Two nations looking to return to form will do battle today in an international friendly between Mexico and Portugal. The World Cup tune-up scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET will be held at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro and can be live streamed here free. Additional TV coverage can be found on ESPN2 and Univision Deportes.
Despite losing his first-ever match as head coach of the Mexico national team, Miguel Herrera remains upbeat. Herrera even believes the lessons learned against Bosnia-Herzegovina can be transferred to over to Croatia.
"I learned a lot about the way Croatia are going to play because Bosnia play a type of football that's very similar to theirs," he said (via Sportal). "But I think Croatia play a better brand of football than Bosnia, who are very dirty. But the two are very similar," he added.
"Croatia have a very strong striker who likes to bring the ball down, and also have two very good midfielders in Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic. They play very similar football in defence-when they're without the ball-but also in the way they use the ball. I think this game will help us a lot, but we saw in the game tonight that there are still things that we need to improve on."
"But we do have another game ahead against Portugal on Friday, and after that, it'll be just four or five days to get ready for the World Cup itself."
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Tactical Preview
Player to Watch: Finding the perfect strike partner for Oribe Peralta was always the task for head coach Miguel Herrera. After Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez failed to nail his audition against Bosnia-Herzegovina, the door has opened for Giovani dos Santos. The 25-year-old made 31 appearances for Villarreal last season, contributing 11 goals and eight assists.
Mexico's Projected Lineup (5-3-2): Corona; Layun, Moreno, Marquez, Rodriguez, Aguilar; Guardado, Vazquez, Herrera; Peralta, Dos Santos
Portugal's Projected Lineup (4-3-3): Patricio; Coentrao, Alves, Costa, Pereira; Carvalho, Veloso, Moutinho; Silvestre, Postiga, Nani
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