The veteran forward, 37, was released from his contract on November 22 in a bitter, acrimonious exit from Old Trafford after a bombshell interview with Piers Morgan criticising Manchester United.
In Buenos Aires, the semi-final achievements of the boy they call The Spider were being compared on Wednesday to those of Mario Kempes in Argentina s World Cup final 44 years ago.
Football fans on Twitter were quick to celebrate Luis Chavez s stunning free-kick from range to put Mexico 2-0 up against Saudi Arabia in the must-win encounter.
The final round of the World Cup group stage begins on Tuesday - and below, Sportsmail takes you through the state-of-play in all eight groups below as sides battle to reach the last 16.
Martino is set to step down from the Mexico national team after the tournament in Qatar, according to Mexican outlet Record , with El Tri on the verge of a first group stage exit since 1978.