every team<\/b><\/a> at the 2026 World Cup. Here we take a closer look at Mexico.<\/b><\/p>\nWhat can I expect from Mexico?<\/b><\/p>\n
Mexico were quarter-finalists on the two previous occasions they were World Cup hosts, but repeating that feat could be a tall order. <\/p>\n
This is by no means a vintage Mexican side, with relatively few players based in Europe’s top five leagues and the team’s biggest name, Raul Jimenez, in the twilight of his career. <\/p>\n
There has also been some negativity around El Tri’s style of play, with some fans even booing them in goalless draws against Uruguay and Portugal.<\/p>\n
But the atmosphere at a home World Cup should be more upbeat and if Javier Aguirre’s side can win the tournament opener against South Africa, momentum could quickly build. <\/p>\n
Aguirre usually demands an aggressive high press from his players, and often fields a narrow front three, with full-backs pushing forward to provide the width.<\/p>\n
What are Mexico’s strengths?<\/b><\/p>\n
The co-hosts have been handed a kind draw, have home advantage and should also benefit from playing all three group games at altitude, where the thinner air can sap opponents’ energy.<\/p>\n
They work tirelessly to regain possession quickly and underlined their defensive solidity in March’s draws with Portugal and Belgium. Johan Vasquez and Cesar Montes complement each other effectively at centre-back, making Mexico a tough nut to crack. <\/p>\n
And what about their weaknesses?<\/b><\/p>\n
El Tri have often struggled to find attacking fluency under Aguirre and if they do toil this summer, supporters may quickly get edgy. <\/p>\n
The squad appears a little light on specialist centre-backs, while goalkeeper Luis Angel Malagon \u2013 who was expected to be the number one \u2013 was ruled out in March with a torn Achilles tendon.<\/p>\n
How might Mexico line up?<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Get the lowdown on every team at the 2026 World Cup. Here we take a closer look at Mexico. What…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}