Part 197: Minilude:Copa Mundial/Weltmeisterschaft finalist spotlight.

Minilude:Copa Mundial/Weltmeisterschaft finalist spotlight.
July 13, 2026

El Tri

Mexico has two players who are among the best in the world at their jobs, Isaac Stringel and Rodrigo Jimenez. You'll recall that second name from the many times I've drooled over the prospect of him coming to Wrexham.



Rodrigo is nearly the platonic ideal of a box to box midfielder, if he had higher stamina and teamwork attributes he would be the perfect midfield machine. As is, he's merely the best midfielder in the world. He and Stringel were backed up by the blazing hot Jose Roberto Sanchez, a good player for Barcelona who played out of his mind at the world cup.



Sanchez is the only player who scored against Germany in the entire tournament, with a goal just after halftime. Mexico also got excellent play from their wingbacks, who provided a lot of offense while still handling their defensive duties.




Really, though, it was the Isaac Stringel show. He scored six goals and had four assists, meaning that he was directly involved in ten of Mexico's sixteen goals. If I went back and looked at the other six, I'd bet money that he had a hand in creating those, too.

Die Mannschaft

What's really impressive is that Germany was able to win the World Cup despite losing their all-world striker Niklas Duhnke to a torn hamstring in the first 20 minutes of their first match. There's a reason why they had to grind out so many close, low scoring wins.



Without Duhnke they were punchless, scoring more than one goal only against minnows South Africa and Iran. What got them through the tournament was amazing defense.



Captain Neckbeard here organized that defense, and they just ground out win after win in the late rounds. They needed penalties to get past Spain in the Semifinal and Mexico in the final, but they didn't allow a single goal until the second half of the final.



At the center of that defense was Mattias Laux and Sven Schick, who's as capable a defender as any in the world at the age of 21.



Add to that back line the work of Wiebach at right back, along with Witt and fellow defensive rock Ivan Srdarev in the midfield, and there's a reason why Germany never gave up any goals. Their keeper walked into the Golden Glove, he only had to face seven shots on target the entire tournament.

But that's soccer. 22 men run around for 90 minutes, and at the end the Germans win.