OMNISPORT

Mexico striker Javier Hernandez believes his side's work ethic has paid off following their qualification for the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup.

Juan Carlos Osorio's side came from a goal down to beat host nation Russia 2-1 in Kazan and secure their place in the last four, along with Group A winners Portugal.

Osorio hailed his players for their determination as they battled from a goal down for the third game in a row to seal a deserved win in the Tatarstan capital.

  Esta tercia mata póker!! Pura caliche! 😎🤙🏽🇲🇽 #nofilterneeded #purorostro @miguel_layun @osalanis A post shared by Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez (@ch14_instagram) on Jun 10, 2017 at 9:31am PDT

And Hernandez agrees that the spirit within the camp has been a key part of their successful tournament so far.

"It wouldn't be very fair to just say one thing," the Bayer Leverkusen striker said when asked for a reason why Mexico looked fresher than Russia in the second half. 

"Here, the goalscorer isn't the hero and the player who makes a mistake isn't the villain. Here we play, we run and we work our a**** off. 

"We want to win to bring joy to ourselves, to our families and all the Mexican people. The tactical and technical side of things are different and the opponent also influences things. If there was a book and it was an exact science, everybody would want it."

Mexico will meet the winners of Group B – which will almost certainly be Chile or Germany – in their last-four encounter in Sochi on Thursday, but Hernandez is not concerned about which team they face.

"We want to win this tournament, against whoever," the 29-year-old said. "They are two world powers and our objective is to reach the final and win, with total modesty and humility and showing respect as we have done until now."