Mexico soccer team

The Mexico national team soccer team is the representative men's team in official competitions. Its organization is in charge of the Mexican Soccer Federation, which has been affiliated with FIFA since 1929 and is the founding association of Concacaf, created in 1961. In addition, there are other teams that are selected Mexican soccer, among which stand out the Olympic, the sub-20, the sub-17, the women's (with their corresponding categories) and the beach. He played his first match on December 9, 1923 against Guatemala, which he beat 2-1.

The Mexican team has participated in seventeen editions of the Soccer World Cup, where it has obtained notable results in the competitions it played as host in 1970 and 1986, where it reached the instance of the quarterfinals and finished in sixth place in both tournaments. Its greatest achievement at the international level has been the title of the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup, a tournament in which it hosted. This trophy makes it the only senior team, of which they are not affiliated with Conmebol or UEFA, to win a tournament organized directly by FIFA. Other outstanding performances are the runners-up in the Copa América in Ecuador 1993 and Colombia 2001, a competition in which it has participated as a guest, precisely since the 1993 edition. In addition, FIFA distinguishes it as the team that has played the most official competitions in the story with ten.

As a founding member of Concacaf, it has participated in most of the confederation's tournaments, including all versions of the current format called the Gold Cup. In total, it has won eleven Concacaf Championships, one Concacaf Cup and one Cup. FIFA Confederations. In addition, it owns two regional titles NAFC Cup (concacaf's predecessor) and the 1991 North American Nations Cup, and has been the most successful team in those contests.

Throughout its history, it has stood out as the best team in the Concacaf area in multi-sport events, winning 6 gold medals (1935, 1938, 1959, 1966, 1990 and 2014), 6 silver medals (1954, 1962, 1982, 1993, 1998 and 2002) and 1 bronze (1986) in this field within the Central American and Caribbean Games. While in the Pan American Games he won 4 gold medals (1967, 1975, 1999 and 2011), 4 silver medals (1955, 1991, 1995 and 2015) and 3 bronze medals (2003, 2007 and 2019). Counting the achievements of the main and youth teams, Mexico has 37 official international titles for FIFA (4 global and 33 continental), which makes it the only team in its confederation to obtain tournaments organized directly by FIFA and the third most successful in the world behind Brazil and Argentina.

The Olympic team won the gold medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games. as runner-up in the world in Tunisia 1977 and got third place in Colombia 2011.

The Mexican team is identified with the colors green, white and red, coming from its national flag, from which the name the Tricolor originates, while its alternative uniform has changed, on occasions it has been all white, and on occasion consisted of a burgundy jersey and blue shorts, reminiscent of uniforms used in previous decades. Currently, he uses the color black with details in gold, green and red as his second uniform. It exercises its official location in the Azteca Stadium.

History

Beginnings, first tournaments and international successes (1923-1939)

Club América, base of the first Mexican selection

In the twenties, soccer was practiced in Mexico mainly by foreigners. It is obvious to point out that, during the two decades after the arrival of soccer in the country (1900), there was a lack of national representation given the dependency of the English and Spanish schools, which exercised a patriarchy for several decades. By the end of 1922, the Mexican ambassador in Guatemala, Juan de Dios Bojórquez, invited the only team in the FMF First Force Championship made up mostly of Mexican players, America, to play a series of friendly matches held at the beginning of January 1923 against Comunicaciones in the capital of that country, thus being the first representative of Mexican soccer abroad. Although the Comunicaciones team received the endorsement of its Federation to be recognized as the Guatemalan soccer team; This did not happen with Club América, so said tour was not made official, nor was it recognized as the first matches of a Mexican national team. However, they did represent the first international games for a Mexican club.

In reciprocity to the series played in January, the Guatemalan soccer team would tour Mexico City at the end of 1923. Now, official and recognized as the Mexican soccer team, a squad integrated with the Club América base and reinforced with elements from Atlante and Guerra y Marina was formed. The Mexican team would play its first of three friendly matches on December 9 in a game held at the Parque España . In the first of them, Adolfo Frías Beltrán, first national coach, lined up goalkeeper Ignacio De la Garza; defensemen Pedro Legarreta and Rafael Garza Gutiérrez "Récord" (captain); midfielders Enrique Esquivel, Aurelio Yáñez and Roberto Jardón; and forwards Carlos Garcés, Horacio Ortiz, Adeodato López, Mauro Guadarrama (scorer of the first goal in the history of the Mexican team) and Cornelio "Coneja" Cuevas. Mexico won the match 2-1. Three days later they would play a new game that would end with a new 2-0 victory for the Mexicans and on the 16th the last of the matches that would end in a three-goal tie. After having played three games in his first year of life, and against a single team, it would take him five years to compete again. The fact would also be the first appearance of the team in an official international tournament, the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games.

The internationalization of Mexican soccer began with the debut of the national team in an official competition, by participating in the Olympic Soccer Tournament within the 1928 Amsterdam Games. On May 30, Mexico played its first match in an official competition against Spain, which ended with a 7-1 defeat for the Mexicans. Subsequently, the team led by Alfonso Rojo de la Vega concluded their participation in their first international event with a new defeat against Chile 3-1.

Mexico-France Party in Uruguay 1930. The first in the history of the World Cups.

That same year, the FIFA congress met in Amsterdam and decided to hold an exclusively soccer tournament, for which a venue should be sought. Uruguay was chosen as the host country for said tournament and Mexico was invited to this first Soccer World Cup. The team was part of group A, along with Argentina, Chile and France. On July 13, they played their first match, in which they lost 4-1 to the Europeans, in what would also be the opening match of Uruguay 1930, and of the history of the World Cups. Forward Juan Carreño scored the only goal and became the first Mexican soccer player to score in a world championship. The following World Cup matches did not mean better fortune for the Mexicans, who fell to Chile 3-0 and Argentina 6-3. However, Manuel el Chaquetas Rosas became Mexico's first goalscorer in the World Cups, with two goals, both within the duel against Albiceleste.

The Mexican team planned to qualify without problems for the next edition of the tournament (the first to have a qualifying phase), the 1934 World Cup in Italy, after overwhelmingly defeating its Cuban namesake in three duels (games finished 3-2, 5-0 and 4-1); but, unexpectedly, the organizing committee demanded that Mexico face the United States team, which had registered at the last minute, to define the team that would represent North America in the World Cup. With no other alternative, Mexico faced the team American in Rome on May 24, 1934, a match that produced an adverse result for the Mexican team, which was eliminated after losing 4-2, preventing it from attending the appointment. This elimination would lead to a prolonged absence in the highest soccer competition.

After the frustrated attempt to qualify, Mexico participated in the soccer tournament of the third edition of the Central American and Caribbean Games, which were held in El Salvador in 1935. After defeating the host Salvadoran team by a wide score by 8-1 in their debut on March 27, the Mexican team would beat the Guatemalan representatives 5-1, the Cuban team 6-1 and the Honduran team 8-2. On April 2, after beating the Costa Rican team 2-0, Mexico became champion and won the gold medal, its first great international success. The particularity of this title was that, except for three reinforcements from América, España and Atlante, the entire squad was made up of Necaxa players, right in the middle of the so-called the eleven brothers dynasty.

In September 1937, the national team returned to activity after two years, facing the United States team in Mexico City. Three matches were scheduled that ended with bulky victories for the locals. For administrative reasons, Mexico refused to participate in the qualifying phase towards the 1938 World Cup in France. This granted them a direct pass to the Cuban team, and would mean the second absence of the tricolors in the world tournament.

In February 1938, he participated in the Soccer Tournament of the IV Central American and Caribbean Games held in Panama. In them they beat the Venezuelan national team, the Salvadoran national team and the Panamanian national team, and again reached the final of the tournament, in which they faced Costa Rica as on the previous occasion. On February 22, two goals from attacker Horacio Casarín would crown the Mexicans for the second time in a row in the regional competition.

Return to the world scene (1939-1974)

Maracaná Stadium, stage of the inaugural match of the 1950 World Football Championship, held on June 24.

Between 1938 and 1947 there was no official activity. The return to international activity occurred in the I North American and Caribbean Championship held in Cuba in 1947, a triangular one in which the United States also participated. A 5-0 victory over the United States on July 13, and a 3-1 win over the host team on July 17, crowned Mexico champions of the area for the first time. The following year he would participate for the second and last time as a senior team, in the competition that saw his international debut, the 1948 London Games Olympic Tournament. He lost in his only duel (the tournament was a direct elimination) against the Korean team, with a score of 3-5 on August 2.

Mexico qualified for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil with an outstanding performance, defeating the United States (who would qualify in second place) and Cuba in a triangular match held in Mexico City, which served for the II North American Championship and the Caribbean. On this occasion, 2 matches were played against each rival, and with an undefeated step (victories 6-0 and 6-2 against the USA, and 2-0 and 3-1 against Cuba) the local team would be crowned champion and would qualify for the the world Cup. This would mean the return of Mexico to the World Cup competitions, from which it had been absent since 1930. In its second World Cup participation, the Mexican team played the opening match against the host Brazilian team, which gave an account of the team and defeated it without difficulty by a score of 4-0 at the Maracana Stadium. The other members of the group were two European teams, the Yugoslav team with whom they lost 4 goals to 1, and the Swiss team, which beat Mexico 2-1. In the duel against them, the two teams wore red shirts, so a draw was held to determine the team that would wear their local uniform, which the Mexicans won, who kindly gave up their right to the Helvetians. The team decided to use the Cruzeiro Esporte Clube jersey. Again the team did not add any points and finished in last place in their group.

Mexico at the 1952 Pan American Football Championship in Santiago, Chile.

Outside of their performances in World Cups, the possibility of international contact at a high level for the national team was minimal. However, in 1952, in an attempt to unify soccer throughout the Americas, the Pan American Soccer Championship was created, the intention of which was to be held in the style of the World Cup with teams from South America and the North, Central, and Caribbean regions. The first edition was held in Chile between the months of March and April, with the participation of Panama, Peru, the current world champions and runners-up, Uruguay and Brazil, as well as Mexico and the host team in a league system, that is,, all against all to a single duel. In the end, the team finished in 5th place, product of 4 defeats (3-1 with Uruguay, 4-0 against Chile, 2-0 against Brazil and 3-0 with Peru) and 1 victory (4-2 over Panama). The seriousness with which this edition was taken by the South Americans allowed them to face high-level teams for the first time, outside of the World Cups.

In 1953, without major complications and after 4 victories in a double duel against the United States (4-0 and 3-1) and Haiti (8-0 and 4-0), they qualified for the World Cup. For the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, the panorama did not change and the Mexican team only had a testimonial participation. It was paired with Brazil, Yugoslavia and France, however it would only play two games, as provided by the regulations of that tournament. In the first of them, they were thrashed 5-0 by Brazil, and in the last one they lost tightly to France with a penalty in the final moments scored by Raymond Kopa, one of the best footballers of the time. Mexico said goodbye again without points in favor, but with the satisfaction that José Luis Lamadrid was the scorer of Mexico's first goal in a World Cup held in Europe.

Sweden Soccer Selection 1958 that confronted Mexico in the inaugural match on June 8 at the Råsunda Stadium.

Mexico would host a high-level soccer tournament for the first time, hosting the II Pan American Soccer Championship between the months of February and March 1956. Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and the local team participated in it. Chile and Costa Rica. Mexico finished in fifth place after a win (2-1 over Chile), two draws (1-1 with Costa Rica and 0-0 with Argentina) and two losses (2-1 against Brazil and 2-0 against Peru).

Five victories and a draw (as a visitor against Costa Rica) were enough for the Mexican team to qualify undefeated for the World Cup. In a tie in which they faced, in addition to the Costa Rican team, the United States and Canada, throughout 1957.

For the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, Mexico faced the host again in the opening match in a group that it shared, in addition to the Swedes, with the Welsh team and the Hungarian team. A difficult group that would once again end up eliminating the Americans. The most significant thing was the first point achieved in a World Cup by drawing a goal with Wales (scored by Jaime Belmonte) on June 11, 1958; however, 4-0 and 3-0 defeats by Hungary and Sweden respectively, sent Mexico back home prematurely.

In March 1960, the III Pan American Soccer Championship was held, with Costa Rica as its venue and with the participation of only four host teams: Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Due to the low number of participants, the tournament had to be played in two rounds. Mexico finished in third place after a win (3-0 over Costa Rica), two draws (2-2 against Brazil and 1-1 against Costa Rica) and three losses (3-2 and 2-0 against Argentina, and 2 -0 against Brazil). This would be the last edition of said tournament because administrative conflicts and rivalries between area leaders prevented the merger of continental football.

After playing a reclassification series against Paraguay, the tricolor team qualified to play the 1962 World Cup in Chile; He did so by winning 1-0 in Mexico and drawing 0-0 in Asunción. After four consecutive World Cups, he finally got his first victory, although before losing to Pelé's Brazilian team with an honorable 0-2, given the potential of the South Americans at the time, and with the Spanish team, by the slightest difference of 0-1, with a goal by Peiró in the 90th minute. On June 7, at the Sausalito Stadium in Viña del Mar, Finally, the first World Cup victory against the Czechoslovak team arrived, by three goals to one, with goals scored by Díaz, Del Águila and Héctor Hernández. El Tri managed to recover after the Czechs scored before the first minute of play.

Constituted the North, Central American and Caribbean Football Confederation (Concacaf) in September 1961; The I Concacaf Selection Tournament was held in March 1963 in El Salvador. Mexico joined group B along with Costa Rica, Jamaica and the Netherlands Antilles. The resignation of coach Javier De la Torre, days before the tournament (replaced by Arpad Fekete) became a factor that led to the elimination in the first round, after losing 1-2 against the Antilles and drawing 0-0 with Costa Rica, this despite the 8-0 win over Jamaica.

In 1965 he successfully played the World Cup qualifying round for England 1966 and the II Concacaf National Team Tournament. In the tie, he qualified undefeated after facing Honduras, Costa Rica, Jamaica and the United States. In the tournament of the area, in the same way, he obtained his first title of the newly created confederation, played in Guatemala. This was played in a single group with a league format, the Mexican squad achieved four victories and a draw to be crowned champion of the area; Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, the Netherlands Antilles and Haiti (in that order) accompanied the champion team.

At the 1966 World Cup in England, goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal would have the distinction of being the first player to appear in five consecutive world cups (which is why he earned the nickname of the Five Cups), an honor that is currently shared with the German defender Lothar Matthäus. For the rest, Mexico would have a decent first phase. The debut was again against France and the final result was a tie at one goal, with Enrique Borja being the author of the first goal of the match, which would be followed by the French tie. They again faced the hosts, the English team, and came another defeat, 0-2, while it ended in a goalless draw against Uruguay.

World Cup Venue

In October 1964, Mexico was designated to organize the 1970 World Cup, having the Azteca Stadium as a symbol and only one victory in the previous tournaments, they had the objective of doing a good job at home with the support of their hobby.

In the four-year process between the 1966 World Cup and the tournament to be held at home, Femexfut organized a series of tours through South America and Europe, and friendly matches on different fields in the country with clubs, teams and national teams national teams in order to prepare the local team as well as possible. This series of international tours allowed the team to face foreign starting teams in good conditions. The most important victory occurred during the 1968 South American tour, when on October 31 they defeated Brazil two goals to one at the Maracaná with goals from Isidoro Díaz in minute 44 and the final one by Javier Fragoso at minute 65; the Mexican team had started losing in the 18th minute. The victory stood out historically, first because it was only the third defeat suffered by the Scratch du Oro in that stadium, and later, because they had beaten the starting team of Brazil, fielding Pelé and several of the players who two years later would win the World Cup. The preparation also included holding an entirely non-selected league championship, the so-called Mexico 1970, which allowed the early concentration of the national team. In 1967, with Honduras as its headquarters, the III Concacaf National Team Tournament had the teams of Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and Nicaragua as participants. Despite winning their first four matches, a surprise loss to Honduras on March 19 led to Guatemala's unbeaten crown.

The well-known supremacy of the area was once again in doubt during the IV Concacaf Cup held in Costa Rica in 1969. This was due to the fact that an alternative team attended said fair (even directed by an alternative coach: Diego Mercado), to give priority to the starting base of the squad concentrating on international tours, which obviously meant a higher and better level of preparation. Faced with this situation, Mexico was located in third position as a result of only one victory, two draws and two losses, in a tournament that included the champion Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Curaçao and Trinidad and Tobago.

The expectation for the start of the first soccer world championship organized by Mexico was great, however, four days after the opening, the news of the injury of the then player, a figure in the local media, Alberto Onofre, was presented, which It produced an environment of mistrust inside and outside the campus. The inauguration of the World Cup took place on May 31, Mexico received the Soviet Union with an absolute sellout at the Azteca, but the local team could not correspond to the expectations of the public and tied without goals in a match characterized due to the questioned defensive system of coach Raúl Cárdenas, who had replaced Ignacio Trelles months before the fair. The second game was against a close rival: El Salvador, against which they obtained a 4-0 result. For the first time in history, Mexico got a win, the scorers were Javier Valdivia (2), Javier Fragoso and Ignacio Basaguren. On June 11, the locals defeated Belgium by the slightest difference with a goal, through criminal proceedings, by Gustavo Peña, at that time, a defender of Cruz Azul. With this result for the first time in history, El Tri advanced to the next phase of the competition. The host team started winning with a goal from José Luis "la Calaca" González in the 13th minute, but in the 25th minute there was an own goal by Gustavo Peña and then Luigi Riva (twice) and Gianni Rivera, would bury the hopes of the Mexican team.

Global-regional disparity (1974-1990)

The expectation generated by the good performance in the World Cup held at home, was reciprocated by achieving their second title in the area, by winning the V Concacaf Cup in Trinidad and Tobago in December 1971. After leading with four victories and a draw in the group of six in which said final phase took place. The so-called "Concacaf Giant" began with a debacle in 1973 when they lost their qualification for the 1974 World Cup in Germany in Haiti, where the final hexagonal took place. As of that edition, the Concacaf had determined not only to play the final phase of the qualifying round in a single venue, but also turned said round into the area team tournament. First, a goalless draw with Guatemala, another 1-1 draw with Honduras, an 8-0 win over Curaçao and a scandalous 4-0 defeat in the penultimate match against Trinidad and Tobago decreed the elimination that was not saved. nor with the 1-0 victory over the local Haitian team in the last match.

For the 1978 Argentina tournament, expectations about the national team were very high due to the runner-up position obtained a year earlier in the Youth World Cup in Tunisia and due to the good qualifying phase —carried out in Mexico— where they devastated their rivals classics of the area. Already defined the group rivals (Tunisia, Germany and Poland), among the public opinion it was thought that the Africans would win and with the Poles they would draw to move on, but the reality was different. The reality check was conclusive: Tunisia won 3-1 in the first game held on June 2, then came the total debacle when they lost 0-6 to West Germany and finally Poland won 3-1 in the last match to consummate the worst performance of the Tri in a World Cup, as there were high expectations. Mexico was again left out of a World Cup in 1981, where they could not obtain one of the tickets available in the tie, due to a mediocre performance. The managers allowed a final hexagonal to be played again in a single country to qualify for Spain 1982, and Honduras was the venue. The beginning, promising when they thrashed Cuba 4-0, was the only victory they obtained, since they then drew 1-1 with Haiti, defeated El Salvador by the slightest difference and another pair of draws, 1-1 with Canada and 0-0 with Honduras. In the end, Honduras and El Salvador would assist Spain 82.

World Cup Hosts

Mexico hosted the 1986 World Championship, being the first country to organize two World Cups. This occurred after Colombia, which was the designated venue, resigned almost four years earlier for not covering the charge book that FIFA demanded, then the country bid to organize a World Cup event again and on May 20, 1983, FIFA gave its approval. Once again, the Mexican Football Federation carried out an ambitious preparation plan for the the World Cup, including tours on five continents, friendly tournaments on national soil and the division of the 1985-86 season of the Primera División into two short tournaments (PRODE 1985 and Mexico 1986) played without selected. Under this planning scheme, the team was divided into two teams, A and B, which simultaneously executed the series of international matches planned by the Federation between 1983 and 1984. Finally in 1985, the already popularly called Tri, was It became a single team that continued with high-level duels, such as the friendly tournament held at the Azteca against Italy, England and Germany.

Mexico would resume its competitiveness after years of stagnation, as it made a good impact under Bora Milutinović. Its very outstanding first phase: the debut was on June 3 against Belgium, with a 2-1 victory with goals from Fernando Quirarte and Hugo Sánchez, in front of 100,000 spectators. It was tied at one goal against the Paraguayan team on June 7, a game in which Hugo Sánchez, a Real Madrid striker and the only player playing abroad, missed a penalty kick in the last minute of the game. In the last game they beat Iraq by the slightest difference and got through to the round of 16, a stage that had been established by the increase to twenty-four places in the World Cup. On June 15, in front of 115,000 spectators at the Azteca Stadium, they beat Bulgaria 2 goals to 0, the first of which was memorable for Manuel Negrete's "scissors" shot, remembered with a commemorative plaque outside the stadium and considered the most beautiful goal of Mexico in the World Cups. Unfortunately, the illusion ended in the quarterfinal duel, held in Monterrey, against Germany, since after the tie prevailed without annotations in regular and extra time, they fell to the Teutonic team on penalties by a score of 1-4 thanks to the 2 saves by the veteran German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher. In this match, a goal by Francisco Javier "el Abuelo" Cruz was badly disallowed, due to an alleged misplacement decreed by the whistler Colombian Jesús Díaz Palacio.

International disqualification: the episode of the cachirules (1988-1990)

Mexico was disqualified from qualifying for the 1990 Soccer World Cup (and from all international competition) for a period of two years for fielding players who were over the age limit allowed by FIFA in the qualifying round for the Cup Saudi Arabia Under-20 World Cup 1989, developed in Guatemala during the month of April 1988. Originally the punishment was only going to be applied by Concacaf to the youth team involved in this scandal, but the intransigence and contempt of the Mexican executives against FIFA influenced the sanction to be extended to all national representatives.

International significance (1990-1999)

The paralysis and discredit in which Mexican football fell, caused a restructuring that included the change of federative commands at all levels, with a view to qualifying for a World Cup away from home for the first time since 1978. In October 1990, Concacaf decides to reissue its national team tournament, converting it from hexagonal to octagonal, separating it from the qualifying process for the World Cup, and holding it every two years in the United States. The new tournament was called the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The first edition was held in June 1991, taking place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mexico joined group A, along with Canada, Honduras and Jamaica; 4-1 and 3-1 victories over Jamaica and Canada respectively, as well as a 1-1 draw against Honduras allowed the team to qualify for the semifinals where they lost to the United States on July 5. Manuel Lapuente resigned as coach and the game for third place (which he would win) he was directed by his assistant Luis Fernando Tena.

Faced with the failure in the Gold Cup, the Federation turned around the traditional choice of coaches forged in the national environment and hired the Argentine coach César Luis Menotti, world champion in Argentina in 1978. Who, beyond an innovative soccer style for the Mexican team, he imposed a new positive and winning mentality on the Mexican player, this through the tours he made to Europe during 1992. Menotti's project was cut short after his resignation in November of that year, after a A series of administrative conflicts cost the leaders who had hired him their jobs, and out of loyalty he decided to leave his post. The new leaders appointed Miguel Mejía Barón as technical director, who did not make major changes to the attitude and mentality scheme imposed by Menotti, but he did amalgamate the tactical style in a better way. With this and strengthened by a large generation of footballers, the team would not only live the most active year in its history (31 games), but one of the most relevant. The team began its path to the World Cup in 1992 in the second qualifying phase, drawing up the group that it integrated alongside Honduras, Costa Rica and San Vicente; achieved a 4-0 defeat of San Vicente in Kingstown on the first date, beat Honduras and Costa Rica 2-0 and 4-0 at Azulgrana respectively, lost 2-0 in San José against Costa Rica, thrashed 11-0 against San Vicente being this the biggest win in the history of the Tri, and tied with Honduras 1-1 in Tegucigalpa, thus qualifying as the leader for the final home run. In it he would face Canada, El Salvador and Honduras in a period of three months in 1993. On the first date, they lost to El Salvador in San Salvador, however, they recovered on the way to qualifying, as they achieved 3 resounding victories at the Azteca against Honduras (3-0), El Salvador (3-1) and Canada (4-0). On the penultimate date, they beat the Hondurans 4-1 in Tegucigalpa. Thanks to such a short format, the Mexican team was the first to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the United States when they beat Canada 2-1 in a final duel in Toronto on May 9.

The three-time Concacaf championship and the Copa América runner-up

In 1991, Mexico's formal invitation to participate in the Copa América, the oldest national team tournament in the world and the highest level on the continent, had been made official. The debut would take place in the Ecuador 1993 edition. His first game was on June 16, 1993 facing the representative of Colombia, a game that he lost after a controversial goal with a score of 2-1. The following game ended with a draw (1-1) against one of the favorites Argentina and would close the first phase with a 0-0 draw against Bolivia, moving on to the quarterfinals as one of the best third places. They beat Peru 4-2 on June 27 and the host country Ecuador 2-0 in the semifinals on June 30, allowing them to advance to the grand final on their debut. On July 4, they would play the grand final against Argentina, losing in a close 2-1 game, in what until then was the best performance by a Mexican team in international competitions outside the country.

The Mexican team was shaping its way to the 1993 Gold Cup championship with 9-0 wins over Martinique and 8-0 against Canada, within group B; Against Costa Rica they did find resistance, to finally tie at one goal. In fact, seven of the nine goals against Martinique were the work of Luis Roberto Alves, who thus set a Gold Cup record for the most goals scored by a player in a single match. In the semifinals, the Tricolor continued their offensive by facing Jamaica, whom they defeated with a score of 6-1, to reach the grand final. For its part, the United States had won its three matches in group A, and eliminated Costa Rica in the semifinals, 1-0, to be the rival of the Mexicans in the decisive game. On July 25, 1993, with a full Azteca Stadium, Mexico reached 28 goals in favor in the tournament and won the championship with a 4-0 victory over the Americans. The authors of the Mexican goals were Ignacio Ambríz, Guillermo Cantú and Luis Roberto Alves. The account was completed with an own goal by Armstrong.

The Mexican national team, just as it had done three years ago, in the 1996 edition began to exercise total dominance in this contest, to revalidate their title. First, they beat San Vicente 5-0, and Guatemala 1-0, to access the semifinals, where they had to face the Chapín team again. It was the moment when the figure of Cuauhtémoc Blanco appeared, who gave Mexico the pass to the final with a goal in the 64th minute, in the 1-0 victory against Guatemala. On a rainy afternoon and with a field in difficult conditions for soccer practice, Mexico took advantage of the two clearest options it had to defeat Brazil on January 21, 2-0 and thus proclaim itself champion of the tournament. Luis García in the 54th minute, and Cuauhtémoc Blanco in the 75th minute, in well-manufactured plays, wrote the tricolor victory.

In the 1998 edition, which was played again in the United States, Mexico won the three-time championship with a very fine-tuned team. Mexicans and Americans starred in one more edition of the Concacaf Classic now in the Gold Cup Final, in a match held on February 14 of that year, and with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum again as the venue; Luis Hernández reached four goals on his personal account, after scoring in the 43rd minute, to give the Mexican team the three-time championship with a score of 1-0.

The second participation in the maximum continental tournament comes in Uruguay 1995, where now it would share a group with the local Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela. As in the previous edition, Mexico went to the quarterfinals as one of the best third places, after drawing one goal with the locals, losing 2-1 with Paraguay and beating Venezuela 3-1. He faced the United States; After the score was tied at 0 goals, Mexico left the tournament after being defeated in a 4-1 penalty shootout.

From January 6 to 13, he participated for the first time in the so-called King Fahd Intercontinental Cup, a tournament attended by invitation by the champions of each of the soccer areas of the planet. The Mexican team had a decent presentation, beating local Saudi Arabia 2-0. Subsequently, Denmark tied 1-1, who had also defeated the Arabs by the same score, for which a penalty shootout was executed to determine the group leader and finalist of the tournament. The team fell 2-4 in the shootout and played the duel for third place with Nigeria, with whom they would draw 1-1 and take third place, winning 5-4 on penalties.

In the 1997 King Fahd Cup, the competition was officially renamed the FIFA Confederations Cup. Mexico was eliminated in the first round, with defeats against Australia (1-3) and Brazil (2-3), although they thrashed local Saudi Arabia 5-0.

Bolivia 1997 would be the third participation of the Mexican team. On this occasion they share group C with Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica. I go to the next round as the second place in the group, only below Brazil, product of a victory (2-1 against Colombia), a draw (1-1 with Costa Rica) and a 3-2 defeat against the Brazilians. after leading 2-0 at halftime. They would face Ecuador in the quarterfinals and beat them 4-3 on penalties (1-1 draw in regular time) with a great performance by goalkeeper Adolfo Ríos, but their path to the final was cut short when they were defeated in the semifinals by Bolivia; however, it remains with the honorable third place after beating Peru 1-0.

United States World Cup 1994

Qualification for the 1994 World Cup in the United States took place in a long-suffering manner, but with brilliant football. Mexico would endorse this good moment in the World Cup by winning its group, the so-called "group of death", accompanied by Italy (1-1), Ireland (2-1) and Norway (0-1), this being the first time that It passed from the first phase, in a World Cup away from home. However, Mexico finally lost in the round of 16 against Bulgaria on penalties after drawing at one goal in regular time, taking revenge for what happened in 1986.

France World Cup 1998

Unlike other qualifiers, Mexico did not show the superiority as manifest as in other years and although they won the zone undefeated, they did so with 4 wins and 6 draws, and despite this Bora Milutinović was dismissed as a national coach. Manuel Lapuente's process as a national coach began with many doubts when he fell to inferior rivals and was thrashed by strong rivals in friendly matches.

But at the time of playing the 1998 French championship, the tricolor team resumed its level of recent years and ranked second. Defeat South Korea 3-1, then draw with Belgium and the Netherlands (both 2-2); It should be noted that the three games started losing and in the end they came back. In the round of 16, they meet Germany again and fall 2-1. Interestingly, Mexico would start with the lead on the scoreboard for the first time in the tournament. Luis Hernández would score four goals in the match and would become the top Mexican scorer in World Cups.

In Paraguay 1999 it was the fourth participation of the Mexican team, where they shared group B with Brazil, Chile and Venezuela. With six points (second place in the group), they advanced to the next round, facing Peru in the quarterfinals, beating them 4-2 on penalties (3-3 tie). In the semifinals, they face the favorite team for the title, the world and continental champion, Brazil, who defeats them by a score of 2-0. Again the performance closes with obtaining third place by beating Chile 2-1.

1999 Confederations Cup Champion

The 1999 Confederations Cup reached Mexican territory; It was the third relevant tournament for Manuel Lapuente, and the experienced helmsman did not look out of place, nor did the squad that faced the competition. In the Mexican squad, elements such as Cuauhtémoc Blanco, José Manuel Abundis, Rafael Márquez, Claudio Suárez and Miguel Zepeda stood out. with four goals. They later gave up some ground in a 2-2 draw with Egypt, but victory came back against Bolivia, 1-0, to advance to the semifinals. His adversary in that instance was the United States, with whom there was an outstanding debt, since the "Stars and Stripes" team had defeated Mexico in the quarterfinals of the Copa América in Uruguay in 1995. El Tri settled the debt later to beat the Americans 1-0 in extra time. The peak moment would come when, on August 4, 1999, they faced Brazil in the final. The magnitude of the event and the prestige of the rival lent themselves to a great game, before a full Azteca Stadium, the Mexican team in a tight match against Brazil that had players such as Ronaldinho, Dida, Emerson and Vampeta in their ranks.. The confrontation lived up to expectations, and for the fans of both teams it was worth the ticket to witness the great level of offensive soccer that the Mexicans and Cariocas provided. Miguel Zepeda opened the scoring after 13 minutes, an advantage that was extended in the 28th minute, through José Manuel Abundis. But Brazil had a brave reaction and destroyed the 2-0 deficit, with goals from Serginho, in the 43rd minute, and Roni, in the 47th minute. Mexico would soon recover the two-goal advantage, again with Zepeda, in the 51st minute., and through a goal by Cuauhtémoc Blanco, in the 62nd minute. The Golden Scratch came close in the 63rd minute, with a goal by Zé Roberto, but the tricolor defense held out for the remaining time, so that Mexico won the most important title in its history at the level of major teams.

2000-2009

Gold Cup 2000

The period of Mexican dominance in Concacaf ended in the 2000 Concacaf Gold Cup, when they were surprisingly defeated in the quarterfinal round, at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, 2-1, with a golden goal, for Canada, which would ultimately be champion of the tournament.

Confederations Cup 2001

Under the technical direction of Enrique Meza, the 2001 edition was the worst performance of the Aztec team, losing its three games against Australia (0-2), South Korea (1-2) and France (0-4)..

American Cup Champion 2001

In Colombia 2001, for the third consecutive time and in its fifth participation in the continental tournament, El Tri shares a group with Brazil, as well as Peru and Paraguay. He reached the second round by being (as in the last 2 editions) in second place in the group. Without repeating the high level of its historic debut in 1993, it once again reached the final, leaving Chile (2-0) in the quarterfinals and Uruguay 2-1 in the semifinals. He stays with the runner-up after losing by a small difference against the local team of Colombia.

Gold Cup 2002

In the 2002 Concacaf Gold Cup, with an alternative team preparing for the 2002 Korea-Japan Soccer World Cup, the team was eliminated in the quarterfinals by the South Korean team in a round of penalties.

South Korea and Japan World Cup 2002

Mexico would suffer a soccer crisis in the qualifiers that was about to leave it out of the competition, even losing for the first time in an official match at the Azteca Stadium, against Costa Rica (event known as the "Aztecazo"). Therefore, it was necessary to replace Enrique Meza (who had replaced Manuel Lapuente after a loss against Trinidad and Tobago in the semifinal round of the tie) by Javier Aguirre; This worked and he managed to qualify in second place in the area when everything seemed lost with four victories and a tie in the second round. To a large extent, the return of Cuauhtémoc Blanco, injured for 10 months, and the generational change created by the new coach contributed to the resurgence of the team.

In the Asian World Cup, Mexico would win their group overwhelmingly. He opened his participation in the 2002 World Cup with a 1-0 victory over Croatia, scoring Cuauhtémoc Blanco through a penalty. In the second match, Mexico got its second win against Ecuador with goals from Jared Borgetti and Gerardo Torrado. Finally, against Italy, Mexico tied at one goal thanks to a goal by Borgetti off a pass from Blanco, considered one of the best goals of the tournament. In the second phase, it was believed that Mexico had secured a place in the quarterfinals before playing, since the rival was the United States, an old acquaintance from the Concacaf area. But surprisingly, the American team defeated the tricolor by 2 to 0, causing a hard blow to the Mexican illusions. Rafael Márquez was ejected from the game for a head butt delivered to Cobi Jones.

2003-2005

On October 22, 2002, Argentine Ricardo Lavolpe, then coach of Deportivo Toluca, was named coach of the national team, ahead of his compatriot Carlos Bianchi and Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari. His first match in charge of Tri was on February 4, 2003, they lost 0-1 to Argentina at the Los Angeles Coliseum. His first victory came until the third game, after drawing without goals with Colombia, on March 19 the team defeated Bolivia 2-0 with goals from Pável Pardo and Jesús Olalde.

It took five years for Mexico to be crowned champion of the area again. The wait paid off, as the Tricolor won the pennant in the 2003 Concacaf Gold Cup, which was organized simultaneously in the Federal District (Mexico), Foxboro and Miami (United States). The Mexican team began to take the measure of the five-time world champions, who participated with their team B and directed not by Parreira, but by Ricardo Gomes, from the first phase, since both competed within group A. El Tri won 1- 0 to the cariocas, with a goal from Jared Borgetti, to later access the quarterfinals as first in the group, after drawing 0-0 with Honduras. His perfect record, without defeat and without conceding a goal, would last until the grand final, as had happened in 1996. A resounding 5-0 win against Jamaica and a categorical 2-0 win against Costa Rica shaped the path to the confrontation for the pennant. Mexico received Brazil at the Azteca Stadium on July 27, 2003, and although it arrived at a good time, it did not become excessively confident, since some players who would later become international figures were beginning to stand out in the Amazon team, such as Kaká, Adriano and Robinho. The locals played a very intelligent game, to cover themselves with glory with a golden goal from Daniel Osorno, in the 7th minute of the first extra time.

The 2004 edition of Peru was the sixth participation of the Mexican team in the Copa América. He shared group B with the teams of Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador. For the first time, Mexico advances to the next round as the first place in the group, beating Argentina 1-0 in an official duel for the first time, Ecuador 2-1 and drawing two goals with Uruguay. But it is defeated in the quarterfinals by Brazil 4-0.

Led by Ricardo Lavolpe, Mexico returned to the tournament in the 2005 German edition, where it put in a good performance in which the team balanced the defensive order with the offensive proposal. They beat Japan (2-1) and Brazil (1-0), tied with Greece (0-0) and qualified for the semifinal where they were eliminated in a great match against Argentina, on penalties. He played in the game for third place with the local Germany and lost 4-3 in extra time.

For the 2005 Concacaf Gold Cup, coach Ricardo Lavolpe summoned an alternate team, to rest the participants of the 2005 Confederations Cup. The team suffered two defeats in the same tournament for the first time in history, against South Africa in the first phase (1-2) and in the quarterfinals against Colombia (1-2).

Germany World Cup 2006

This time Mexico qualified without many setbacks in the Concacaf qualifying round, since in its first and second phase it won all its matches and in the final round it won 7, tied one and lost 2. It ended up below the United States by results direct between them, as a tie-breaker. In the way of preparation, Mexico plays two games against rivals of considerable level and serious candidates for the world title. In the first match played in France against this same team, they fell 1-0. The next game was played against the Netherlands team, in which they lost 2-1. Which generated great uncertainty on the part of the national media. The last game before the World Cup, took place against the team from the University of Göttingen, which they defeated 3-0.

The Mexican team debuted in the 2006 World Cup, against Iran, on June 11, at the Nuremberg stadium, defeating the Iranians by a score of 3-1, with two goals from Omar Bravo and one of Sinha. The goal for the Iranians was scored by Yahya Golmohammadi. The second match was played against the Angola soccer team, on June 16, at the Hannover stadium, drawing 0-0. Mexico dominated throughout the game, but was not forceful in the plays. The Angolan goalkeeper João Ricardo was the hero of this match by saving at least three clear goal options. In the third match, held on June 21, at the Gelsenkirchen stadium, they lost 2-1 to the Portugal squad. For the Portuguese, Maniche and Simão Sabrosa scored a penalty, and; by the Mexicans Francisco Fonseca. The Tricolor had the tie at the feet of Omar Bravo, who would miss a penalty. In the round of 16 on June 24, at the Leipzig stadium, they lost 2-1 to Argentina, despite the fact that this was the game where El Tri looked better. It was a very balanced and closed match, where only one individual could break the parity of forces. In the 90 regulatory minutes, the score was 1-1. The first goal was scored by the Mexican team, in a set piece, which Rafael Márquez manages to connect, beating the Argentine goalkeeper, almost immediately after the tie was produced in an Argentine corner kick, the goal was scored by Hernán Crespo by anticipating to his marker Jared Borgetti, some specialists believe that it was Borgetti's own goal, but FIFA officially validated the goal in favor of Crespo. the so many in own goal that are "clear and flagrant". eliminating Mexico.

2006-2009

Gold Cup 2007

Hugo Sánchez's debut in the official tournament as the national team's technical director took place in the 2007 Concacaf Gold Cup, with a team full of figures from the European and Mexican Leagues, headed by the return of Cuauhtémoc White and Jared Borgetti. The team developed a loose style of play and without a clear proposal, however, it reached the final in the United States for the first time since 1998, in its best game, the grand final against the United States fell 2-1, Andrés Guardado, however, broke with his goal an 8-year streak without scoring against the United States at home.

Copa América 2007

Mexico's seventh participation in the continental event was in Venezuela 2007. It shared group B with the teams of Brazil, Chile and Ecuador. The first game faced him with Brazil and he surprised with good football by beating them 2 goals to 0. With results of 2 wins and 1 draw, he managed to qualify for the next round in first place in his group with 7 points, Brazil is below with 6 units. In the quarterfinals, they defeated Paraguay 6 goals to 0 (Mexico's biggest win in all their participations). Later, he faced Argentina in the semifinals in the city of Puerto Ordaz, where he was defeated 3 goals to 0. In the match for third place, he defeated Uruguay 3 to 1 in the only match played in Caracas.

On June 3, 2008, the Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson, former England coach and former Manchester City manager, was appointed Mexico's new manager, succeeding Hugo Sánchez whose tenure ended abruptly when the under-23 team was eliminated from the Concacaf Olympic qualifier heading to Beijing 2008.

The press expressed concern about the Swedish's lack of knowledge of the Spanish language and Mexican soccer, although Eriksson downplayed the issue. His first official match was a victory against Honduras at the Azteca Stadium, at the beginning of the stage semifinal of the Concacaf World Cup qualifiers heading to South Africa 2010. A result that was repeated when they received Jamaica and Canada in the following two days. However, the performance of the Mexican team decreased in the second half of the tournament, when they were visitors, and they accumulated a defeat in Jamaica and a draw in Canada, a situation that put their classification in trouble. Despite losing in their last match against Honduras, they qualified for the final hexagonal in second place from group B due to their better goal difference compared to Jamaica.

The defeat in San Pedro Sula generated adverse reactions from the media, which showed their broad disapproval of Eriksson's continuity as technical director due to the irregular performance of the team. The Mexican team continued with its disconcerting pace by accumulating two defeats, in their visits to the United States and Honduras, and a victory, against Costa Rica in the Azteca, in their first three matches of the final hexagonal. The poor role shown again in the Honduran field generated ridicule from the Honduran press and increased the discontent of the national press, which harshly criticized players such as Nery Castillo, Rafael Márquez and Carlos Salcido. On April 2, 2009, the Federation Mexicana de Fútbol removed Eriksson; In his nine months in office, Mexico recorded six wins, six losses and one draw.

Gold Cup 2009

The 2009 Gold Cup represented the resurgence of Mexico's supremacy in the area, as it had gone through a tortuous process before the tournament and performed mediocrely in the World Cup qualifier. Although unconvincing, they went from less to more in the tournament: first they defeated the rookie Nicaraguan team 2-0, drew Panama 1-1 in a rough game, and secured first place in the group by beating Guadeloupe 2-0. In the quarterfinal round, they easily thrashed Haiti 4-0, but the semifinal match against Costa Rica was very suffered because the Costa Rican team dominated for a good part of the match; Guillermo Franco seemed to offer the victory to the Tri, but in a neglect of Juan Carlos Valenzuela is used by Froylán Ledezma to equalize the score, already in compensation time. The round of penalties was forced, where Mexico converted everyone, and Ledezma himself made a mistake for Costa Rica, giving the Mexicans a pass to the final. The final against the United States (held at the Giants Stadium in New York) represented an obligatory revenge to shake off the dominance exercised by the North Americans in recent times, since they had won the last two editions of the cup (2005 and 2007). With the crowd mostly in their favor and after an even first half, Mexico ended up beating the Americans 5-0, with goals from Gerardo Torrado (penalty), Giovani dos Santos, Carlos Vela, José Antonio Castro and Guillermo Franco. With this, El Tri was once again the top winner of Concacaf tournaments and broke a ten-year streak without being able to beat the United States on US soil.

2010-2019

South Africa World Cup 2010

Javier Aguirre was appointed coach in April 2009.

On April 16, 2009, Javier Aguirre was presented as the new coach of the Mexican team. However, they recovered by anguishingly beating Trinidad and Tobago at home. With Giovani dos Santos, named best player in the Gold Cup, and Cuauhtémoc Blanco, recently reinstated to the national team, as benchmarks, they rebounded in the qualifying by linking three victories of consecutive way. They defeated the United States and Honduras at the Azteca, and Costa Rica in San José, the latter being their first away victory in the hexagonal. On October 10, 2009, Mexico defeated El Salvador 4-1 at the Azteca and ensured their participation in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The Mexican media pointed to Blanco and Aguirre as those responsible for the World Cup qualification, and the team's rebound. With the tie with Trinidad and Tobago on the last date of the hexagonal, Mexico stayed in second place with 19 points, one behind the first place, which was occupied by the United States. In the preparation matches for the Tri, Mexico faced teams of great hierarchy such as England, the Netherlands and Italy, they also faced teams from Bolivia, New Zealand, North Korea, Iceland, Ecuador, Senegal, Angola and Chile, having thus the longest preparation of the participants of the World Cup.

Second goal of the Mexico-France party in South Africa 2010. Criminal score by Cuauhtémoc Blanco

On June 11, 2010, Mexico opened the World Cup against the hosts, in a match where Mexico dominated the entire first half where they could not find the goal, in the second half South Africa began to dominate and in the 55th minute, Siphiwe Tshabalala put the African team ahead, the tie came on behalf of Rafael Márquez. This is how the group A contest began. On June 17, 2010, Mexico defeated France by a score of 2-0 with scores by Javier Chicharito Hernández in the 64th minute and by Cuauhtémoc Blanco via a penalty in the 79th minute to thus positioning itself in second place in group A with the same number of points as its similar from Uruguay. On June 22, they lost against the Uruguayan team by the score of 1-0; the goal was scored in the 43rd minute by Luis Suárez. Meanwhile South Africa defeated France finishing with a score of 2-1; But with this result, Mexico and Uruguay advanced to the round of 16. On June 27, he was eliminated by the Argentine team for the second consecutive time, after 2 controversial goals, the first due to a referee's error by not scoring an offside. The second because defender Ricardo Osorio gave away the ball, ending the match with a final score of 3-1 in favor of Argentina. He finished in 14th place in the general table.

From stability to the sports crisis (2011-2013)

On October 18, 2010, José Manuel de la Torre was named national coach by Femexfut, although he only made his debut on the national bench on February 9, 2011 with a victory (2-0) against Bosnia Herzegovina. Qualified directly to the third round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Mexico had a perfect step by winning six games out of six against their peers from Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guyana.

The 2011 Gold Cup has been Mexico's best performance in this tournament as they won with a perfect score and great goal difference. Mexico was very offensive during the tournament and presented good football. The first game against El Salvador had a dubious and even first half, but in the second half the Mexican team corrected their mistakes and ended up beating their rival 5-0 with goals from Efraín Juárez., Aldo de Nigris and 3 goals from Javier Hernández. Against Cuba they dominated the entire game and ended up also scoring 5-0; Later, against Costa Rica, the Tricolor won 4-1. In the quarterfinals, their offense dropped because they faced a very organized Guatemala that surprised them after 5 minutes, taking the lead on the scoreboard, but with the entry of Aldo de Nigris in the second half, they managed to the tie with a goal from the latter and from Javier "Chicharito" Hernández would turn the score around going to the semifinal. The rival would be Honduras in a match where the tricolor lacked a bit of definition, but in extra time Mexico scored two goals and would advance to the final against its biggest Concacaf rival, the United States. The final played on June 25 at the Rose Bowl, despite being in US territory, almost all the fans were Mexican. The United States started leading 2-0 when Mexico played much better but, despite trailing, tied the game before halftime. In the second half, El Tri soon took the lead with a goal from Pablo Barrera and a difficult goal from Giovani Dos Santos that would definitively bury the hopes of the "stars and stripes team." Mexico thus managed to come back, prevailing at the end 4-2, a victory that granted them a pass to the 2013 Confederations in Brazil.

In its eighth participation (Argentina 2011), the Mexican team was represented by an under-22 team led by Luis Fernando Tena (reinforced with five elements older than this age: Paul Aguilar, Rafael Márquez Lugo, Luis Michel, Oribe Peralta and Héctor Reynoso), since the senior team was participating in the 2011 Gold Cup by provision of Concacaf. Prior to the tournament, this team was involved in a scandal at a hotel in Ecuador, where some players entered the rooms with prostitutes; Eight players (including Marco Fabián and Jonathan dos Santos) were sanctioned with their removal from the squad and therefore from the tournament. With a team diminished by these absences, Mexico faced group C with the teams of Uruguay, Chile and Peru, who brought their senior representatives. The results were not favorable and he lost all three games: 1-2 against Chile (the Mexican goal was scored by Néstor Araujo, ultimately the only one in the tournament), 0-1 with Peru and 0-1 with Uruguay (who would end up as champions). of the cup). For the first time, Mexico remained in the first phase of the continental tournament and without points obtained.

Led by José Manuel de la Torre, Mexico attended the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil as champions of the 2011 Gold Cup. Drawn in Group A of the event, along with teams from Italy, Japan and host Brazil; The Mexicans began the tournament with a defeat at the hands of the Italians (1-2). After losing to Brazil 0-2 in their second match, combined with the Japanese defeat against Italy, Mexico said goodbye to the tournament. The third and last match against Japan, a duel of already eliminated teams, the Mexicans won 2-1 with a brace from Javier "Chicharito" Hernández.

In an environment of crisis, after poor results achieved both in the final hexagonal towards the World Cup and in the Confederations Cup, Mexico chose to play the Gold Cup with an alternate team, although it debuted the tournament with a new defeat (1- 2), this time against his counterpart from Panama, a team that managed to beat the "tricolor" team for the first time. However, the Mexicans reacted in their following matches by defeating Canada 2-0 and Martinique 3-1, thus qualifying for the quarterfinals as second in group A. In that instance they narrowly defeated Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 with a goal by Raúl Jiménez late in the game. However, in the semifinals, Mexico lost again to Panama, by the same score of 2-1, depriving them of a fourth consecutive final in the continental tournament.

In the final hexagonal, El Tri showed a worrying performance by conceding five draws against Jamaica (0-0), Honduras (2-2), the United States (0-0), Panama (0-0) and Costa Rica (0-0), for a single victory, in Kingston, against Jamaica (0-1). The panorama darkened even more after the defeat on September 6, 2013 at the Azteca against Honduras (1-2), the second in history by playoffs after the remembered Aztecazo of 2001. The next day, Chepo de la Torre is dismissed from his position as coach of the national team, being temporarily replaced by his assistant Luis Fernando Tena who led El Tri alone during the 2-0 defeat against the United States.

On September 12, 2013, Víctor Manuel Vucetich officially took over the reins of the national team, achieving an important victory against Panama (2-1) with an anthology goal from Raúl Jiménez on October 11, 2013. Four days later Although Mexico was defeated by Costa Rica (2-1) in San José, Panama's simultaneous loss to the United States (2-3) kept El Tri in fourth place, synonymous with an intercontinental playoff against New Zealand in November. However, on October 18, 2013, the FMF would change their coach again, removing Vucetich and opting for the then América helmsman, Miguel Herrera, as a loan, for the aforementioned playoff against New Zealand. In the first leg match, played at the Azteca Stadium on November 13, 2013, Mexico prevailed with a resounding 5-1, leaving the series practically defined. A week later, El Tri confirmed their presence at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil by beating New Zealand 2-4 in Wellington, with a hat trick by Oribe Peralta who was the star of this intercontinental play-off (he had scored two goals in the first leg).

Brazil World Cup 2014

The Mexican team debuted in its fifteenth World Cup participation on June 13, beating Cameroon 1-0, in a duel dominated by the "tricolor" team, where two goals were disallowed in the first half. Later, they would face the 17th June to the local and favorite squad Brazil, ending with a 0-0 tie, standing out the performance of the Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. This being the first time that the Mexican team did not end with a defeat against Brazil in World Cup duels, and also the first time that they did not receive a score from the green yellow team. Finally, they closed the group stage by beating Croatia 3-1 on June 23, qualifying for the sixth consecutive time for the round of 16. He ended his World Cup participation on June 29 against the Netherlands in the round of 16. After opening the scoring in the 48th minute through Giovani dos Santos, the Mexican team was surpassed by the Dutch team, who came from behind in the final minutes of the match, including a controversial penalty committed against Arjen Robben, to finish with a score of 1- 2 in favor of the Europeans.

Copa America 2015

After his performance in Brazil 2014, Miguel Herrera remained in charge of the team with the aim of fulfilling the entire so-called World Cup process, which would include directing the 2015 Copa América Chile and the 2015 Gold Cup in 2015. As It happened four years ago, the team was unable to attend the South American tournament with a more competitive squad. Among other reasons, due to the express request of Concacaf to attend the tournament in the area with the highest level elements; the refusal of European clubs, in some cases, for their players to participate in two tournaments, especially if it was not the one in the area (the only one required by FIFA regulations) and the economic interest of the federation itself, not only in the event of Concacaf, but in obtaining the title that would allow the pass to the play-off eliminatory against the United States to qualify for the 2017 Confederations Cup; event that allows a greater economic income by concept of commercialization.

In view of all this, the team led by Miguel Herrera was made up of players mostly from the local tournament and the incorporations of Raúl Jiménez and Jesús Manuel Corona (the only element that would participate in both competitions), players who were active abroad. The debut game against Bolivia ended with a goalless tie. Later, in a good display, the team was able to draw three goals against local Chile, with scores from Raúl Jiménez and the Argentine naturalized Mexican Matías Vuoso. Finally, the team He was eliminated in the first round after falling to Ecuador 2-1, ending with it in the penultimate place of the tournament.

Gold Cup 2015

With the incorporation of most of the militant players in European leagues, the Mexican team faced its participation in the Gold Cup with the obligation of obtaining the title; but with the pressure directed towards the coach and players after the bad streak of games without winning (including the Copa América), different media incidents before the tournament and the apparent equality of levels with the other teams considered favorites (United States and Costa Delicious).

In the group stage, group C, they beat Cuba 6-0 in the first match, including a hat-trick by Oribe Peralta. In the second match, they drew 0-0 with Guatemala and in the last match, drew 4-4 with Trinidad and Tobago. They finished second in their group with 5 points. In the quarterfinals, they defeated Costa Rica 1-0 after extra time with a controversial penalty goal by Andrés Guardado at the last minute. In the semifinal they defeated 2-1, also in extra time again with two disputed penalties scored by Andrés Guardado to Panama. In the final of the tournament, Mexico was crowned champion after beating Jamaica 3-1 with scores from Andrés Guardado, Jesús Corona and Oribe Peralta, thus obtaining its tenth continental trophy.

After the dismissal of Miguel Herrera, the Brazilian Ricardo Ferretti as interim coach on October 10 qualified the team for the 2017 Russia Confederations Cup after beating the United States 3-2 after extra time at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena with goals by Javier Hernández, Oribe Peralta and Paul Aguilar; while Geoff Cameron and Bobby Wood scored for the locals. Immediately the Colombian Juan Carlos Osorio was announced as the new coach.

Copa América Centenario

Already under the technical direction of the Colombian, the team successfully began its participation in the World Cup qualifiers by qualifying for the final hexagonal on matchday four of the semifinal round, after four wins. At the same time that with a series of friendly matches (and contemplating the last duels of Herrera and those of Ferretti) he was stringing together an outstanding streak of matches without defeat, adding only victories and without conceding a goal; which, regardless of the styles or levels of play, generated high expectations for the Copa América Centenario, the first that the Mexican representative would face with his star team since 2007 (remembering the restrictions that existed in 2011 and 2015).

Expectations were raised by continuing the positive streaks, which became historic, during the first phase, beating Uruguay (3-1) and Jamaica (2-0), and drawing with Venezuela (1-1). However, an abrupt fall was staged in the quarterfinal match against the current champion, Chile, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, when they were defeated 7-0, in what was the worst win in official tournaments in the history of the national team, and only surpassed in general by the 8-0 defeat against England in a friendly played at the mythical Wembley Stadium in 1961.

Confederations Cup 2017

Led by Juan Carlos Osorio, Mexico attended the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia as the winner of the Concacaf playoff by defeating the United States 3-2. They were matched in group A, along with the teams from Portugal, New Zealand and the host Russia, where on the first day they were able to tie with the Lusitanian squad (2-2). On the second and third days they defeated the New Zealanders and the hosts by the score of 2-1, qualifying for the semifinal where they were eliminated by Germany by a hefty score of 4-1. Finally, they would have to face Portugal again for the bronze of the event where they were defeated 2-1 in extra time.

Gold Cup 2017

Once again, due to the overlapping of dates between two official tournaments, the Mexican team had to go with an alternative team to the 2017 Gold Cup. Located in group C together with El Salvador, Jamaica and Curaçao, they qualified quarterfinals after beating Salvadorans (3-1), drawing 0-0 with Jamaicans and defeating Curacao (2-0). In the next phase, they beat Honduras by the minimum and finally fell in the semifinals, also by the minimum, against Jamaica.

Russia World Cup 2018

The Mexican team debuted in its sixteenth World Cup participation on June 17, 2018 against Germany, an emotional match that they won 1-0 (a goal by Hirving Lozano in the 35th minute) in what was the first surprise of the event. Germany had never lost their first game as champions of the previous tournament. Later, on June 23, they beat South Korea 2-1 (goals by Carlos Vela in the 26th minute, Chicharito Hernández in the 66th minute and Son's discount with added time) With that goal Chicharito equaled the mark of Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Rafael Márquez for scoring in three different world cups, and that of Luis Hernández as the top Mexican scorer in World Cups. In the last game of the group round on June 27, they lost 0-3 to Sweden, although qualifying for the round of 16 when their result was combined with the defeat of Germany. He would finally conclude his participation for the seventh consecutive World Cup in the round of 16 by losing 2-0 against Brazil on July 2.

Gold Cup 2019

With the beginning of a new World Cup cycle, the technical direction of the team was renewed with the arrival of Argentine Gerardo Martino. The first official commitment to face would be the 2019 Gold Cup, which was presented with a different relevant approach, after the disappearance of the FIFA Confederations Cup and the willingness not to participate in the 2019 Copa América. In addition, a series of absences due to injury, retirement or refusals of a different nature, caused the new coach to face the tournament with a diminished team, this compared to the team that had participated in the previous World Cup. He began his participation on June 15 by beating Cuba 7-0, later he would beat Canada and Martinique to qualify for the second round as group leader. They would eventually defeat Costa Rica and Haiti in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. In the final they faced the United States (for the sixth time in this instance) on July 7 at Soldier Field in Chicago, achieving victory, and consequently the title, by a score of 1-0 with a goal by Jonathan Dos Santos. At the award ceremony, Guillermo Ochoa and Raúl Jiménez were awarded for their outstanding role in the tournament.

Concacaf League 2019-20

After winning the Gold Cup trophy, the Mexican team faced the new tournament of nations organized by Concacaf where it was included in group B together with Panama and Bermuda. He began the tournament on the FIFA date of October by beating Bermuda 5-1 on a visit, then they would travel to Mexico City to play against Panama at the Azteca Stadium, defeating them 3-1. On the FIFA date in November, they visited Panama City to play against the locals, where they overwhelmingly won 3-0. In the return match against Bermuda at the Nemesio Diez Stadium in Toluca, despite the fact that the match was dominated by the Aztec squad, the match ended in a tight 2-1 victory with a last-minute goal by Uriel Antuna; the Bermudians had opened the scoring in minute 10 through Dante Leverock. With this latest victory, they finished in the group as first place, qualifying for the 2021 Gold Cup and the final phase of the League of Nations that would be played at a centralized venue in the United States in June 2020, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the final phase of the tournament was rescheduled for June 2021.

2020-present

Finals of the League of Nations

After having played some friendlies at the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021, the team faced the semifinals of the tournament on June 3 against Costa Rica, the match ended 0-0 in the regulation 90 minutes and after 30 minutes supplementary, so it had to be defined by kicks from the penalty spot, Mexico winning 5-4. In the final they faced the United States on June 6 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. The Mexican team began winning the match in minute 1 with a goal by Tecatito Corona, however, Gio Reyna would arrive to equalize in minute 27. With eleven minutes to go, Diego Lainez would return the advantage to Mexico, an advantage that it would last just four minutes after Weston McKennie again leveled the score. In extra time, Christian Pulisic put the Americans ahead for the first time in the match from the penalty spot in the 114th minute, Mexico had a chance to equalize in the 120th minute after a penalty was awarded, however, the goalkeeper Ethan Horvath saved Andrés Guardado's shot, giving the Americans their first Concacaf Nations League trophy.

Gold Cup 2021

One month after the final phase of the League of Nations, the 2021 Gold Cup would be played, where the team was placed in group A together with El Salvador, Curaçao and Trinidad and Tobago. They would start the tournament with a 0-0 draw against Trinidad and Tobago. Then they would beat Guatemala (which would come as a substitute after Curaçao's loss due to COVID-19 infections) 3-0 and finally they would beat El Salvador by the minimum. Being first in sector A, they would play the quarterfinal round against Honduras, which had finished second in group D, defeating them by a resounding 3-0. In the semifinals they faced Canada, where they emerged victors after a tight 2-1 victory with a last-minute goal from Hector Herrera. In the final that would be played on August 1 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Mexico would have the opportunity to rematch against the United States, however, despite the fact that the match was mostly dominated by the Mexicans, they did not know how to make a difference. with goals and took the game to extra time, where the United States knew how to capitalize on a lack of concentration in fixed tactics and ended up scoring the only goal of the game in the 117th minute through Miles Robinson, and with this being the second final lost in the same year against their biggest rivals in the region, being also remarkable the fact that the United States did not have their best team, highlighting the absence of players like Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie or Gio Reyna, players who were present in the final of the Liga de nations.

World Cup Qatar 2022

The Mexican team debuted in its seventeenth World Cup participation on November 22, 2022 against Poland, which ended in a goalless draw. Later on November 26 they faced Argentina, who had just lost surprisingly against Saudi Arabia, however they fell 2-0 with goals from Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernández. The last game of the group round played on November 30, Mexico was forced to beat Saudi Arabia with a score of three goals and wait for what happens between Poland and Argentina; the match ended 1-2, while the match played by la albiceleste defeated Poland 0-2, combinations that left them with no chance of reaching the round of 16; It was the first time since 1978 that Mexico was eliminated in the group stage, with this failure the era of Gerardo Martino ended.

Facilities

Aztec Stadium

The Azteca Stadium is the stage in which the most games have played the selection.

Located south of Mexico City, in the Coyoacán mayor's office; With a capacity for 87,000 spectators, it is the second largest soccer stadium in the Americas and the seventh largest in the world. It was designed by the architects Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Rafael Mijares Alcérreca and construction began in 1962 as part of the plans to host the 1970 Soccer World Cup. It is also known by the nickname of El Coloso de Santa Úrsula. Inaugurated on May 29, 1966 with the match between América and Torino from Italy.

The first match of the national team in this setting was a friendly duel on June 12, 1966 against the English club Tottenham Hotspur, the score was in favor of the visitors 1-0 with a goal by Weller. That match marked the farewell to Mexican soil for the national team, prior to England 1966. The first international match, that is, against a national team, was on January 5, 1967 against Switzerland, ending with a favorable result for the local 3 -0; The first goal for a national team was by Vicente Pereda. In the official competition for senior teams, Mexico's first match would be on October 21, 1969, in the 3-0 victory over Bermuda, corresponding to the first leg of the qualification for the 1969 Costa Rica Concacaf Nations Cup.

In this building, El Tri achieved its greatest international success, winning the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup on the night of August 4, beating its counterpart from Brazil 4-3. On the other hand, he also won the 1993 and 2003 Concacaf Gold Cup titles.

He played here seven of the nine World Cup games he played at home in 1970 and 1986, without losing a game there. Among those matches was their only World Cup knockout win, beating Bulgaria 2-0 in the round of 16 in 1986.

He has played at home in 58 World Cup qualifying games; the first was on September 3, 1972 in the first round of qualifying for Germany 1974, it was a 3-1 victory against the United States. It has only suffered two defeats: on June 16, 2001 against Costa Rica 1-2, in an event known as the Aztecazo and against Honduras on September 6, 2013 also 1-2 (it should be noted that in this stadium, those are the only defeats in official competition for the senior team). These clashes include the conquest of the 1977 Concacaf Nations Cup, recalling that said tournament was also the final phase of the qualifying round for Argentina in 1978.

In total, the senior team has played 175 matches at the Azteca Stadium: 84 in official competitions (7 in the World Cup, 58 in the World Cup qualifiers, 2 in the qualification for the Concacaf Nations Cup, 10 in the Gold of the Concacaf, 5 of the FIFA Confederations Cup and two of the League of Nations of the Concacaf) and 91 friendlies (57 of category A - that is to say against other absolute teams -, 4 of the so-called pre-Olympic selection as preparation before the 1968 Mexico Olympic Tournament, one against a combination of foreign players from the first division in 1973, two from the so-called selection B in 1976 and 1993, and 27 against clubs both Mexicans as foreigners).

The under-17 category won its second world title in this property on July 10, 2011 by beating Uruguay in the final, this within the World Cup of that year. The Under-20 category, however, failed to get past the group stage of the 1983 Youth Soccer World Cup and the Olímpica lost the duel for the bronze medal in the 1968 Olympic Tournament. Instead, the Pan-American team won the gold medal. at the 1975 Pan American Games.

Three national teams played as locals in qualifying tournaments; the senior team itself in two duels in 1969 and 1971 to qualify for the 1969 Costa Rica and 1971 Trinidad and Tobago editions of the Concacaf Nations Cup, both against Bermuda; the amateur team played here three matches of the 1972 Concacaf Pre-Olympic (to qualify for Munich 1972); finally, one of the 26 matches of the 1985 Concacaf Under-16 Championship held in Mexico City (to qualify for China 1985), took place in this property, the then Mexican under-16 team defeated their team 9-0. similar from the Netherlands Antilles on May 12, 1985.

High Performance Center (CAR)

Originally called “Centro Pegaso de Alto Rendimiento”, its owner Alejandro Burillo Azcarraga sold it in 2001 to the FMF. Located ten minutes south of the Azteca Stadium, in an area of approximately 12 ha it has three professional pitches, two of which are natural grass and one synthetic surface, with the professional measures established by FIFA for this type. of courts.

It also has two 66 × 68 m fields, which are used for practice in small spaces and strategy, as well as a large warm-up area. It has a gym with a wide variety of equipment to perform physical exercises; A drag strip of 120 linear meters. It also has a multipurpose room with capacity for 100 people, with a sound system, projector, white screen, dressing room and office. This room is where the members of the national team frequently offer press conferences, and it is also used for forums, symposiums and congresses. As part of its facilities, the High Performance Center has two five-star hotels; The first with 21 comfortable rooms, 19 double suites and two singles. In addition to the recreation area with a rest room, a games room with a pool table, ping pong, chess and foosball, two dressing areas, showers, steam room, sauna and all sanitary services, as well as laundry and a specially designated space for the props. High kitchen dining room, terrace with barbecue and offices. It has a medical-sports diagnosis and rehabilitation clinic, which has hydromassage equipment, cardiovascular equipment as well as evaluation equipment and recovery areas.

Other stadiums

L.A. Coliseum Memorial; the second largest stadium in the selection.

The first match in the history of the national team, which took place on December 9, 1923, was staged at Parque España, a stadium owned by Real Club España (a team that used to rent its facilities for matches of the Mexican league). During its first years it did not have a fixed stadium to hold its home matches, so it alternated, in addition to the aforementioned property, with Parque Asturias and Parque Necaxa. Starting in 1947, it used the Olympic Stadium in the Sports City, where it won the 1949 NAFC Cup. Later, from 1955 to 1966, its official venue was the University Olympic Stadium. All of the above, scenarios located in Mexico City.

Only two of his nine home games in the Soccer World Cup were away from Azteca, both in the quarterfinal phase, and he played them at Luis Gutiérrez Dosal de Toluca (1970) and Universitario de Monterrey (1986). As for the qualifiers for the World Cup, outside of Mexico City, the team has only played 14 of 90 home games, these being in the following stadiums: Universitario (4) and Tecnológico de Monterrey, Cuauhtémoc de Puebla (2), Alfonso Lastras from San Luis Potosí (2), the Bombonera from Toluca, Victoria from Aguascalientes, Hidalgo from Pachuca, Víctor Manuel Reyna from Tuxtla Gutiérrez and Nuevo Corona from Torreón.

At the beginning of the 1990s, the phenomenon of commercialization of the national team in areas densely populated by Mexicans in the United States, significantly increased the number of games played there, either in constant friendly tours or by participating in the Copa de Concacaf gold that, with two exceptions in national territory, is disputed every two years in the neighboring country to the north. Due to the above, there are several American properties that exceed the number of matches to Mexican venues, in an apparent location supported by the large number of fans of Mexican origin or descent.

For this reason, the following case stands out; The national team with the most activity at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is Mexico, which has played 86 games at the building: 14 in official competition (3 in the World Cup qualifiers, 9 in the Gold Cup and two in the North American Nations Cup), including the 1996 and 1998 Gold Cup finals, which were capped by beating Brazil 2-0 and the United States 1-0 respectively; and 72 friendlies (50 of category A —against other senior teams—, 6 of the so-called B team and 16 against both Mexican and foreign clubs). Even the Los Angeles stage is the second stadium where the Mexican representative has played the most games, only after its official headquarters, the Azteca Stadium, surpassing any other venue both in his country and in the United States. It was in the middle of the decade 1980, that the Mexican team began to adopt it as the usual venue for its friendly games in the neighboring country, largely due to the singularity of the population of Los Angeles, which places it as the second city with the most Mexicans in the world (only after Mexico City).

Finally, and considering only the defining or final matches, the stadiums in which they have won an international title outside of Mexico are: La Tropical in Havana, Mateo Flores in Guatemala, Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, New York Giants Stadium, Pasadena's Rose Bowl, Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field and Chicago's Soldier Field.

The under-17 category won its first world title at the Nacional de Lima in Peru 2005. The Olympic team won the gold medal in London 2012 at the legendary Wembley.

Uniform and shield

At the time you played the first matches of a national team, that is, towards the end of 1923, the use of the colors of the flag for clothing purposes was not common. At first and in homage to the Spanish team, the Mexican representative adopted the red tone that he later changed to burgundy (with a white bias on the shirt), black shorts and socks. For the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Tournament, he changed his shorts for a white one. The only change in this outfit for Uruguay 1930 was the return of the black shorts.

The colors of the current uniform come from the national flag (which is why the team is known as El Tri, due to its three colors), green jersey, white shorts and red socks (in some games the socks have been white and even the shorts have been green). However, such traditional clothing did not begin to be used until the 1956 Pan American Championship, this as an attempt to encourage national identity to players and fans, linking them with the uniform of the Mexican team. Out of necessity in international competitions, a second uniform had to be found; For this reason, the cherry was rescued in the eighties and replaced with white. It was not until 1984 that the color of the socks changed, from green to red, thus creating the Tricolor team, a nickname quickly accepted by the fans.

Certainly, the green tones and the models varied for sixty years, but the color that identifies the Mexican soccer team and even all its analogues with age limits and in the women's category was never abandoned, as well as the delegations from other sports disciplines.

The shield that the shirt carries is that of the Mexican Football Federation, which except for some changes in colors and adaptations (such as the one on the ball), has always been the same. It consists of an eagle in profile standing on one leg on the "Piedra del Sol" (known as the "Aztec calendar"), which has a ball in front of it. These three figures are surrounded by a golden headband in the form of a semicircle, with an inscription that reproduces the trade name of the Federation. However, and like the "patriotic colors", said shield was not part of the shirt at first. Its inclusion was made in Mexico 1986, until then its emblem was a triangle with green, white and red colors, which had a black rectangle at the top with the word Mexico in white letters.

In an attempt to remember the original clothing, in 2001 the brand that dressed the national team at that time, Atlética, decided to create a third uniform with the same colors as the one of yesteryear. Since 2002, the American brand Nike dressed the squad of the Mexican team until 2006, and since 2007 the German brand Adidas has been in charge of the clothing of the Mexican team, proposing, as of 2010, a completely black alternative uniform.

First equipment

(see evolution)

Current balance

Rivalry

For many years, this match was not taken as a classic because football, or soccer as it is known in the United States, was not a popular sport in that country and its team was regularly thrashed by the Mexican team. The situation changed after the 1994 Soccer World Cup held in the United States, when it provided a strong boost to the development of soccer. For this reason, the match between Mexico and Costa Rica, until then it was considered the Concacaf classic, changed due to the growth of American soccer and its participation in different tournaments until it became the biggest Mexican rival.

The Mexican national team maintains a great soccer rivalry with the United States, being to this day the most prominent team in the North, Central American and Caribbean Soccer Confederation. The first meeting between these two teams took place on the 23rd On May 1934, in a qualifying match for the World Cup of the same year held in Italy, the Americans won 4-2.

Mexico and the United States have the most continental titles in the confederation with 11 and 8 respectively. Both teams have appeared in 68 official matches for FIFA, Mexico leads the tally with 35 victories and 138 goals in favor, 18 victories and 79 annotations for the United States; plus 15 draws.

Players

Andrés Guardado is the player with more presences with 179.

Throughout the history of the Mexican soccer team, almost a thousand soccer players have worn the tricolor jersey. Among this number of soccer players, sixteen belong to the FIFA Club of the Hundred, which recognizes soccer players who have played one hundred or more international matches with their respective team. Andrés Guardado heads the list of participations with 179, while Javier "Chicharito" Hernández ranks as the top scorer with 52 goals. Cuauhtémoc Blanco stands out as the top scorer in official competitions with a total of twenty-one goals between the World Cup, Confederations, Copa América and Gold Cup; also clear of the twelve annotations of him in World Cup qualifiers.

Claudio Suárez, Ramón Ramírez and Guillermo Ochoa stand out in number of titles with four championships. The first two were the only members who completed the three-time Gold Cup championship (1993, 1996 and 1998) and also participated in the achievement of the 1999 Confederations Cup. 1993. While Ochoa is the only one who has integrated the squad of four Gold Cup titles (2009, 2011, 2015 and 2019).

Special mention for Antonio Carbajal who became the first player in history to line up in five World Cups (from Brazil 1950 to England 1966). Four players have the longest careers as national teams: Horacio Casarín (1937 -1956), Hugo Sánchez (1977-1998), Cuauhtémoc Blanco (1995-2014) and Rafael Márquez (1997-2018). Rafael Márquez has the record for the most duels played in World Cups with 19. Adeodato López, Dionisio Mejía, Hilario López, Horacio Casarín, Javier Fragoso, Enrique Borja, Carlos Hermosillo, Luis Hernández and Jared Borgetti occupied first position among the scorers; Standing out is the case of Casarín who remained the leader between 1938 and 1969. All this considering only duels recognized by FIFA; since Horacio Casarín would have scored just over 50 goals against foreign teams, clubs and teams, in times when there was no proper organization to make games official.

Similarly, in terms of games played, before Guardado, the record was led by Rafael «Récord» Garza, Felipe Rosas, Antonio Azpiri, Horacio Casarín, Antonio Carbajal, Salvador Reyes, Isidoro Díaz, Gustavo Peña, Jorge Campos and Claudio Suarez.

Last call

List of 23 players called up for the friendly match against the United States, on April 19, 2023.

N.o	Name	Position	Age	PJ	Goles	Club
	Carlos Acevedo	Porter	27 years	6	0	C. Santos Laguna
	Antonio Rodríguez	Porter	30 years	0	0	C. Tijuana
	Luis Malagón	Porter	26 years	0	0	C. America
	Jesus Gallardo	Defence	28 years	83	1	C. F. Monterrey
	Néstor Araujo	Defence	31 years	65	3	C. America
	Kevin Alvarez	Defence	24 years	11	0	C. F. Pachuca
	Gilberto Sepúlveda	Defence	24 years	5	0	C. D. Guadalajara
	Israel	Defence	23 years	5	1	C. America
	Julián Araujo	Defence	21 years	6	0	F. C. Barcelona Atlètic
	Victor Guzmán	Defence	21 years	1	0	C. F. Monterrey
	Omar Campos	Defence	20 years	0	0	C. Santos Laguna
	Uriel Antuna	Mediocampista	25 years	41	10	C. F. Blue Cross
	Charly Rodríguez	Mediocampista	26 years	40	0	C. F. Blue Cross
	Luis Chávez	Mediocampista	27 years	14	1	C. F. Pachuca
	Fernando Beltrán	Mediocampista	25 years	10	0	C. D. Guadalajara
	Érick Sanchez	Mediocampista	23 years	10	1	C. F. Pachuca
	Efraín Álvarez	Mediocampista	20 years	4	0	L. A. Galaxy
	Ozziel Herrera	Mediocampista	22 years	1	0	Atlas F.C.
	Aldo Rocha	Mediocampista	30 years	0	0	Atlas F.C.
	Alexis Vega	Delantero	25 years	26	6	C. D. Guadalajara
	Roberto de la Rosa	Delantero	23 years	1	0	C. F. Pachuca
	Iván López	Delantero	24 years	0	0	D. Toluca F. C.
	Diego Cocca	Coach	51 years	3	5

More presences

Top scorers

¹ The goals and games recorded for the Mexican national teams only include those that occurred against teams affiliated with FIFA.

Selectors

Throughout its history, the Mexican soccer team has been directed by 45 different coaches, of which the vast majority have been Mexican nationals, while the foreign coaches have been of different nationalities, being Argentina, the most requested with five representatives (César Menotti, Cayetano Rodríguez, Ricardo La Volpe, Gerardo Martino and Diego Cocca), the Hungarian with two elements (György Orth, Árpád Fekete), two of Spanish nationality (Juan Luque de Serrallonga, Antonio López Herranz), two Colombians (Juan Carlos Osorio and Luis Pompilio Páez; the latter as a substitute in the 2017 Gold Cup due to a FIFA sanction on Osorio, whose assistant he was), an Englishman (Alfred Crowle), a Serb (Bora Milutinović), a Brazilian (Ricardo Ferretti) and a Swede (Sven-Göran Eriksson).

Manuel Lapuente stands out among them, who achieved the most important title in the senior category of Mexican football, by winning the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. A special mention also goes to the coaches who reached the runner-up position in the Copa América in Ecuador 1993 and Colombia 2001: Miguel Mejía Barón and Javier Aguirre respectively, these being the best performances by a Mexican representative, outside the country, in official competition. Likewise, those coaches who obtained the most outstanding performances in the World Cup stand out: Raúl Cárdenas in Mexico 1970 and Bora Milutinović in Mexico 1986.

The first coach in history to take the technical direction was the Mexican Adolfo Frías Beltrán. The coach who has directed the Mexican team the most times is the Mexican Ignacio Trelles with one hundred and six games. Meanwhile, Serbian coach Bora Milutinović has been the coach who has won the most victories during his stay with fifty-four, while at the same time being the foreign coach who has led the Mexican team in the most games.

Current technical management
Coach:	Diego Cocca
Assistant coach:	Marcelo Goux
Physical preparer:	Carlos Peçanha
Physical preparer:	Alejandro Márquez
Physical preparer:	José Bello
Archer prep:	Óscar Dautt
Doctor:	José Luis Serrano

Results

Latest and upcoming meetings

Date	City	Competition	Racha	Local		Outcome		Visitor
22/11/2022	Doha	Qatar World Cup 2022		Mexico		0:0		Poland
26/11/2022	Lusail	Qatar World Cup 2022		Argentina		2:0 (0:0)		Mexico
30/11/2022	Lusail	Qatar World Cup 2022		Saudi Arabia		1:2 (0:0)		Mexico
23/3/2023	Paramaribo	Concacaf League 2022-23		Suriname		0:2 (0:0)		Mexico
26/3/2023	Mexico City	Concacaf League 2022-23		Mexico		2:2 (2:2)		Jamaica
19/4/2023	Glendale	Friendly Party		United States		1:1 (0:0)		Mexico
7/6/2023	Mazatlan	Friendly Party		Mexico		-:		Guatemala
10/6/2023	San Diego	Friendly Party		Mexico		-:		Cameroon
15/6/2023	Vegas	Concacaf League 2022-23		United States		-:		Mexico
25/6/2023	Houston	Concacacaf Gold Cup 2023		Mexico		-:		Honduras
29/6/2023	Glendale	Concacacaf Gold Cup 2023		Mexico		-:		Haiti
2/7/2023	Santa Clara	Concacacaf Gold Cup 2023		Mexico		-:		Qatar

Statistics

Note 1: The 1928 Amsterdam and 1948 London Olympic Football Tournaments; as well as the editions of the soccer tournament in the Central American and Caribbean Games of San Salvador 1935 and Panama 1938 are considered by FIFA as category A (absolute teams).

Note 2: The 4 matches of the 1949 NAFC Cup and 15 duels corresponding to the 1973, 1977 and 1981 CONCACAF Nations Championship also belong to the World Cup qualifying round.

Soccer World Cup

Edition	Outcome	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	Dif.	Pts.	Rend.	Goleador
Uruguay 1930	Group phase	13.	3	0	0	3	4	13	-9	0	0%	Manuel Rosas: 2
Italy 1934	Not classified
France 1938	No.
Brazil 1950	First phase	12.	3	0	0	3	2	10	-8	0	0%	Ortiz, Casarín
Switzerland 1954	Group phase	13.	2	0	0	2	2	8	-6	0	0%	Lamadrid, Balcázar
Sweden	Group phase	16.	3	0	1	2	1	8	-7	1	16.6%	Jaime Belmonte
Chile 1962	Group phase	11.	3	1	0	2	3	4	-1	2	33.3%	Diaz, Del Águila, Hernández
England 1966	Group phase	12.	3	0	2	1	1	3	-2	2	33.3%	Enrique Borja
Mexico 1970	Final rooms	6.o	4	2	1	1	6	4	2	5	62.5%	Javier Valdivia: 2
Germany 1974	Not classified
Argentina 1978	First phase	16.	3	0	0	3	2	12	-10	0	0%	Rangel, Vázquez
Spain 1982	Not classified
Mexico 1986	Final rooms	6.o	5	3	2	0	6	2	4	8	80%	Fernando Quirarte: 2
Italy 1990	Suspended by FIFA
United States 1994	Final Octavos	13.	4	1	2	1	4	4	0	5	41.6%	Luis García: 2
France 1998	Final Octavos	13.	4	1	2	1	8	7	1	5	41.6%	Luis Hernández: 4
South Korea and Japan 2002	Final Octavos	11.	4	2	1	1	4	4	0	7	58.3%	Jared Borgetti: 2
Germany 2006	Final Octavos	15.	4	1	1	2	5	5	0	4	33.3%	Omar Bravo: 2
South Africa 2010	Final Octavos	14.o	4	1	1	2	4	5	-1	4	33.3%	Javier Hernández: 2
Brazil 2014	Final Octavos	10.	4	2	1	1	5	3	2	7	58.3%	Peralta, Guardado, Márquez, Hernández, Dos Santos
Russia	Final Octavos	12.	4	2	0	2	3	6	-3	6	50%	Lozano, Hernandez and Vela
Qatar 2022	Group phase	22.°	3	1	1	1	2	3	-1	4	44.4%	Martín y Chávez
North America 2026	Classified by host status
Total	18/23	13.	60	17	15	28	62	101	- 39	60	39.7%	Luis Hernández and Javier Hernández: 4

FIFA Confederations Cup

Edition	Outcome	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	Dif.	Pts.	Rend.	Goleador
Saudi Arabia 1992	Not classified
Saudi Arabia 1995	Third post	3.o	3	1	2	0	4	2	2	5	55.5 %	Luis García: 3
Saudi Arabia 1997	First phase	5.o	3	1	0	2	8	6	2	3	33.3%	Cuauhtémoc White: 3
Mexico 1999	Champion	1.o	5	4	1	0	13	6	7	13	86.6 %	Cuauhtémoc White: 6
South Korea and Japan 2001	First phase	8.	3	0	0	3	1	8	-7	0	0 %	Victor Ruiz: 1
France 2003	Not classified
Germany 2005	Fourth	4.o	5	2	2	1	7	6	1	8	53.3 %	Jared Borgetti: 3
South Africa 2009	Not classified
Brazil 2013	First phase	6.o	3	1	0	2	3	5	-2	3	33.3%	Javier Hernández: 3
Russia 2017	Fourth	4.o	5	2	1	2	8	10	-2	7	58.3 %	8 players Hernández, Moreno, Jiménez, Peralta, Lozano, Araujo, Fabián, Luis Neto (ag.)
Total	7/10	2.	27	11	6	10	44	43	1	39	48 %	Cuauhtémoc White: 9

America's Cup

Edition	Outcome	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	Dif.	Pts.	Rend.	Goleador
1916-1991	No.
Ecuador	Subfield	2.	6	2	2	2	9	7	2	6	50%	Zague, Patiño, García Aspe: 2
Uruguay 1995	Final rooms	7.	4	1	2	1	5	4	1	5	41.6 %	Luis García: 4
Bolivia 1997	Third post	3.o	6	2	2	2	8	9	-1	8	44.4 %	Luis Hernández: 6
Paraguay 1999	Third post	3.o	6	3	1	2	10	9	1	10	55.5 %	Luis Hernández: 3
Colombia 2001	Subfield	2.	6	3	1	2	5	3	2	10	55.5 %	Jared Borgetti: 2
Peru	Final rooms	6.o	4	2	1	1	5	7	-2	7	58.3 %	Osorio, Pardo, Altamirano, Bautista, Morales: 1
Venezuela 2007	Third post	3.o	6	4	1	1	13	5	8	13	72.2 %	Nery Castillo: 4
Argentina 2011	First phase	12.	3	0	0	3	1	4	-3	0	0 %	Néstor Araujo: 1
Chile 2015	First phase	11.	3	0	2	1	4	5	-1	2	22.2 %	You and Jimenez: 2
United States 2016	Final rooms	7.	4	2	1	1	6	9	-3	7	58.3 %	6 players Marquez, Herrera, Hernández, Peralta, Corona, Pereira (a.g.): 1
Brazil 2019	No.
Brazil 2021
United States 2024	To define
Total	10/48	10.°	48	19	13	16	66	62	+4	68	47.8 %	Luis Hernández: 9

Pan American Championship

Note: This senior national team competition organized between 1952 and 1960 should not be confused with the Pan American Games Soccer Tournament (1951-2015); whose collection is shown separately.

Edition	Outcome	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	Dif.	Pts.	Rend.	Goleador
Chile 1952	Single phase	5.o	5	1	0	4	5	14	-9	2	20%	Carlos Septién: 4
Mexico 1956	Single phase	5.o	5	1	2	2	4	6	-2	4	40%	Carlos Calderón de la Barca: 3
Costa Rica 1960	Third post	3.o	6	1	2	3	9	10	-1	4	33.3%	Sigifredo Mercado: 3
Total	3/3	3.o	16	3	4	9	18	30	-12	10	31.2 %	Carlos Septién: 4

Concacaf Nations Championship/Concacaf Gold Cup

Edition	Outcome	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	Dif.	Pts.	Rend.	Goleador
Concacaf Nations Championship (1963-1989)
El Salvador 1963	First phase	5.o	3	1	1	1	9	2	7	3	50%	Guillermo Ortiz: 3
Guatemala 1965	Champion	1.o	5	4	1	0	13	2	11	9	90 %	Ernesto Cisneros: 5
Honduras 1967	Subfield	2.	5	4	0	1	10	1	9	8	80%	Arellano, Estrada: 3
Costa Rica 1969	Fourth	4.o	5	1	2	2	4	5	-1	4	40%	Mancilla, Sabater, Crespo, Barba: 1
Trinidad and Tobago 1971	Champion	1.o	5	4	1	0	6	1	5	9	90 %	Roberto Rodríguez Pérez: 3
Haiti 1973	Third post	3.o	5	2	2	1	10	5	5	6	60%	Octavio Muciño: 4
Mexico 1977	Champion	1.o	5	5	0	0	20	5	15	10	100%	Victor Rangel: 6
Honduras 1981	Third post	3.o	5	1	3	1	6	3	3	5	50%	Hugo Sánchez: 3
1985	No.
1989	No.
Total	8/10	1.o	38	22	10	6	78	24	54	54	71 %	Rangel: 6
Gold Cup (1991-)
United States 1991	Third post	3.o	5	3	1	1	10	5	5	7	70%	Benjamin Galindo: 4
United States of America	Champion	1.o	5	4	1	0	28	2	26	13	86.6 %	Luis Roberto Alves: 11
United States 1996	Champion	1.o	4	4	0	0	9	0	9	12	100%	Luis García: 3
United States 1998	Champion	1.o	4	4	0	0	8	2	6	12	100%	Luis Hernández: 4
United States 2000	Final rooms	7.	3	1	1	1	6	3	3	4	44.4 %	Ramírez, Márquez, Mora, Hernández, Palencia: 1
United States 2002	Final rooms	5.o	3	2	1	0	4	1	3	7	77.7 %	García, Bautista, Garcés, Ochoa: 1
United States of America	Champion	1.o	5	4	1	0	9	0	9	13	86.6 %	Jared Borgetti: 3
United States 2005	Final rooms	6.o	4	2	0	2	7	4	3	6	50%	Jared Borgetti: 2
United States 2007	Subfield	2.	6	4	0	2	7	5	2	12	66.6 %	Jared Borgetti: 2
United States 2009	Champion	1.o	6	4	2	0	15	2	13	14	77.7 %	Miguel Sabah: 4
United States 2011	Champion	1.o	6	6	0	0	22	4	18	18	100%	Javier Hernández: 7
United States 2013	Third post	3.o	5	3	0	2	8	5	3	9	60%	Marco Fabián: 3
United States-Canada 2015	Champion	1.o	6	4	2	0	16	6	10	14	77.7 %	Andrés Guardado: 6
United States 2017	Third post	3.o	5	3	1	1	6	2	4	10	66.6 %	Marin, Hernández, Pineda, Sepúlveda, Álvarez, Pizarro: 1
United States-Costa Rica-Jamaica 2019	Champion	1.o	6	5	1	0	16	4	12	16	88%	Raúl Jiménez: 5
United States 2021	Subfield	2.	6	4	1	1	9	2	7	13	72.2 %	Orbelín Pineda and Rogelio Funes Mori: 3
United States 2023	Classified
Total	16/16	1.o	79	57	12	10	180	47	133	180	79.0 %	Luis Roberto Alves and Andrés Guardado: 12
Total	24/26	1.o	117	79	22	16	258	71	187	234	82.9 %	Luis Roberto Alves and Andrés Guardado: 12

Concacaf Cup

Edition	Outcome	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	Dif.	Pts.	Rend.
United States 2015	Champion	1.o	1	1	0	0	3	2	1	3	100%
Total	1/1	1.o	1	1	0	0	3	2	1	3	100%

Concacaf Nations League

Edition	Outcome	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	Dif.	Pts.	Rend.	Goleador
2019-20	Subfield	2.	6	4	1	1	15	6	9	13	86.6 %	José Juan Macías: 3
2022-23	In dispute		2	1	1	0	4	1	3	4	66.6 %
Total	2/2		8	5	2	1	19	7	12	17	70%	José Juan Macías: 3

NAFC and NAFU regional tournaments

Edition	Outcome	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	Dif.	Pts.	Rend.	Goleador
NAFC Cup
Cuba 1947	Champion	1.o	2	2	0	0	8	1	7	4	100%	Adalberto López: 4
Mexico 1949	Champion	1.o	4	4	0	0	17	2	15	8	100%	Casarín, De la Fuente: 4
Total	2/2	1.o	6	6	0	0	25	3	22	12	100%	Adalberto López: 4
Copa de Naciones Norteamericana
Canada 1990	Subfield	2.	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	2	50%	Luis Flores: 2
United States 1991	Champion	1.o	2	1	1	0	5	2	3	3	75%	Luis Roberto Alves: 2
Total	2/2	1.o	4	2	1	1	7	4	3	5	62.5 %	L. Flowers, Zague: 2
Total	4/4	1.o	10	8	1	1	32	7	25	17	85 %	Adalberto López: 4

World Cup Qualification

Edition	Outcome	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	Dif.	Pts.	Rend.	Goleador
1930	Guest
1934	He didn't qualify.	2.	4	3	0	1	14	7	7	6	75%	Dionisio Mejía: 7
1938	No.
1950	Classified	1.o	4	4	0	0	17	2	15	8	100%	From the Source, Casarín: 4
1954	Classified	1.o	4	4	0	0	19	1	18	8	100%	Tomás Balcázar: 5
1958	Classified	1.o	6	5	1	0	21	3	18	11	91.6%	Crescencio Gutiérrez: 5
1962	Classified	1.o	8	4	3	1	18	5	13	11	68.7%	Salvador Reyes: 6
1966	Classified	1.o	8	6	2	0	20	4	16	14	87.5%	Isidoro Díaz: 5
1970	Host
1974	He didn't qualify.	3.o	9	6	2	1	18	8	10	14	77.7%	Octavio Muciño: 4
1978	Classified	1.o	9	6	2	1	23	6	17	14	77.7%	Victor Rangel: 6
1982	He didn't qualify.	3.o	9	2	5	2	14	8	6	9	50%	Hugo Sánchez: 6
1986	Host
1990	Suspended (see The Cachirules).
1994	Classified	1.o	12	9	1	2	39	8	31	19	79.1%	Francisco Uribe: 7
1998	Classified	1.o	16	8	6	2	37	13	24	30	62.5%	Carlos Hermosillo: 11
2002	Classified	2.	16	9	3	4	33	11	22	30	62.5%	Cuauhtémoc White: 9
2006	Classified	2.	18	15	1	2	67	10	57	46	85.1%	Jared Borgetti: 14
2010	Classified	2.	18	11	2	5	36	18	18	35	64.8%	Borgetti, Blanco, Vela, Pardo, Guardado: 3
2014	Classified	4.o	18	10	5	3	31	14	17	35	64.8%	Oribe Peralta: 10
2018	Classified	1.o	16	11	4	1	29	8	21	37	77.0%	Hirving Lozano: 4
2022	Classified	2.	14	8	4	2	17	8	9	28	62.5%	Raúl Jiménez: 3
2026	Host
Total	17/21	1.o	189	121	41	27	453	134	319	354	72.7%	Jared Borgetti: 23

Olympic Games

This table refers only to the participation of the senior team.

Edition	Outcome	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	Dif.	Pts.	Rend.	Goleador
London 1908	There was no football selection in Mexico
Stockholm 1912
Antwerp 1920
Paris 1924	No.
Amsterdam 1928	First phase	14.o	2	0	0	2	2	10	-8	0	0 %	Carreño, Sota: 1
Berlin 1936	No.
London 1948	First phase	11.	1	0	0	1	3	5	-2	0	0 %	Cardenas, Figueroa, Ruiz: 1
Total		-	3	0	0	3	5	15	-10	0	0 %	Cardenas, Figueroa, Ruiz: 1

Central American and Caribbean Games

Edition	Outcome	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	Dif.	Pts.	Rend.	Goleador
Central American Games
Mexico City 1926	There was no football.
Havana 1930	No.
San Salvador 1935	Gold Medal	1.o	5	5	0	0	29	5	24	10	100%	Hilario López: 10
Total		3.o	5	5	0	0	29	5	24	10	100%
Central American and Caribbean Games
Panama City 1938	Gold Medal	1.o	5	4	1	0	14	4	10	9	90 %	Horacio Casarín: 6
Total		1.o	5	4	1	0	14	4	10	9	90 %	Horacio Casarín: 6
Total		1.o	10	9	1	0	43	9	34	19	95%	Hilario López: 10

FIFA Ranking

Lower Categories

The lower categories of the Mexican soccer team are the set of teams of the Mexican Soccer Federation made up of players between fifteen and twenty-three years of age, who represent Mexico in different international tournaments grouped into different age categories. and that constitute the rankings prior to the absolute selection.

The different categories are established by the year of birth of the players and normally include players born in two consecutive years. Traditionally, the name of the team refers to the maximum age of the players, thus having official competitions from under-15 to under-23.

Under-23 team

It is the team made up of players under twenty-three years of age that represents the Mexican Soccer Federation. It is also in charge of representing Mexico in the Concacaf Pre-Olympic Tournament and in the Olympic Games in case of qualifying. The greatest achievement in its history occurred on August 11, 2012, when it became Olympic champion in the Men's Soccer Tournament at the London 2012 Olympic Games, defeating Brazil 2-1 in the final, thus reaping its first medal in gold in the Olympic Tournament.

Under-22 team

It is the category that represents Mexico in the Pan American Games.

Under-21 team

It is the representative team of the country in official competitions with young people under the age of twenty-one, such as the soccer tournament of the Central American and Caribbean Games.

Under-20 team

It is the youth team that represents Mexico in the world championships for young people under twenty. The team participated in the first world cup in this category in Tunisia 1977, a contest in which it obtained its best result to date, finishing runner-up, after losing on penalties against the extinct Soviet Union.

Under-17 team

It is the representative team of the country in official competitions with young people under seventeen years of age, it is also distinguished as the most successful category, winning a world championship for the first time in any division by winning the 2005 Peru World Cup and winning again with the title, six years later, in the 2011 World Cup held on home soil. He also reached the runner-up in the United Arab Emirates 2013 and in Brazil 2019.

Under-15 team

This category was created in 2011 and won the 2012 Under-15 Mexico Cup of Nations in its third division while the real one got Third Place in the same edition.

Other modalities

Mexico amateur soccer team

The Mexico amateur soccer team was a non-professional category created in the early 1950s that represented Mexico in the 1952-1988 Olympic Games trying to get FIFA and IOC more competitive in the event. He also represented national football in the Central American and Caribbean Games (1950-1986) and in the Pan American Games (1955-1987).^,

Mexico women's national soccer team

Female football

It is the national soccer team that represents Mexico in women's international tournaments and competitions such as the Women's Soccer World Cup, the Summer Olympics, the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup, and the Pan American Games. Its organization is in charge of the Mexican Football Federation, which is affiliated with Concacaf.

This team has been considered one of the best teams in Concacaf in this category. It qualified for the 1999 World Cup and the 2004 Olympic Games. The team is divided into different age categories: absolute selection, the sub-17 and sub-20.

Mexico futsal team

Football room

It is the team that represents Mexico in international futsal competitions organized by FIFA. Their greatest achievement has been obtaining a third place in the Concacaf Futsal Championship in 1996.

Mexico beach soccer team

Football beach

Honours of Prizes

Fifteen titles in official competitions constitute the record of the highest category of the Mexican team; its greatest achievements are a Confederations Cup championship and eleven Concacaf championships, leading the confederation in championships. The first title obtained was the 1947 NAFC Cup. Later, with the founding of Concacaf, it would obtain the area championships in 1965, 1971 and 1977. It also achieved its first title of the new contest –known as the Concacaf Gold Cup– in 1993, in which six years later in 1998 he achieved the three-time championship in this competition and again raised the championship in 2003, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2019, being the only team selected from his confederation to win three consecutive championships.

For FIFA, it holds a world title and twelve continental ones, (11 Gold Cups and 1 Concacaf Cup), adding a total of thirteen, occupying the first position within its confederation and the fourth of the most successful absolute teams in the world behind from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

Absolute official titles

NAFU Regional Tournament Titles

Titles of the soccer tournament of the Central American and Caribbean Games organized by CACSO

Better results

• Football World Cup: Final quarters (1970 and 1986).
• Olympic Games: first phase (1928 and 1948).
• FIFA Confederations Cup: (1999).
• Gold Cup Concacaf: (1965, 1971, 1977, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2019).
• Concacaf League of Nations: (2021).
• Copa América: (1993 and 2001).
• Pan American Football Championship: (1960).
• Concacaf Cup: (2015).
• NAFC Cup: (1947, 1949 and 1991).
• Central American and Caribbean Games: (1935 and 1938).

Lower category winners

Lower Picks

• Olympic Games
  • Gold Medal (1): 2012.
  • Bronze Medal (1): 2021.
• Preolympic Concacaf (8): 1964, 1972, 1976, 1996, 2004, 2012, 2015 and 2021.
• Toulon Hope Tournament (1): 2012.
• World Cup Soccer Sub-17 (2): 2005 and 2011.
• Concacaf Sub-17 Championship (9): 1985, 1987, 1991, 1996, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2023.
• World Cup Football Sub-20:
  • 1977.
  • 2011.
• Concacaf Sub-20 Championship (13): 1962, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1990, 1992, 2011, 2013 and 2015.
• Concacaf Sub-15 Championship (1): 2017.
• Pan American Games
  • Gold Medal (4): 1967, 1975, 1999 and 2011.
  • Silver Medal (4): 1955, 1991, 1995 and 2015.
  • Bronze Medal (3): 2003, 2007 and 2019.
• Central American Games
  • Gold Medal (6): 1935, 1938, 1959, 1966, 1990 and 2014.
  • Silver Medal (6): 1954, 1962, 1982, 1993, 1998 and 2002.
  • Bronze Medal (1): 1986.
• Universia
  • Gold Medal (1): 1979.
  • Bronze Medal (1): 2017.
• World Cup Soccer Beach (1): 2007.