Mexico vs Canada World Cup Qualifier: Chicharito Is X-Factor in CONCACAF Game This Week

By Francisco Salazar Mar 25 2016, 10:10 AM EDT

Mexico will look to continue its ascent in the CONCACAF in its latest qualifier against Canada.

Mexico in Good Position

No team has been better thus far than El Tri, which has scored five goals across its first two qualifying matches in Group A against El Salvador and Honduras. Moreover, Mexico has yet to concede a goal and could put itself in pole position to qualify for the next round with a win on Friday.

A win for Mexico, coupled with a draw between El Salvador and Honduras, puts Mexico one win away from qualifying for round two. The top two sides from each group make it through. If they didn't have a match coming up against each other, Honduras and El Salvador would max out at nine and 10 points respectively, assuming they won their three remaining matches. Since they do play each other, Mexico only needs to win one more game to secure its place.

Chicharito Looks to Secure National Honor

The key to success for Mexico has been a rejuvenated offense, but the side has yet to see a goal from Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. The Bayer Leverkusen star has had a tremendous season in Germany after struggling for Real Madrid and Manchester United. Both teams have had trouble finding consistent scoring, something that the Mexican has excelled at. In just 31 matches for the German side, he has 23 goals this season, making for an average of 0.74 goals per game. In 33 games for Real Madrid last year, he only had nine, giving him an average of 0.27, and he only managed 59 goals over his entire career with Manchester United over 157 matches, giving him an average of 0.37 per game.

Mexico is hoping to get the Chicharito of Bayer Leverkusen in its upcoming games, not the version seen at Real Madrid or Manchester. The Mexican is the second all-time leading scorer for his nation, trailing Jared Borgetti by just four goals for the overall lead. If Chicharito wants the honor and distinction of being the best scorer in Mexico’s history, then he will need to start producing for the national side. He had just four goals in 2015 across eight matches, after a woeful three goals in 13 games back in 2014. Chicharito’s goals per game average stands at 0.53 for the national side, the best among the current top 10 players of all time.

Canada has one win and one draw across two games in these qualifiers. However, Canada has only scored one goal while conceding none. This will be a tough trial for the underdog side, which fell out of qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup at the finish line of the group stage.