Hirving Lozano, Raul Jimenez Lead Mexico to 3-1 Friendly Win over Chile

Gerardo "Tata" Martino officially began his reign as Mexico's manager with an encouraging 3-1 win in an international friendly against Chile on Friday night. 

Mexico delivered a show for the 49,617 fans packed Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. The first half was all about goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa blocking a header off of an arching Chile free-kick into the box in the 13th minute. Halftime arrived with both teams deadlocked at 0-0.

Mexico forward Raul Jimenez opened the scoring in the 52nd minute on a penalty kick. From there, it was an onslaught of offense. 

Within a minute of one another, center back Hector Moreno (64') and winger Hirving Lozano (65') gave Mexico a 3-0 advantage. Moreno's goal was a header off of a corner kick, while Lozano beat Chile goalkeeper Gabriel Arias in the run of play for a right-footed arching score.

Chile didn't lay down. Nicolas Castillo pulled one back in the 69th minute as he was left open in the center of the box. 

However, Castillo couldn't manage to convert either of his two following chances. Mexico prevailed in a chippy contest that saw three El Tri players and two Chileans receive yellow cards. 

The last meeting between these two nations came on Oct. 16, and Chile emerged then with a 1-0 victory. 

Up next for Mexico is an international friendly with Paraguay on March 26, while Chile will be in action the same night against the United States.  

Martino steps in as the head of El Tri following his choice to depart from MLS' Atlanta United FC, who claimed the franchise's first MLS Cup in December. 

Starting off with a win is positive, of course, but there were some questions surrounding Martino's lineup heading into the match. To start, Martino made the decision not to call up 30-year-old LAFC striker Carlos Vela, who has started the MLS season with three goals and two assists in three games.  

The more interesting choice, however, involved a more prominent 30-year-old El Tri star: Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, Mexico's all-time scoring leader. Martino has to figure out whether Chicharito or Jimenez will lead the front line, per ESPN's Tom Marshall, and opted to start Jimenez over Chicharito on Friday night. 

Jimenez made that look like the correct decision with his goal, but when Chicharito replaced Jimenez in the 75th minute, he showed why Martino will have to put a lot of thought into which player to give starting minutes to. 

Chicharito nearly tacked on a fourth goal in stoppage time but was called offside.  

Overall, expectations are much higher than anything Martino experienced in Atlanta. Mexico's sole focus for the future is making it to the FIFA World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1986. In the World Cup last summer, Mexico was ousted by Brazil in the round of 16. 

When introduced as Mexico's new leader in January, Martino addressed the elephant on the pitch. 

"I can't answer how it is that I will be able to reach the fifth game of a World Cup that it's going to be played in four years and when we still have the qualifying rounds ahead of us," he said, per the Associated Press (h/t USA Today).

Friday night was a limited glimpse into how Martino might guide them there but an encouraging one nonetheless.