Mexico coach Miguel Herrera considers his team's group-stage exit at the Copa America a "failure" after a 2-1 loss to Ecuador marked the end of their tournament.
Although Mexico's stars are playing at the Gold Cup, the CONCACAF guests still came into the tournament in Chile hoping to reach the semi-finals.
"You have to accept failure," Herrera told a news conference.
"We didn't understand the magnitude of how we played. We lacked energy and didn't get stuck in. They didn't do things well and it's a failure."
"We didn't understand when we came into this tournament and we were late in getting started," Herrera said.
"We played a match where we understood [how to play] and the rest were just sparks. Today we have chances we didn't take advantage of.
"Without putting forth effort, it's tough to advance. We didn't understand how and in what way to play in this tournament."
