2022 World Cup Team Profile: Mexico

Mexico National Team (Twitter @miseleccionmxEN)

JAKARTA - The Mexican national team is often recognized as one of the greatest in North America. However, the team's strength has diminished slightly with the likes of Javier Hernandez briefly frozen out and Andres Guardado dealing with injuries and aging. So, without further ado, let's take a look at the current list and achievements of the Mexican national team.

Profile overview

Full name: Mexico national team Nickname: El Tri (The Tricolor) Association: Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Confederation: CONCACAF (North America) Sub-confederation: NAFU (North America) Head coach: Gerardo Martino Captain: Andrés Guardado Most caps: Claudio Suárez (177) Home stadium: Estadio Azteca FIFA code: MEX Captain: Jose Andres Guardado Hernandez Top scorer: Javier Hernandez (52) FIFA Ranking

According to FIFA rankings, the Mexico men's national football team finished the year 2021 in 14th place. The position is a significant decline from the previous year when the team was ranked ninth in the world.

As of June 2022, Mexico is in 12th place with 1649.57 points. Their best world rankings were in 1997 and 2005 when they were fifth in the prestigious list.

Mexico in the World Cup

The Mexican national team has competed in the World Cup since the first edition in 1930 and has since participated in the tournament a total of 16 times.

They failed to qualify for the finals on three occasions: 1934 (Italy), 1974 (West Germany) and 1982 (Spain). Subsequently, the team withdrew from the 1938 finals (France) and was banned from competing in the 1990 World Cup (Italy) for fielding older players in the 1988 Olympic qualifiers, which were a venue for young players.

El Tri made one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history by beating world champions Germany 1-0 in the opening match of the 2018 edition in Russia. They hold the record for the second most consecutive rounds of participation, along with Brazil.

Mexico at the 2022 World Cup

The 2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, with 32 teams competing in eight groups.

Mexico qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. In the final match of CONCACAF's final qualifying round, they beat El Salvador 2-0, ending a turbulent qualifying cycle on a bright note.

In Qatar, Mexico were placed in Group C alongside Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Poland. Here is their schedule for their group stage matches:

Tuesday, 22 November 2022Argentina vs Saudi Arabia: 17:00 WIB Mexico vs Poland: 23:00 WIB Saturday, 26 November 2022 Argentina vs Mexico: 23:00 WIB Sunday, 27 November 2022Poland vs Saudi Arabia: 02:00 WIB Thursday, 1 December 2022Poland vs Argentina: 02:00 WIB Saudi Arabia vs Mexico: 02:00 WIB 2022 World Cup provisional squad

The country has some of North America's best players. Their current squad includes the following players.

MEXICO https://t.co/O5diOwzOh6

— Mexican National Team (@miseleccionmxEN) June 12, 2022

Goalkeeper

Guillermo Ochoa (America) Alfredo Talavera (Pumas) Rodolfo Cota (Leon) Jonathan Orozco (Tijuana)

defender

Johan Vasquez (Genoa) Nestor Araujo (Celta de Vigo) Gerardo Arteaga (KRC Genk) Cesar Montes (Monterrey) Julian Araujo (LA Galaxy) Hector Moreno (Monterrey) Jesus Alberto Angulo (Tigres) Israel Reyes (Puebla) Jesus Gallardo (Monterrey) Jorge Sanchez (America) Erick Aguirre (Monterrey)

Midfielder

José Andrés Guardado Hernández (Real Betis) Hector Herrera (Atletico Madrid) Edson Alvarez (Ajax) Erick Gutierrez (PSV Eindhoven) Diego Lainez (Betis) Carlos Rodriguez (Cruz Azul) Luis Romo (Monterrey) Uriel Antuna (Cruz Azul) Rodolfo Pizarro ( Monterrey)

Striker

Raul Jimenez (Wolverhampton) Jesus Corona (Sevilla) Hirving Lozano (Napoli) Santiago Gimenez (Cruz Azul) Henry Martin (America) Alexis Vega (Chivas) Team captain

José Andrés Guardado Hernández, born 28 September 1986, is the current captain of the Mexico national team. On 14 December 2005, four months after making his first team debut with Atlas, he made his first appearance for the national team in a friendly match against Hungary.

Since 2005, he has represented El Tri in four World Cups, four Gold Cups (winning the 2011 2015 and 2019 championships), two Copa América and two Confederations Cups. With 173 appearances, he is the player with the second most caps in the history of the Mexican national team after Claudio Suarez.

Trainer

Gerardo Martino, a former Argentine professional footballer, is the current coach of the Mexico national team. Martino was appointed head coach of El Tri on 7 January 2019, marking his return to international training after leaving Argentina in May 2016.

Martino's debut match with Mexico was a 3-1 win in a friendly against Chile on 22 March. Later that same year, Martino and Mexico beat rivals United States 1-0 in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. This is Martino's first national trophy. On the other hand, Martino, lost in the 2021 CONCACAF Nations League final and the CONCACAF Gold Cup to the United States.

After the win over , HC Gerardo Martino spoke in the post-match press conference. ️🇲🇽#CNL22 | #HechoDeLosMexicanos pic.twitter.com/znOZteXW0q

— Mexican National Team (@miseleccionmxEN) June 12, 2022

The Best Footballer of All Time

Hugo Sánchez Márquez, born 11 July 1958, is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager who plays as a forward. Sánchez is recognized as the best Mexican player of all time. He is a prolific goalscorer known for his spectacular smashes and volleys.

trophy

The Mexican national team have qualified for seventeen consecutive World Cups since 1994, being one of only six teams to do so. Their best progress at the World Cup was reaching the quarter-finals at the 1970 and 1986 World Cups when they were hosts.

The team has won eleven CONCACAF confederation titles, including eight CONCACAF Gold Cups and three CONCACAF Championships (predecessor to the Gold Cup), as well as two NAFC Championships, one North American Nations Cup, one CONCACAF Cup, and two gold medals from the Central American and Caribbean Games.

They are one of only eight countries to have won two of the three major football events (World Cup, Confederations Cup and Summer Olympics), having won the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2012 Summer Olympics.

1999 Confederations Cup

The Mexican national team is the only one in CONCACAF to have won an official FIFA competition after they won the FIFA Confederations Cup in 1999. Despite the fact that Mexico is under CONCACAF authority, the national team was regularly invited to compete in the Copa América from 1993 to 2016, being runner-up twice – in 1993 and 2001 – and received the third-place medal three times.

The Mexican national team is a regular participant in the World Cup every four years, but El Tri were unable to get past the last 16 and compete with other top world players in this event. They were determined to achieve it in the 2022 Qatar World Cup, but their group stage draw was not very good.