OLD GUARD’S HUNGRY FOR MORE GOALS

SAUDI ARABIA v MEXICO Lusail Stadium, Group C, 7pm, BBC2

MEXICO’S grand old man Andres Guardado is desperate for his record-equalling stint in Qatar not to end with a whimper.

The 36-year-old skipper joined Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the only active male players to have appeared at five World Cups when he started against Messi’s Argentina on Saturday,

Just six men have achieved the feat in football history and midfielder Guardado (above), of Real Betis, is humbled to be in such company.

“Of course, I would have never imagined that I could play in five World Cups,” said the Mexico captain, who has played 181 times for his country, a figure only Ronaldo can better among players at this tournament.

“You dream of one, so imagine five! This is something that will stay with me forever and is incredible for my personal pride.”

But Guardado and Mexico’s tournament will come to a sudden halt if they don’t beat Saudi Arabia today, and anything but a four-goal margin of victory may not be enough.

Given that the Mexicans have drawn a blank in front of goal in both of their matches so far, scoring is a concern for manager Gerardo Martino (above).

“Right now these problems in front of goal are especially serious, because we need to score,” said the former Barcelona and Argentina boss, who has brought Wolves forward Raul Jimenez on as a second-half substitute in both of Mexico’s matches.

“During the last year, due to different circumstances, we had our attacking players suffer some physical issues.

“But when I was Paraguay coach in 2010, we reached the quarter-finals, despite only scoring two goals, both from midfielders, so there are no excuses for the team.

“Personally, I don’t think creating a new system is useful.

“Obviously, we need to score goals – and we’ll see how we’ll configure the attackers.”