Mexico national football team

Early years

Football in Mexico was first organized in the early 20th century by European immigrant groups, notably miners from Cornwall, England, and in later years Spanish exiles fleeing the Spanish Civil War.

Mexico's first match was played against Guatemala, which Mexico won 3–2. A series of international friendlies were played against the national representation of Guatemala on 9, 12 and 16 December 1923. The match on 9 December was played in Parque España which Mexico won 2–1. On 12 December, the match ended in a 2–0 win for Mexico, and the final game of the series ended in a 3–3 draw. The manager for this team was Rafael Garza Gutiérrez.

It would be another four years before the national team would be represented in international friendlies. On 19 June 1927, Mexico faced Spain, drawing 3–3. During this series, the squad also played against the Uruguayan club Nacional de Montevideo, losing 1–3.

Formation

In 1927, the official governing body of football in Mexico was founded. The 1928 Summer Olympics was Mexico's first international tournament, where Mexico lost to Spain 1–7 in the round of 16.

Mexico participated in the 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay, grouped with Argentina, Chile, and France. Mexico's first match was a 4–1 loss to France, with Mexico's first World Cup goal by Juan Carreño. In their second match, Mexico fell to Chile 3–0. Mexico's third match, against Argentina, featured the first penalty of the tournament, scored by Mexico's Manuel Rosas.

Post-WWII

Mexico did not appear again in a FIFA World Cup tournament until the 1950 World Cup. Before 1970, Mexico struggled to make much of an impact in the World Cup. It was by far the strongest team in the North American Football Confederation and its successor, CONACAF, but found it difficult to compete against European and South American teams. However, goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal has the distinction of being the first player ever to appear in five consecutive World Cups.

In 1965, Mexico won the 1965 CONCACAF Championship to become continental champions for the first time.

In 1970, Mexico hosted the World Cup and kicked off their campaign with a scoreless draw against the Soviet Union. This was followed by a 4–0 win over El Salvador. Mexico advanced to the next round with a victory against Belgium. At the quarter-finals stage, Mexico was eliminated by Italy, losing 4–1.

Mexico failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup, but did make it into the 1978 finals. Mexico suffered an early exit after three defeats: 0–6 against West Germany, 1–3 against Tunisia, and 1–3 to Poland. Mexico failed to qualify for the 1982 World Cup.

In 1986, Mexico again hosted the World Cup. Coached by Bora Milutinović, Mexico was placed in Group B where they defeated Belgium 2–1, drew 1–1 with Paraguay, and defeated Iraq 1–0. With this performance, Mexico won the top spot in its group, and advanced to the next round where they defeated Bulgaria 2–0. In the quarter-finals stage, Mexico lost to West Germany 1–4 in a penalty shootout after the match finished 0–0.

1990s

Mexico was disqualified from the 1990 FIFA World Cup (and other international competition) after using players over the age limit in the qualifying round for the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the "Cachirules" scandal. The punishment was applied to all Mexico national representatives of all FIFA-sanctioned tournaments.

In the 1990s, after hiring coach César Luis Menotti, Mexican football began experiencing greater international success. In the 1993 Copa América they finished second, losing to Argentina 2–1 in the final.

At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Mexico won its group on tiebreakers, emerging from a group composed of Italy, Ireland, and Norway. However, Mexico lost in the second round to Bulgaria on penalty kicks.

At the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Mexico was placed in a group with the Netherlands, South Korea and Belgium. Mexico won their opening fixture 3–1 against South Korea. Mexico tied Belgium 2–2, and against the Netherlands earned another 2–2 draw, qualifying for the round-of-16. In the next round, Mexico lost 2–1 to Germany.

In 1999, Mexico became the first host nation to win the FIFA Confederations Cup. Mexico defeated the United States 1–0 in the semi-finals. Mexico won its first official FIFA tournament by beating Brazil 4–3 in the final.

2000s

Mexico was placed in 2002 FIFA World Cup – Group G alongside Italy, Croatia, and Ecuador. Mexico started with a 1–0 win over Croatia. In the second match, Mexico earned a 2–1 win over Ecuador. Mexico then achieved a 1–1 draw against Italy. In the second round Mexico played rivals United States, losing 2–0.

Mexico was one of eight seeded teams at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Mexico was in Group D with Iran, Angola and Portugal. Mexico won their opening match 3–1 against Iran. In their second match, Mexico played to a 0–0 draw against Angola. Mexico reached the round-of-16, despite losing to Portugal 2–1. In the second round, Mexico lost to Argentina 2–1.

Mexico's coach Ricardo Lavolpe stepped down after the tournament, and was succeeded by Hugo Sánchez.

After losing the final match of the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup 1–2 against the United States, Mexico successfully rebounded at the 2007 Copa América. Beginning by beating Brazil 2–0, they then defeated Ecuador and tied with Chile to come first in Group B. In the quarter-finals, Mexico beat Paraguay 6–0, but lost in the semi-finals 3–0 to Argentina. Mexico secured third place against Uruguay, winning 3–1.

In July 2009, Mexico won their fifth Gold Cup, and eighth CONCACAF Championship overall, after beating the United States 5–0 in the final.

2010s

For the 2010 World Cup, Mexico was drawn into Group A along with the host South Africa, France and Uruguay. In the first match, they drew 1–1 against South Africa. The second match they defeated France 2–0. Their last group game Mexico were defeated by Uruguay 1–0, but still advanced to the round-of-16. In the second round, Mexico faced Argentina. As a result of their 1–3 defeat, Mexico was eliminated in the round-of-16 for the fifth straight World Cup.

The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup saw Mexico win the group with three wins and no losses. During the tournament, five Mexico players tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol and were suspended. Mexico beat Guatemala in the quarter-finals 2–1, and beat Honduras 2–0. For the third-straight year, the final was against the United States. Mexico won the match 4–2, thus being crowned champions, and earning a spot in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil, where they were eliminated at the group stage.

Mexico went 2–1 in the group stages of the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup, losing to Panama. Mexico then defeated Trinidad and Tobago 1–0 in the quarter-final match, before facing Panama again in the semi-final. Mexico lost the semi-final match, 2–1. The two losses to Panama were the first two times Panama had ever defeated Mexico in a Gold Cup match.

Mexico won only two of ten matches during the fourth round of 2014 World Cup qualifying, but qualified for an intercontinental play-off as the fourth-highest placed team in the CONCACAF region. They defeated New Zealand 9–3 on aggregate to qualify for a sixth consecutive World Cup. The team reached the round of 16 where they were defeated 2–1 by the Netherlands.

The next tournament played was the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Mexico was drawn into Group C along with Triniad and Tobago, Cuba and Guatemala. The team placed second in the group, and won the quarterfinal match against Costa Rica and semifinal against Panama, controversially. Mexico won their tenth CONCACAF Championship by defeating surprise packages Jamaica 3–1.

On 10 October 2015, Mexico defeated the United States 3–2 in Pasadena, California to win the 2015 CONCACAF Cup, giving them a ticket to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. Since then, the team has gotten a good start to 2018 World Cup qualifying by winning the first three matches against El Salvador, Honduras, and Canada, respectively.

Colombian Juan Carlos Osorio was hired as Mexico's 16th manager in November 2015, replacing interim manager Ricardo Ferretti.

Mexico entered the Copa América Centenario, hosted in the United States, on a 16-match unbeaten streak that began in June 2015. El Tri placed first in Group C, winning 3–1 over Uruguay and 2–0 over Jamaica, and drawing 1–1 with Venezuela. In the quarterfinal against Chile in Santa Clara, California, the team lost 7–0, ending the unbeaten streak at 22 after nearly a year. After the match, manager Osorio apologized to Mexico's fans for what he described as an "embarrassment, an accident of soccer".

Home stadium

The Estadio Azteca, (Aztec Stadium in English), also known in Spanish as "El Coloso de Santa Úrsula" is a stadium in Mexico City, Mexico built in the 1960s. It is the official home stadium of the Mexico national football team and the Mexican club team Club América. It has a capacity of 87,000 seats (after renovation works) making it the largest association football-specific stadium in the Americas and the third largest stadium in the world for that sport. The stadium has held many important sporting events, including hosting the FIFA World Cup final in 1970 and again in 1986.

Rivalries

Mexico and the United States are widely considered as the two major powers of CONCACAF. Matches between the two nations often attract much media attention, public interest and comment in both countries. Although the first match was played in 1934, their rivalry was not considered major until the 1980s, when the teams began to frequently compete in CONCACAF cups. On August 15, 2012, the United States defeated Mexico at Estadio Azteca in the first victory for the U.S. against Mexico on Mexican soil in 75 years.

Ever since their first meeting in 1934, the two teams have met 65 times, with Mexico leading the overall series 33–18–14 (W–L–D), outscoring the U.S. 131–75. However, since the 1990s, the tide began to change due to a rapid growth of soccer in the United States. During this decade, Mexico continued to hold an edge over their arch-rivals but since the 2000s the series has favored the U.S. 13–6–5 (W–L–D).

Media coverage

All of Mexico's matches are shown live on over-the-air networks Televisa and TV Azteca in Mexico. In the United States all of Mexico's international friendlies and home World Cup qualifiers are shown on Spanish language network Univision while away World Cup qualifiers are shown on Telemundo. On 30 January 2013, English language network ESPN and Univision announced an agreement to telecast the Mexico national team home World Cup qualifiers and international friendly matches in English in the United States.

Supporters

Mexico's fans are infamously known for the chant "¡eeeh puto!," which is typically screamed when an opponent's goalkeeper is about to perform a goalkick. Due to the homophobic meaning of the word puto in Spanish (a vulgar term for a male prostitute), the chant received negative attention in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Amid an investigation conducted on the subject by FIFA authorities, Mexico's fans defended the chant by claiming that it was traditionally used in the Liga MX. On 23 June 2014, FIFA dropped the case against Mexico, concluding that the chant "was not considered insulting in the specific context." Nonetheless, Football Against Racism in Europe, a leading anti-discrimination organization, criticized FIFA's ruling as "disappointing."

Kit

The Mexico national team traditionally utilizes a tricolor system, composed of green shirts, white shorts and red socks, which originate from the national flag of Mexico, known as the tricolor. Until the mid-1950s, Mexico wore a predominantly maroon kit, with black or dark blue shorts.

In 2015, Adidas released a new all-black colour scheme for Mexico's home kit. Green, white and red remain as accent colours.

Current squad

The following 25 players were called up for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Costa Rica on 24 March and Trinidad and Tobago on 28 March.

Caps, squad numbers and goals updated as of 8 February 2017, after the game against Iceland.

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Mexico squad within last 12 months.

Results and fixtures

  Win   Draw   Loss

Most appearances

Players in bold text are still active with Mexico. As of February 8, 2017.

Top goalscorers

Players in bold text are still active with Mexico. As of 8 February 2017.

Competitive record

For the all-time record of the national team against opposing nations, see the team's all-time record page.

Honours

Friendly Cups