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Elimination games proved to be Juan Carlos Osorio's Achilles heel during his time as Mexico manager. Osorio went 1-4 in the five matches in which he faced elimination with El Tri, with his only win coming against Honduras in the 2017 Gold Cup quarterfinals. The round-of-16 loss to Brazil in the 2018 World Cup was the final defeat in a high-stakes situation for Osorio, who Mexico announced on Friday will not continue as coach. The Colombian coach took over El Tri in Nov. 2015. The first elimination was perhaps the most painful, a 7-0 rout against Chile in 2016's Copa America Centenario. The result put Osorio's style under scrutiny, yet he doubled down on his methods despite the beating. His next knockout opportunity came in the Confederations Cup semi-final duel with Germany. It turned into another convincing defeat, this time 4-1. Osorio was able to break through with a victory just a few weeks later, 1-0 over Honduras, but El Tri wasted an opportunity to even Osorio's elimination-match record with a 1-0 Gold cup semi-final loss to Jamaica. With this summer's 2-0 loss to Brazil in Russia, Osorio suffered the same fate as all of his Mexico predecessors in the World Cup since 1994 -- a loss in the round of 16. Elimination games proved to be a thorn in Osorio's side while with Mexico, with a 1-4 record and 14 goals against to just two scored in such situations.
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