MOSCOW - Mexico's mantra for this World Cup is "No Excuses," and that includes no complaining about the menu.
The team brought two tons of food to Russia, along with everything necessary to make their players' favorites, including traditional tacos, cheesy quesadillas and, of course, their hot salsas.
When Colombian manager Juan Carlos Osorio took over the Mexico team in 2015, he gathered a staff that includes a mental coach, a kinesiology specialist, a recovery expert and nutritionist Beatriz Boullosa.
"Professor Osorio says it all the time, there are no excuses here, he's a man that makes his decisions based on hard facts and he has opened the chance for every one of us in our respective areas to give something to the national team," Boullosa said.
"We know that in the past, soccer has been ruled in the belief that: 'Since I was a player and that worked, it applies,' but that is not how we run things around here, every decision is based on science."
Boullosa has worked for the national teams since 2010. She was part of the staff that won the Under-17 world title in Mexico in 2011, and also worked for the Olympic team that won the gold medal in 2012, but coach Miguel Herrera was not convinced and let her out of the Brazil 2014 World Cup.
Osorio heard about Boullosa's work and brought her along to take care of the diet and nutrition of the squad.
The team did not ingest any red meat from Mexico to avoid any chance of positive tests with clenbuterol, a banned substance widely used by Mexican ranchers as a growth-enhancer. In 2011, five players from Mexico's squad tested positive for clenbuterol.