El Salvador vs. Mexico: El Tri Stars Who Must Step Up in Key Qualifying Match

Mexico faces its toughest test of the current qualifying round on Tuesday when El Tri plays a road match against El Salvador. After a 3-1 victory over Guyana to get things started, Mexico will hope to continue that momentum and move one step closer to the next stage.

Here's a look at three players who didn't play up to their normal standards against Guyana and will need to improve if El Tri wants to secure all three points on foreign soil. A victory should allow Mexico to cruise through the final four games of the round.

Hector Moreno

Moreno had a night to forget against the Golden Jaguars. He was responsible for an own goal that brought an end to the team's clean sheet and often looked shaky at the back throughout the match despite the tame competition.

Mexico doesn't have much depth on defense, so manager Jose Manuel de la Torre will likely have to stick with the Espanyol star. He has played a lot better in the past, so the best thing to do is chalk it up to a bad game and move on.

Moreno has more than enough talent to rebound quickly from the poor showing. It all comes down to how much confidence he lost in a match that really should have been a walk in the park for him. He won't have a lot of time to think about it, which is probably a good thing.

Javier Hernandez

Even though Hernandez was on the ball a lot throughout the Guyana match, he wasn't able to find the net. Chicharito has always seemed to play better for the Mexican national team than in club play, so the lack of finishing was surprising.

The trio of Hernandez, Giovani dos Santos and Aldo de Nigris gives El Tri a major attacking advantage and should have allowed them to blow out their less talented foes. That didn't happen, and Hernandez was one of the main reasons why.

Luckily for Mexico, Hernandez rarely has two off games in a row. He will use the performance on Friday as motivation to dominate against El Salvador. Based on his play leading up to qualifying, he'll do exactly that.

Pablo Barrera

Barrera has shown a lot of talent during the early portion of his career, but the one thing he continues to struggle with is consistency. He hasn't been playing well recently, and the Golden Jaguars were able to contain him again, forcing him into mistakes.

While the aforementioned trio of strikers is the biggest key to Mexico's attack, somebody has to set them up. Even though it's a role Barrera has been expected to fill for quite some time, he can't seem to secure it without the occasional setback.

El Salvador will be looking to play a disciplined, smart game on home soil with hopes of picking up at least a draw. So, Mexico can't afford for Barrera to have another subpar match. He needs to raise his level of play back to where it should be based on his talent level.