Julen Lopetegui has urged Spain to fully focus on FIFA U-20 World Cup Round of 16 opponents Mexico tomorrow.
La Rojita are favourites to eliminate the Central American outfit in tomorrow’s meeting for a place in this summer’s competition quarter-finals in Turkey.
However, their Coach has reflected ahead of the clash at the Turk Telekom Arena in Istanbul that Mexico will deserve Spain’s full respect.
“They are a team with great potential, the base of which are the players that were world champions at Under-17 level and with others that were at London, in the Olympics,” Lopetegui commented in his pre-match Press conference.
“They have a definite style and are one of the federations that has been working best in recent years. In the first phase they had their chances to win each of their three games.
“We are not focused on being favourites or not, but to put all our effort into winning. The Under-17 world champion is Mexico, the Olympic champion is Mexico, so we will need to have the necessary focus against a good team.
“That they finished third in the group stage does not conform to what they have managed. The game will require as much from us as any other.
“We had a tough group, but that is behind us. Also, what Mexico has done is in the past. The game begins at 0-0 and is against a very high opponent.
“It is perfectly feasible that this could have been a meeting for a later round of the competition.”
