will say it was a bad result, but while the score was 4-1, we had better po se sion and we hit the cro sbar and mi sed two very good chances that could have tied the game.
"We have made a video of that game with all the chances and how we put pre sure on them and how we regained the ball," Osorio said. "We are preparing the game plan based on those real facts."
Osorio is very much a student of history, and with Mexico a big underdog against Germany, the Colombian coach spent the months following the World Cup draw looking for examples of underdog victories, be it in war history, or soccer history. He has shown his team the 2002 World Cup opener, which saw Senegal pull off a shocking win against defending champion France. He also reached out to and eventually met with Guus Hiddink to pick his brain about the 2002 South Korean team, which Hiddink led to an improbable run to the semifinals and included knockout round victories against Italy and Spain.
"I think we can do something like South Korea did (in 2002)," Osorio said. "Hopefully that will Miles Mikolas Jersey be the case."
Osorio has become a polarizing figure in Mexican soccer, drawing criticism from fans and media alike for perceived quirks and flaws.
"The infamous squad rotations?Thats just baloney," a defiant Osorio says, referring to the criticism of him being too much of a tinkerer. "If you look at the 25 important games we Stan Musial Jersey have played, there are always seven, eight, nine players that always play. Guillermo Ochoa, Hector Moreno, Andres Guardado, Miguel Layun, Hector Herrera, Javier Hernandez, Carlos Vela, Hirving Lozano, Tecatito.
"Then there is the misconception that I have a problem with short players, and prefer tall players," Osorio said. "I never mentioned the height of the player, I have mentioned that we need to be strong in the air, but Id never say anything about short players. Theres talk that certain players arent here because theyre short, but the fact of the matter is our team is full of players who would be considered short, so its all BS."
Osorio has tried hard toconceal his team's tactical approach heading into the tournament, and specifically Sunday's opener against Germany. Part of the reason it is tougher to project Mexico's tactical strategy is because Osorio has succeeded in implementing a variety of formational setups.
"One of the improvements that we have made as a team is the fact that we can play in three different systems and the players are pretty adapted to that," Osorio said. "They have embraced the way we prep
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