Diego Cocca does not trust the level of Santiago Jimenez for a new process in the Mexican national team.

This Thursday starts a new cycle in the Mexican national team with Diego Cocca on the benchwhose mission is to make Gerardo “Tata” Martino’s failure in a previous project that ended with a lousy result at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar be forgotten.

The former coach of Santos Laguna, Xolos de Tijuana, Atlas de Guadalajara and Tigres de la Huanl in Liga MX should be a mix of youth and old guard. Among the new faces is Santiago Jimenez.a striker who racked his brains in Europe with Feuernoord and who was not on the list for the last World Cup.

At 21, Bebote Jiménez adapted quickly to the Dutch Eredivisie and started scoring goals despite not spending pre-season, but after a successful run at Cruz Azul, he headed to the old continent.

Santi’s ability is undeniable and it is hoped that he will establish himself as a starting striker, the jewel of El Tri… However, Diego Cocca sees it differently, He doubts what the Mexican striker can do in the national team.

At a press conference, the Argentine coach urged not to trust the level of his challenge, he gives the same advice to his managers, since the level of clubs and the requirements of national teams are different.

“I want to see his personality. In their clubs one thing, and that’s Selection”I want them to get to a higher level than they can give,” Diego Cocca said of Santiago Jimenez, who is highly expected to do in this Thursday’s game against Suriname in the Concacafé Nations League.

In the 2022/2023 season, Jimenez played 34 games in which he scored 15 goals; this figure is with Feuernoord, however, in the five games he played with Cruz Azul in the last Liga MX opening tournament, he scored the same number of goals (5), so he totaled 20 celebrations in the entire campaign.