Mexico's national football team, coach, FIFA world rankings, and the WORLD CUP 2022

Mexico's national football team, coach, FIFA world rankings, and the WORLD CUP 2022

Kenneth Mwenda
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:01 PM

Mexico's national team is often recognized as one of the greatest in North America. However, the club lacks the star power of previous Mexican squads, with players such as Javier Hernandez frozen out and Andres Guardado dealing with injuries and ageing. So, without further ado, let's look at the club's current roster and accomplishments.

Mexico's national football team
Mexico's national football team during the world cup qualifications. Photo: @infobae
Source: Twitter

The Mexican Football Federation governs Mexico's national football team, representing Mexico in international football. It participates as a CONCACAF member. In this article, we reveal the names of the players who were chosen to represent Mexico in their national football team.

Profile summary

  • Full names: Mexico national team
  • Nickname(s): 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: José Andrés Guardado Hernández
  • Twitter: @miseleccionmxEN
  • Website: https://www.mextour.org/
  • Best ranking: 5th in 1997 and 2005
  • All-time top scorer: Javier Hernández (52)
  • Most appearance: Claudio Suárez with 177 caps

Mexico's national football team: players

The country has some of the best players in North America. Their current squad includes the following players according to recent publications:

Goalkeepers

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

Defenders

  • 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)

Midfielders

  • 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)

Forwards

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

Did Mexico qualify for Qatar in 2022?

Mexico has qualified for the Qatar World Cup in 2022. On the final matchday of CONCACAF's final qualification round, they defeated El Salvador 2-0, capping out a turbulent qualifying cycle on a bright note.

Who is Mexico playing in the World Cup in 2022?
Hector Herrera during one of Mexico's matches in 2022. Photo: Emilee Chinn
Source: Twitter

Mexico's national football team: roster

According to sources, the team will play some friendlies, and CONCACAF Nations League matches before the World Cup. Mexico's national team's schedule includes games against:

  • Nigeria on 29th May
  • Uruguay on 3th June
  • Ecuador on 6th June
  • Suriname on 12th June
  • Jamaica on 15th June
  • Paraguay on 1st September

The team's full schedule is listed here and includes all of their next matches.

Who is Mexico playing in the World Cup 2022?

The World Cup 2022 will be held in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, with 32 teams competing in eight groups. The team has been assigned to Group C. Below is the schedule of their first matches.

  • Poland on 22nd November
  • Argentina on 26th November
  • Saudi Arabia on 30th November

Mexico's national football team: World Cup records

Mexico's national team has competed in the event since the first World Cup in 1930 and has joined every tournament after that, for a total of 16 tournaments; however, it has failed to qualify for the finals proper on three occasions: 1934 (Italy), 1974 (West Germany), and 1982. (Spain).

Furthermore, it withdrew from the finals in 1938 (France) and was barred from competing in FIFA's 1990 World Cup (Italy) for fielding over-aged players during the 1988 Olympic Games qualifiers, which were a youth event.

El Tri pulled off one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history by upsetting World champions Germany 1–0 in the opening game. They hold the record for the most consecutive second-round participation, along with Brazil.

Who is better at soccer, USA or Mexico?

As of May 2022, the United States and Mexico each have 21 points after 11 games in the FIFA World Cup CONCACAF table. The United States is in second place, with a better goal differential than Mexico, now in third place.

Mexico's national football team: world ranking

According to the FIFA rankings, the Mexican men's national soccer 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. Their best world rankings were in 1997 and 2005 when it was ranked fifth in the prestigious list.

Who is the best footballer of all time in Mexico?

Mexico's all-time best footballer
Hugo Sánchez Márquez attends The Best FIFA Football Awards 2019 at the Teatro Alla Scala on September 23, 2019 in Milan, Italy. Photo: Claudio Villa
Source: Getty Images

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

Mexico's national football team: captain

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

Since 2005, he has represented El Tri in four World Cups, four Gold Cups (winning 2011, 2015, and 2019 championships), two Copa Américas, and two Confederations Cups. With 173 appearances, he is the second most-capped player in Mexico's national team history.

Guillermo Ochoa assists the midfielder. Ochoa, a Mexican international since 2005, earned his first cap at the age of 20 in a friendly match against Hungary.

Mexico's national football team: coach

Gerardo Martino, an Argentine former professional footballer, is the team's current coach. Martino was named El Tri's head coach on January 7, 2019, marking his return to international coaching after leaving Argentina in May 2016.

Martino's debut match with the team was a 3–1 friendly victory against Chile on March 22. Later the same year, Martino and Mexico defeated rivals the United States 1–0 in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, earning Martino his first national trophy. Martino, on the other hand, lost both the 2021 CONCACAF Nations League Final and the CONCACAF Gold Cup to the United States.

Mexico's national football team: trophies

Mexico national football team trophies
Hirving Lozano during the World Cup 2018. Photo: @HirvingLozano70
Source: Twitter

The team has qualified for seventeen World Cups in a row since 1994, becoming one of only six teams to do so. Their best World Cup progress has been reaching the quarter-finals in both the 1970 and 1986 World Cups, both of which were held in Mexico.

The team has won eleven CONCACAF confederation titles, including eight CONCACAF Gold Cups and three CONCACAF Championships (the 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.

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

Mexico FIFA Confederations Cup 1999

The team is also the only in CONCACAF to have won an official FIFA competition, having won the FIFA Confederations Cup in 1999. Despite the fact that Mexico is under the authority of CONCACAF, the national team was routinely invited to compete in the Copa América from 1993 to 2016, finishing runner-up twice – in 1993 and 2001 – and receiving the third-place medal three times.

Mexico's national football team has become a regular participant in the World Cup every four years, but El Tri has been unable to get past the round of 16 and compete with the rest of the world's top. They are determined to achieve this at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, but their group stage draw has not been kind to them. We are hopeful that they will cause an upset and advance to the next tier.

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Authors
Kenneth Mwenda photo
Kenneth Mwenda
Kenneth Mwenda is a business and sports writer with over five years of experience. At Sportsbrief, he contributes to writing biographies and listicles.