FIFA World Cup: Mexico can still reach knockout phase, says coach Martino

Mexico manager Gerardo Martino refused to concede that his team's chances of reaching the FIFA World Cup round of 16 are over after a 2-0 loss to Argentina on Saturday.

Mexico will need to win their last match against Saudi Arabia on Wednesday by a hefty margin to have any chance of progressing to the last 16, reports Xinhua.

"As long as there is a possibility [of advancing] we are going to keep fighting," Martino told a post-match news conference. "People were talking about Argentina needing to win tonight, but we needed to win too.

"It's going to be difficult, especially after Poland scored a second goal and Argentina's second goal tonight also hurt us."

The last time Mexico did not feature in the World Cup knockout stage was in 1990 and Martino said his team would "stop at nothing" to avoid an early elimination here.

"We can still go through, even if it will be difficult," he said. "We have to rely on the other result (the Poland-Argentina match). We are going to give it our best shot."

--IANS

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