If ads made with AI seem horrible to you and position you against the brand, you are not alone: ​​science supports you

“The most profitable ad in Pepsi history.” The most voted comment in YouTube of the ad generated with AI by Coca-cola for Christmas 2025 suggests something: a popular rejection of advertising made with AI. Is this true? A new study from the University of Zaragoza on the effect of artificial intelligence on advertising points in that direction. The researchers’ conclusion is that customers avoid services advertised with AI-generated images, especially in companies that offer pleasurable experiences—such as hotel vacations—or that force high-involvement decisions. The reason? Artificially generated images are interpreted as unreliable. Its four authors explain to Xataka that “consumers value real images more because they show a faithful image of the product or service and they distrust companies that use images created with AI because they seem less professional or hide reality.” However, recent studies show that images created with AI can be equally effectiveand easier for companies to obtain, especially when consumers do not know that they are not real, they clarify. What AI gives you, AI takes away Using AI in an advertisement conveys a feeling that “the brand makes little effort, especially in luxury and beauty brands,” explains Lucía Caro Castaño, professor at the Department of Marketing and Communication at the University of Cádiz. After the Christmas controversy, Coca-Cola was forced to share how did you make the announcement to show “all the effort and investment it had required in terms of people.” Caro points to savings in personnel as one of the reasons why content made with AI generates disgust. Coca-Cola has recognized The Wall Street Journal that producing your typical Christmas advertisement has gone from needing a year to a month, recognizing savings in costs and time. However, the creation of spot forced to enormous human work to fine-tune AI-generated images. Coca-Cola is not the only company that has discovered the advertising limitations of AI. Dell share your experience: “We’re very focused on getting the most out of a device’s AI capabilities, but what we’ve learned this year, especially from a consumer perspective, is that they don’t buy based on AI. In fact, I think AI probably confuses them more than it helps them understand a specific outcome,” argued a few months ago Kevin Terwilliger, Chief Product Officer at Dell. There are several reasons for this rejection of advertising AI: the feeling of “already seen”, which penalizes the lack of originality and creative effort; and the perception of “dehumanization” transmitted by excessively robotic content, explains Patricia Coll, doctor in Communication and professor at EAE Business School. Diana Gavilán, professor of Marketing at the Complutense University of Madrid, highlights the benefits of AI in automatable tasks in advertising and digital marketing: “The problematic thing is when it replaces a human. If a robot serves me but you want to convince me that it is like a human, there is a drop in confidence.” According to researchers at the University of Zaragoza, their study shows that real images are particularly effective when it comes to a product or service with high involvementthat is, the consumer wants faithful images when the decision they make is important. Real images are also better than those generated with AI to publicize hedonistic products or services because they allow “a better assessment of what the personal experience will be like.” On the other hand, when the products are utilitarian and low-involvement, images generated with AI are effective. In some sectors it is advisable to use commercial images made with AI, such as schools and social entities to avoid showing real children to protect their privacy, scientists highlight. The professor of Marketing at the University of Alicante, Ana Belén Casado, adds that not all consumers or all brands reject AI: “It depends a lot on the type of product, good, service or idea that is being marketed and the differential value proposition of each brand.” For Gavilán, AI is like the Thermomix: a tool with which you don’t do everything in the kitchen, “but you can use it and it is at your disposal, depending on how you use it, it will be better or worse.” In his opinion, the Coca-Cola ad was “a strategic mistake” for wanting to make the same old ad with AI instead of making a different story with that technology. Brands taking a step back with AI? Before Coca-Cola, the clothing brand H&M had already launched a campaign with real models and “digital twins” generated with AI. Although all images generated by AI are labeled so as not to confuse them with real ones and the models have image rights Regarding his digital copy, Caro highlights that “we do not know exactly what this contract has been like in terms of the rights to his own image that exceed those models, nor will it affect photographers and the rest of the workers who make these campaigns possible.” This innovative campaign was quite small, around a line of denim clothing, and the head of AI at the Swedish multinational, Linda Leopoldleft the company shortly after the campaign. “We don’t know where H&M will continue next, especially with all the controversy generated,” says Caro. Gavilán’s vision is that AI will continue to be implemented and that it will be applied more in areas “where it is very relevant.” Despite his water and energy consumptionthe environmental NGO WWF in Denmark launched a campaign titled “The hidden cost” in April 2025 to denounce the environmental impact of eleven different products. It was made entirely with AI. In Spain the first advertising agency focused on AI, AI::gencyhas worked with brands such as Nissan, Seat, Cushla and Ebro. Other brands have chosen publicly reject the AI. In his campaignWhy don’t we get on the AI ​​bandwagon?” in February 2024, the browser Vivaldi announced that it would not be incorporating AI “for the time being.” The reasons given by the company were copyright and privacy violations, as well as “plausible-sounding lies” generated by AI. At the advertising level, doveUnilever’s personal care brand, has … Read more

We thought that AI was going to take our position. The reality is that it is making us work more and rest less

The most pessimistic vision of the future of AI predicted that the automation of processes would mean the elimination of many jobs. The most optimistic assure that AI will not replace employees, but rather will enhance your skills making them more productive, which will translate into shorter days. A analysis of Harvard Business Reviewbased on eight months of observation at a US technology company with about 200 employees, reveals something very different: AI is making employees take on more tasks, but also make them work longer days. Do more with AI. The study observed that the use of AI in the company It did not simplify the work, but rather expanded it. The researchers observed that employees, product managers, and designers began using AI on their own initiative, even though the company did not force them to do so. What it did do was provide business subscriptions to those who decided to use it in their work. This use made employees begin to tackle more and more tasks, not only within the scope of their position, but, for example, employees from the sales department asked AI for help. to program a tool to help them in their task. Employees argued that, with the help of AI, they had immediate response to their ideas and projects, which allowed them to accomplish more tasks. The end of breaks. The help of AI and the elimination of friction in starting new tasks motivated employees to take on more and more tasks, increasing their daily workload. The most curious thing is that the researchers discovered that this additional motivation also implied that employees gave up their natural rest times. The increase in workload, even voluntarily, increased their levels of cognitive fatigue and exhaustion, influencing their decision-making capacity. By not having to stop and reflect in front of a blank page of a report or simply go to a colleague’s desk for help with a question, employees endured greater mental strain. This progressive exhaustion had an impact on worsening of work quality and in personnel turnover due to burnout. Fast pace and multitasking. He productivity increase The initial advantage that AI provided made it possible for employees to have several open fronts. The researchers detected that employees assigned a task to the AI ​​(or even several tasks in parallel processes) and, while obtaining a result, started a new task. This practice caused a state of perpetual multitasking, with frequent interruptions and “juggling” between different ideas and open projects, which contributed to exhausting employees’ cognitive capacity a little more. More work for you, more work for others. Daring to take on tasks that did not correspond to them, in turn caused a supervision overload for the departments to which it did correspond. For example, if someone in the sales department created code to streamline the analysis of their sales data, that would require the engineering department to review that code to make sure it was correct. that is correct and safeincreasing your workload with unplanned projects. Blurred boundaries between work and life. One of the most notable consequences is how AI acts as an always-available “co-pilot,” removing barriers between work and personal hours. The employees who participated in the analysis ended up extending their work hours on their own initiative, reviewing ideas or polishing the work they had started with AI at home. As its authors point out, “organizations could see this voluntary expansion of work as a clear victory. After all, if workers do it on their own initiative, why would that be a bad thing?” However, this apparent initial advantage for companies can mask a long-term problem “Overwork can impair judgment, increase the likelihood of errors, and make it difficult for organizations to distinguish between true productivity gains and unsustainable intensity,” the researchers note. The report ‘Barometer of AI in the world of work’ prepared by PwC, corroborates that in companies with a high implementation of AI, productivity increases between 20 and 30% on average, but it is only maintained at these levels if it is accompanied by ethical governance and redistribution of efforts. Without these adjustments, the promise of efficiency becomes a trap of greater individual effort that ends up burning out employees with heavier workloads and longer hours. In Xataka | “The world is in danger”: Anthropic’s security manager leaves the company to write poetry Image | Unsplash (Christina @wocintechchat.com)

YouTube has begun to fill with AI-generated content. Spain appears in an unexpected position

Something has noticeably changed in the YouTube experience. A recent analysis points to a notable change in the type of videos that make their way into the feed, with a high presence of content generated with artificial intelligence and with Spain standing out within that context. We are not talking about a passing fad or experimental creativity, but rather a pattern that responds to how attention is rewarded today. To understand what we are talking about, it is worth clarifying the terms that are repeated in the studies. “AI slop“is used to describe automatically generated videos, with very low standards and designed to be mass produced, prioritizing quantity over content.”brainrot” expands that idea and encompasses pieces that, with or without artificial intelligence, seek to retain the viewer based on repetitive stimuli and without a clear narrative. They are disputed labels, but useful to describe a type of content designed above all to capture attention. How the phenomenon has been measured. To put figures to this trend, Kapwing reviewed the 100 YouTube channels considered “trend” in each country through Playboard and isolated those he identified as AI slop. From there, he collected public data on views, subscribers, and estimated revenue with Social Blade and added them by country. Additionally, the team created a new YouTube account and reviewed the first 500 Shorts in the feed to see what a user with no previous history finds. What exactly does the data say about Spain. When breaking down the results by country, Spain stands out for a very specific reason. Channels of this type that fall into the “trend” category accumulate more than 20 million subscribers, more than any other country analyzed. However, the number of channels is small. The study itself indicates that this combination reveals a strong concentration of audience in few profiles, a key factor to understand why Spain appears so high in the ranking. The comparative analysis shows that there is no single global pattern. There are countries that stand out for the number of channels identified, others for the total number of views and others for the loyalty of their audiences. South Korea, for example, has a much higher number of views than the rest, while the United States is among the first in terms of aggregate volume of followers. This diversity reinforces a central idea of ​​the report: the impact of this type of content depends both on the local ecosystem and how algorithms respond in each market. Patterns that repeat in the videos. When reviewing this content, very recognizable formulas appear: animals with human features and cartoon aesthetics, with an almost photographic finish, placed in “story” mini-scenes that can be understood in seconds. Examples usually include baby monkeys that star in emotional or exaggerated situations, animals that “save” people in impossible accidents, or everyday scenes turned into fables, such as a cat shopping in a market. The Guardian highlights that many pieces dispense with a clear narrative and work by immediate impact, repetition and familiarity, three ingredients that fit well with the logic of the feed. Why this model is attractive. According to The Guardianmany creators approach this type of content not out of creative affinity, but out of pure profitability. Automated tools reduce costs and allow you to test ideas almost unlimitedly, while monetization programs promise income that is difficult to match in other local jobs. The result is a constant trial logic, where what works is replicated and what doesn’t is discarded, in an environment in which the algorithm decides more than the author. Regardless of who produces these videos, the impact is clearly perceived from the other side of the screen. Kapwing created a new account and counted the first 500 Shorts in the feed: 104 were AI-generated content, 21%, and 165 fit into “brainrot”, 33%. The Guardian summarizes that finding as “more than 20%” of AI slop in a new user experience. The data does not allow us to describe all of YouTube, but it does suggest that this material is part of the initial menu offered by the algorithm. The official response and its limits. YouTube maintained in statements to the aforementioned newspaper that videos generated with AI must meet the same standards as any other content and that it acts when its policies are violated. However, the platform does not offer public figures that allow us to know how many views correspond to this type of materials or how they influence the total. This opacity forces us to rely on external studies and leaves open the question of whether the algorithm prioritizes these videos or simply reflects their proliferation. Images | Ganes AI official 5286 | Lily Video AI | Dipto Fun Tv | Sparks Adventures (YouTube) | Kapwing In Xataka | We believed that Stack Overflow was essential for programming. AI is proving the opposite

The lack of commitment to the position

Such and As I explained An expert in LinkedIn racing, the personnel selection processes have become a play in which each character must play their role to convince its interlocutor. In the same way as The curriculum must be adapted To respond to the profile of the job offer to which it is postulated, interviews with recruiters require a previous job to convince them that they are facing the right person to cover the vacancy. Prepare a job interview. Adriane Schwageris CEO and co -founder of Growthassistant, a personnel recruitment company. The directive has more than 20 years of experience in recruiting people for all types of profiles and has shared its most important advice for candidates in An interview for CNBC: Arrive prepared. According to Schwager, in the last five years it has noticed a decrease in the level of preparation of candidates for the personnel selection processes. “In fact, I am surprised at the number of times that people do not do their homework. Here is something very basic that I see that the candidates are not doing, which is (understanding): what does the company that is interviewing you?”, Says the recruiter. Investigate the company. The recruiter ensures that the job interview is the perfect time to demonstrate interest in getting the position you are running. Not only because you need employment or For salarybut because the candidate really aligns with the values ​​of the company. A common mistake that the expert has observed in recent years is that many candidates do not investigate what the company does before attending the interview. Schwager points out that it is something that used to remember university students that were presented to their first interviewsbut every time he meets more experienced profiles that do not even bother to know minimally what the company in which he wants to go to work is dedicated. Show interest from the beginning. Knowing your interlocutor in a job interview does not require great effort and provides an important advantage: it denotes a real interest in the position. Schwager emphasizes that it is positive when, naturally, a candidate mentions something about some publication in LinkedIn or X’s profile of the company during the course of the interview. This shows that the candidate has had the interest of navigating the profiles of the company and knowing their situation, giving rise to the conversation already begging in a favorable way to their interests, changing the predisposition of the interviewer. If you have a lot of interest, points high. On the other hand, the expert suggests not conforming only with the established hiring channels, but, if you really are interested in the position, communicate with the superiors to show interest in him. Schwager assures that some of her stronger hiring have been to people who contact her directly through social networks, showing great interest and knowledge about the company. These candidates tend to be more committed and focused on the hiring process. Companies seek commitment. According to Report data State of the Global Workplace 2024 Prepared by Gallup, 62% of employees consider that they have very low levels of commitment to the company, while 15% of the templates are in an active disconnection situation. Only 23% of employees are committed to their job. It is estimated that those Low levels of commitment They generate losses to the global economy of 8.9 billion dollars. For this reason, companies are prioritizing the commitment of their new employees above other factors. Showing that commitment during the selection process gives candidates some extra points in your choice. In Xataka | “I am very perfectionist”: the answer that recruiters no longer want to hear in work interviews Image | Pexels (Tim Gouw) *An earlier version of this article was published in September 2024

Spain thought its position regarding the closure of nuclear. That has just changed

The debate on a possible extension of nuclear plants has returned to the scene and has turned on the media focus. The electricity insists on lengthening their operation beyond the expected, but the executive denies that formal negotiations are being maintained and refers to the conditions that already set as essential. A letter and three conditions. Iberdrola and Endesa sent a joint letter to the government will make more or less a month. In it, they proposed to reopen the debate on the progressive closure of the nuclear park – which contemplates the shutdown of the Seven reactors between 2027 and 2035– With the argument that maintaining operational some centrals would reduce the cost of electricity for consumers. According to the countrythe Government responded by another letter signed by the Ecological Transition Minister, Sara Aagesen, opening to assess the proposal under three immovable conditions: that there is no additional cost for citizens, that the security of the supply is guaranteed and that the plants comply with the standards of the Nuclear Safety Council. So far they “dialogue.” According to eldiario.esthe government considers the letter of electricity as a declaration of intentions, not a formal request. In addition, Naturgy and EDP – also minority owners of some plants – did not sign the document, which leaves Iberdrola and Endesa alone. The debate intensifies. The situation is complex for a primary reason that is not technical, but the economic viability of nuclear. As the confidential explainedelectricity consider that operating with the current fiscal charge is unfeasible if the market price does not exceed € 65-70/MWh. In contrast, projected prices are around € 55/MWh by 2030. In this context, the Endesa CEO, José Bogas, raises the government a fiscal reduction, especially autonomic taxes (such as the one already eliminated in the Valencian Community) and the Enresa rate, which finances the dismantling of the centrals and waste management. However, according to the miteco, this fiscal reduction would involve damage to citizens, and therefore clashes frontally with their red lines. Almaraz, the first thermometer. The immediate focus is at the Almaraz nuclear power plant (Cáceres), whose first reactor must close in November 2027 and the second in October 2028. Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy – his three owners – have not yet met to approve the necessary investments that would allow their operation beyond those dates. The meeting scheduled for June has not been held, and sector sources admit that it will not occur before September. Meanwhile, companies prepare a new proposal that, According to El Confidencialcould be presented after summer at a meeting not yet confirmed with Minister Aagesen. The plan would be to offer a tax reduction in exchange for prolonging the activity of some centrals until 2030. However, the Ministry insists: if the conditions do not change, there will be no negotiation. A hot topic in Congress. The debate is more than served from the political field. On the one hand, the Popular Party preparing one Law proposition to extend the life of nuclear. The proposal would have the support of several regional governments of the PP – as Extremadura and Community Valencian – and the parliamentary support of Junts and ERC, which have shown flexibility in Congress in relation to the revision of the nuclear calendar. However, the government has reaffirmed its position. As El Confidencial recalledPresident Pedro Sánchez was bluntly in Congress last May, accusing PP and Vox of acting as “amateur lobists” of the electric. “If companies want to keep the centrals open, they pay them, not the citizens,” he settled. Facing an ambivalent European framework. In addition, the legal position of nuclear energy in the EU adds complexity, since European regulations do not consider nuclear energy as a renewable source. This is established by Directive 2018/2001 (Red II), a vision that has also adopted Spanish legislation. However, in 2022, the European Commission took a partial turn by including this technology, under certain conditions, In the so -called “green taxonomy”next to the natural gas. This classification allows certain nuclear investments to be labeled as sustainable from the climate point of view. As Miguel Huarte expanded has indicatedthis places the nuclear in a normative gray area: it is not renewable, but free of emission in its operation. And while France or Belgium have already chosen to extend their atomic parks, Spain maintains the opposite course. Accelerating another route. At the same time, the miteco has processed this July 31 a new Royal Decree by urgent route to reinforce the electrical system. As you have indicated in a press releaseit is a technical standard that does not directly address the nuclear calendar, but it does signal to a reinforcement of the electrical system by means of supervision, electrification of the demand and promotion of energy storage. Among other measures, the proposal increases the technical control of Electricity and CNMC, promotes renewable hybridization with storage systems and limits speculation on connection points. Although the text does not mention the nuclear, it reinforces the idea that the government bet remains clear: moving towards a 100% renewable mix. A door ajar. The crossing of cards between electric and government has served more to draw red lines than to open doors. What is played, beyond the kilowatt, is the country’s energy model: one where renewables are implacable and nuclear tries to scratch time under the promise of stability. But as well He has pointed the newspaper.Without a formal proposal and without an explicit resignation to tax privileges, electricity will continue to wait at the gates of a ministry that, for now, remains firm: either they meet the conditions, or the closing calendar will continue its course. The future of Almaraz – and perhaps that of the entire nuclear park – will be decided, if, after summer. And with many more letters even to play. Image | Foronuclear Xataka | Spain was supposed to have a “antiapagones” plan. It has encountered an insurmountable obstacle: politics

be the perfect candidate for each position

In the same way that you would not be able to play a game of Soccer with moccasinspersonnel recruitment experts recommend Adapt the curriculum to the job offer to give Priority to skills that the company claims. This Curriculum adaptation It is a basic strategy when applying to any job offer today. In the early 70s, Bill Gates used that same strategy to Adapt your academic skills In registration applications for Yale, Princeton and Harvard universities: three universities, three different Bill Gates. An actor: three characters In his autobiography ‘Code Source: My beginnings’Bill Gates tells how he faced his admission application in some of the best US universities. Although in the case of the young Gates it was almost a joke with himself, his strategy, reminds to which any candidate who runs to a job offer should do. In autumn of 1973, Bill Gates participated in a play during his last year of high school. It was there when he discovered in the theater a new way of relating With other young people and show aspects of your personality that were in the background in other activities that were usually carried out, such as programming or making long excursions through the mountains. Just then, Gates had to send income requests for universities. That raised some doubts about what his Labor future. The options that were raised were to go to Harvard and follow in the footsteps of his father as a lawyer; orient towards a more political profile studying public administration at Yale; or go to Princeton to train as an engineer and develop software, something he had already done His first steps. Bill Gates tells in his book that “while filling the requests, I experienced with my personality. As I had learned in the theater class, each was a performance: An actor, three characters“The millionaire said. “For Princeton I said that I wanted to be an engineer who knew how to develop software. I boasted with examples of my programs and emphasized my mathematics notes. To Yale I said that I wanted to study public administration and, perhaps right, highlighting my experience (like Ujier during a couple of summers in Washington DC), my fondness for the boy scouts and my interest in dramatic art.” However, the request that had more weight for Gates was the one he presented to Harvard, “as I wrote in my essay, I expressed my inclination for business and law,” following his father’s professional steps. All gates, all certain Sincerity It is something that recruiters They value very positivelyso adapt the curriculum for a certain position It does not imply lying in skills, but to give priority to those who have A positive impact In the position to which it is postulated. “We expect sincerity. If a person comments that he is good to work as a team, but in the day to day he avoids participating in meetings, that is where we see that there is an incoherence with what he explained in the interview,” he explained Lidia Sanz CostaTechnique of Selection, Development and Training in companies IMAN. The “Three Bill Gates” presented by the millionaire in their respective income requests They were realbut little was going to serve a software engineer to have learned the values ​​of the scouts, or have knowledge of dramatic art. For that reason, the young Gates arranged to play a paper highlighting only the skills that They contributed value to their candidacy. In this sense, it is increasingly common to use the help ofChatgpt to adapt the curriculum to a specific job offer. This automation applied to curricular adaptation will also take into account other factors such as including Keywords and skills what would priority to office, preventing them from candidate monitoring algorithms (ATS) Believe your curriculum In the first rounds of the process. In Xataka | A young computer scientist was looking for work. So “hacked” LinkedIn to always receive offers first In Xataka | If your chair holds in a job interview, it is no accident: they are evaluating more than your curriculum Image | Flickr (Statsministerens Kontor)

“All his life takes place from a position of insecurity”

Personal relationships between Elon Musk and Sam Altman do not go through their best time since, in 2018, Musk decided disconnect from OpenAI For disagreements with Altman. Since then, Elon Musk Musk has tried to take control of Openai, or at least, prevent Altman With different demands. The last one has been to launch a hostile bid to buy Openai for 97.4 billion dollars. Altman’s response has not been expected: “Probably his whole life takes place from a position of insecurity. I’m sorry for him.” War is unleashed with the OPA. The last step in the escalation of this personal war between Elon Musk and Sam Altman has come from the presentation of a hostile OPA offer worth 97,400 million. Musk made it public from its X profile, to which Openai’s CEO He replied pulling irony. “No, thanks, but we will buy Twitter for 9,740 million dollars if you want,” pointing out the loss of value of the Musk social network. Provocation to which Tesla’s CEO He simply respondedwith a “Sam scammer.” In one recent interview for Bloomberg on the occasion of the Paris Action SummitSam Altman responded about the intentions of Elon Musk’s offer, noting that he suspects that Musk really seeks with the proposal is not to buy OpenAi, but to prevent his company from expanding its advantage in the development of AI. Referring to Musk’s mood For braking OpenaiAltman pointed out that “probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel empathy for the guy who feels like me, in reality. I don’t think he is a happy person.” Sam Altman is no longer cut. For many years, Sam Altman has elegantly endured Elon Musk’s constant envito recognition words for Musk. In An interview In the podcast The Free Press, Sam Altman acknowledged that Elon Musk, with whom Openai co -founded, “did a lot to help OpenAi in the first days,” and said Musk is a “legendary entrepreneur.” However, he was no longer going to tolerate more direct attacks of the millionaire of South African origin, which he described as “thug.” Throwing firewood. The presentation of Stargate project, Led by Altman, he again enervated a Musk that was relegated to a secondary role in AI. The owner of X, attacked Altman From your profileaccusing him from x of lying and not having enough capital to carry out that project. On this occasion, Altman’s response was not as calm as other times, and sarcastically invited him to visit the first Stargate data center and reminded him that “this is good for the country. I realize that what It is good for the country, it is not always optimal for its companies, but in your new role I hope you put the US first. “ In Xataka | How much money Elon Musk has: how the fortune of the man who plans the colonization of Mars from a social network is distributed Image | Flickr (Ted Conference, Techcrunch)

Aguirre sees the positive side of trying young people on the South American tour of Mexico

Before playing two games for South America, coach Javier Aguirre said that the result in both games would be the least important. The essential thing was to see the performance of the young players who received the opportunity in the absence of the usual starters who were not loaned by their clubs. In the matches against Internacional de Porto Alegre from Brazil and River Plate from Argentina, “Vasco” Aguire made 14 players debut with El Tri. One of them was Gilberto Mora, who became the youngest player to debut with the national team. The Tijuana midfielder is 16 years and three months old. Mexico defeated Inter 2-0 and then lost by the same score against River. “I leave with the feeling that the tour was worth it,” Aguirre said the day before. “You have to keep balance and draw conclusions. It’s good for me for the future. The objective of the tour was met. There are three or four players who really deserve a chance on the next occasions.” The veteran coach did not want to go into detail about who those players are who could fight for a place in the Nations League, where Mexico will have its next official match on March 20 against Canada. Who took advantage? Although he has few spotlights, recovery midfielder Elías Montiel is the next jewel of the Pachuca quarry and in both matches he showed why. At just 19 years old, the player became a starter for the Tuzos in the previous tournament and was one of the most outstanding in the last edition of the Intercontinental Cup. Aguirre summoned him for both matches and he was one of the few who repeated his lineup in both matches. The problem for Montiel is that in that position there is tough competition for ownership. Edson Álvarez (Fulham) and Luis Chávez (Dinamo Moscow), both with World Cup experience, usually occupy those positions. Luis Romo (Chivas) also fights for minutes. A similar case is that of Jorge Ruvalcaba, who excelled with a goal and several dangerous attempts against the Brazilians. The Pumas winger, with experience in Europe with Standard de Lieja, moves along the left wing, a sector where Julián Quiñones, Alexis Vega, César Huerta and Hirving Lozano fight to be starters. Of the rest, goalkeeper Raúl Rangel, full-back Jesús Gallardo and forward Guillermo Martínez, the only ones previously mentioned by Aguirre, fulfilled what was expected and will surely continue to be regular in the calls. What’s next? In Aguirre’s original plan, in addition to playing games outside of friendly environments such as the fields of the United States, it was contemplated to carry out “mini-cycles” of training with players from the local league. That idea was presented and approved by then-high commissioner Juan Carlos Rodriguez, who resigned from his position in December. After the little support shown by the clubs to release players for the South American tour, it is unlikely that they will want to release them for training sessions originally scheduled from Monday to Wednesday. If nothing changes, Aguirre will have to wait until mid-March to have a full team again before facing Canada in the Nations League.

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