Football
Tom Marshall, Mexico correspondent 6y

European results cement Mexico's standing atop CONCACAF - Osorio

Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio was emboldened by El Tri's performances in its two games in Europe and believes the matches highlight the team's real quality compared to its CONCACAF neighbors.

El Tri followed up Friday's 3-3 draw in Brussels against Belgium with a 1-0 victory over Poland in Gdansk to bring the curtain down on 2017 for the Mexican national team.

"Normally you measure who is the best in CONCACAF through results in CONCACAF," Osorio said in the news conference after the Poland match.

"While respecting all the opponents in our area, we came to the conclusion that on many occasions we play at a disadvantage because of factors such as the pitches, the temperatures, the stadiums and another topic I promised myself I'd never talk about.

"We identified that the best way of seeing who is really the best in Central and North America is by competing in Europe," he continued. 

"To come here and compete in two extraordinary scenarios with good security, against two extraordinary teams and compete toe to toe, face to face: I think that should catch the eye of every Mexican that is watching and supporting their national team."

Other sides in CONCACAF haven't faired so well so far this international break.

Of CONCACAF's other World Cup qualifiers, Costa Rica lost 5-0 to Spain in Malaga on Saturday and Panama lost 2-1 against Iran in Austria on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Honduras faces a tough trip to Australia for Wednesday's second leg of the World Cup playoff, with Los Catrachos drawing 0-0 in Friday's home first leg, and the United States -- who didn't qualify for Russia 2018 -- playing Portugal on Tuesday with a young squad as they begin their rebuilding process.

Looking ahead to 2018, Osorio said Mexico's results and performances over the past three days "fill us with hope and optimism," and added El Tri will continue to work hard to "deserve results of this magnitude."

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