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The Mexico national football team — El Tri — is the national football team of Mexico and is controlled by the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (FEMEXFUT). The team is currently in 18th place in FIFA's Ranking.

History

Mexico participated in the first World Cup in 1930 but did not appear again in the tournament until 1950. From 1950 onwards (aided by the comparative paucity of the North American region in footballing terms), Mexico qualified for six consecutive World Cups including the hosting of the 1970 tournament.

Before 1970 Mexico struggled to make much impact in the World Cup when compared to European and South American teams and won only once in five tournaments (in 1962, a 3-1 win over Czechoslovakia). As a result, the team was sometimes referred to as "Los Ratones Verdes" ("The Green Mice"). However, they undoubtedly showed measurable improvement in each tournament - only 1 point gained in 1958, 2 points each in 1962 and 1966. Goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal had the rare distinction of being the first player ever to appear in five consecutive World Cups, establishing himself as a legend of the international game. Midfielder Salvador Reyes played in the 1958, 1962 and 1966 tournaments.

In 1970, Mexico was able to make a breakthrough on home soil. Drawn in Group 1, they kicked off with a scoreless draw against the Soviet Union, followed by wins over El Salvador (4-0) and Belgium (1-0). Against Italy in the quarter-finals, they took the lead before going down 4-1.

Unfortunately, progress was not sustained as Mexico failed to qualify for 1974 (Haiti, surprisingly, qualified from the region) but returned in 1978 only to put in a poor showing with defeats to West Germany, Tunisia and Poland. A young Hugo Sanchez played in the 1978 team and later went on to achieve success at Real Madrid. They failed to qualify for 1982, but hosted the 1986 tournament and reached the quarter-finals once again.

Mexico was disqualified from the 1990 qualifiers due to fielding an overage player in the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying youth tournament for 1988 Summer Olympics in Guatemala , but have since qualified for four consecutive World Cups.

Recent Play

Beginning in the 1990s, Mexican football began experiencing more consistent international success. An important turning point was its participation in the 1993 Copa America, where they surprised many by finishing second in the tournament in only their first appearance-- narrowly losing to Argentina 2-1 in the final. Bouyed by this success, Mexico went on to win its group in the 1994 World Cup, emerging from the tournament's "Group of Death" composed of itself, Italy, Ireland, and Norway. Although Mexico eventually bowed out in Round 2 to Bulgaria, this performance began a string of successful showings at football's premier event, as the team also moved on to Round 2 in both 1998 and 2002.

Since their second place finish in the 1993 Copa America, Mexico has been a regular participant in the South American tournament and has fared very well. It earned third place in 1997 and 1999 and another second place in 2001. In fact, Mexico has never failed to reach the quarter finals of the Copa America and twice has had the leading scorer in the tournament, Luis Garcia in 1995 (sharing the title with Gabriel Batistuta) and Luis Hernandez in 1997. The amazing growth and success of the national team during the 1990s reached its zenith when Mexico hosted and won the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. Mexico won its first official FIFA tournament trophy by beating Brazil, no less, in an exciting high-scoring final with a final score of 4-3. Mexico's star, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, shared the tournament's Golden Shoe award as top scorer with another future star, Brazil's Ronaldinho.

In the 2000s, the United States have proved a credible challenger to Mexico's dominance on the continental football scene, winning the 2002 Gold Cup and disqualifying Mexico from Round 2 in 2002 FIFA World Cup. Despite the disappointing loss, Mexico again hosted the Gold Cup in 2003. In addition, Mexico exacted their revenge on the United States by eliminating them during their qualification run to the 2004 Summer Olympics. In the 2005 Gold Cup tournament, however, Mexico suffered a disappointing early exit, as they were eliminated by guests Colombia in the quarterfinals on a wild goal with less than fifteen minutes to play.

The parallel emergence of the United States and Mexico on the international stage has helped elevate the status of the CONCACAF region. More importantly, however, it has provided a natural rivalry that has benefited the development both national teams. In fact, Mexico and the United States ran neck and neck during qualification for the 2006 World Cup. Mexico beat the United States 2-1 in Mexico City on March 27, 2005. The Americans then returned the favor by defeating Mexico 2-0 in Columbus, Ohio, on September 3, 2005 thus earning their place in Germany before their archrivals. Nevertheless, Mexico secured their place in the World Cup four days later with a 5-0 defeat of Panama in Mexico City. Ultimately, the two nations finished the qualification campaign with an identical 7-1-2 record — the Americans held a slight advantage in goal differential.

The participation of the Mexican National Team in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup confirmed, for many, the emergence of Mexico as a rising football power. Mexico began the tournament by defeating defending World Cup Champions Brazil by a score of 1-0 with an impressive display of tactical intelligence and discipline. Mexico garnered further accolades with impressive performances against traditional heavyweights Argentina and Germany. Although Mexico was leading Argentina in extra time of their semifinal match, they ultimately lost in a highly contested penalty shootout, 6-5. In the third place match, Mexico twice came from behind against Germany, eventually losing 4-3 in extra time.

The notable growth experienced by the Mexican national team since the early 1990s could arguably be attributed to the increased competitiveness of its domestic league, the Primera División de México. Due in large part to lucrative television contracts, Mexican football clubs are amongst the richest outside of Europe. This has made Mexico an atractive destination for many quality international players, in particular from South and Central America. In addition, Mexican clubs have done very well in international tournaments such as CONMEBOL's Copa Libertadores. In fact, in four of the last six editions of the tournament, a Mexican club has finished among the top four, including Cruz Azul's second place finish in 2001. The influx of high level foreign players, together with increased participation in international tournaments has helped compensate somewhat for the fact that traditionally, Mexican players have not sought opportunities in other countries. Still, a few Mexican players have enjoyed distinguished careers in European leagues, notably Hugo Sánchez with Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in the 1980s and 1990s and more recently Rafael Marquez, who won a title with France's AS Monaco and is currently a key member of the two-time defending La Liga champion and current UEFA Champions League winner FC Barcelona.

Further evidence of Mexico's bright football future is the title obtained by the national team in the Under-17 World Cup held in Peru in the 2005 Under-17 World Cup. A crop of emerging Mexican stars, including Giovanni Dos Santos and Carlos Vela, defeated reigning champion Brazil by an emphatic score of 3-0, thus claiming the first FIFA Youth World Championship for the North American continent (and CONCACAF).

As they head to Germany 2006, Los Tricolores are intent on building on the success they have enjoyed in recent years. Having secured their passage to Round 2 of the last three World Cups, Mexico is focused on reaching the latter stages of the tournament and thus equal or surpass their best showings when they reached the quarterfinals of the 1970 and 1986 tournaments on home soil.

2006 World Cup

Mexico is one of the top seeded teams for the group stage at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. This is the first time a CONCACAF nation, which is not hosting a World Cup, is seeded. Mexico joins Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Italy, Spain and host Germany. They are in group D with Iran, Angola and Portugal. Mexico played a friendly match in preparation for the World Cup on March 29, 2006 and defeated Paraguay 2-1, held in Chicago in the United States. The recent string of friendlies have all been held in the USA to take advantage of the better opportunities to allow Mexicans in the US, to watch and also allow fans from the other countries, including The Netherlands, Paraguay and South Korea, who have fans in the States to also watch.

Mexico won their opening match, comfortably over Iran, 3-1. Two goals came from Omar Bravo and one from Zinha. Iran's goal came from Yahya Golmohammadi. In their second match, Mexico played in a 0-0 draw match against Angola. Mexico joined Portugal as a qualifier in the "Elimination Round of 16", despite lossing to the Portuguese, 2-1. During the match, Mexican striker, Omar Bravo missed a chance to tie the game and then missed a penalty shot.

In their final match of the tournament, Mexico played against Argentina. The Mexicans scored early and lead ahead in the 5th minute with a goal by captain, Rafael Márquez. Then four minutes later, a bad defending job by a still hobbled Jared Borgetti caused an own-goal past, goalkeeper, Oswaldo Sánchez. The remaining first half saw Mexico dominate the ball possessions, scoring chances and field positioning. However three Borgetti misses with golden opportunities at the Argentine net meant that the advantage did not result in goals. When Pável Pardo got injured at the end of the first half, the advantage of play disappeared and Mexico were on their heels in the entire second half. Another injury, to the youngest player, Andrés Guardado, meant that Mexico had but one substitution left. The teams drew 1-1 at full time.

So when the Argentinians substituted in two strikers, Mexico had tired forwards, including Francisco Fonseca and Jared Borgetti who could no longer run as much as the Argentinians players. Carlos Tévez was brought onto the field near the end of the second half and almost scored when he assisted a ball to Lionel Messi, but was called offside, near the end of 90th minute. Mexican defence was finally broken down, when Maxi Rodríguez striked in an amazing goal for Argentina in the second extra time.

Returning home empty handed and bitterly dissapointed, Argentine-born coach Ricardo Lavolpe has been fired and stepped down as coach of Mexico. Currently, The Mexican Football Federation is looking for a new coach. Press speculations, have listed Javier Aguirre as one of coach to replace Lavope, as of July 15, 2006. Although, Aguirre has shown no interest in returning as coach and he is now focused on coaching his new club, Atletico de Madrid. Other strong candidates are Hugo Sánchez, Jesús Ramírez, and Luis Fernando Tena.

World Cup Squad

26 man provisional squad named 3 April, cut to 23 players on 14 May.

Chivas}} C.D. Chivas USA}} PSV Eindhoven}} FC Barcelona}} VfB Stuttgart}} Cruz Azul}} Toluca}} VfB Stuttgart}} Bolton Wanderers}} Villarreal}} Chivas}} UAG Tecos}} América}} Chivas}} América}} Monterrey}} Cruz Azul}} CF Atlas}} Chivas}} CF Atlas}} Monterrey}} Chivas}} Monterrey}}

2006 World Cup Squad

Starting Line Up for Final Game

International Competiton Records

World Cup record

Gold Cup record

Copa América record

Starting from 1993, CONMEBOL has invited teams from other confederations to participate in their confederation championship, Copa América. Mexico has taken part as one of the invited teams in every Copa América ever since.

  • 1993 - Second place
  • 1995 - Quarterfinals
  • 1997 - Third place
  • 1999 - Third place
  • 2001 - Second place
  • 2004 - Quarterfinals

Confederations Cup record

Famous players

Mexican Coaches

Manager Period Played Won Drawn Lost Win % Honours
Manuel Lapuente 1990-1991 11 4 5 2 36.36%
César Luis Menotti 1991-1992 19 7 7 5 36.84%
Cayetano Rodríguez 1992 1 1 0 0 100.0%
Ricardo Ferreti (caretaker) 1993 1 1 0 0 100.0%
Miguel Mejía Barón 1993-1995 54 25 17 12 46.30% Winner Gold Cup 1993, Runner-Up Copa América 1993
Bora Milutinovic 1995-1997 47 21 14 12 44.68% Winner Gold Cup 1996
Manuel Lapuente 1997-2000 55 28 13 14 50.91% Winner Gold Cup 1998,Confederations Cup 1999
Gustavo Vargas (caretaker) 1999 2 1 1 0 50.00%
Mario Carrillo (caretaker) 1999 1 0 1 0 0.00%
Hugo Sánchez 2000 3 1 1 1 33.32%
Enrique Meza 2000-2001 19 5 3 11 26.31%
Javier Aguirre 2001-2002 27 17 4 6 62.96% Runner-Up Copa América 2001
Ricardo Lavolpe 2003-2006 71 38 16 14 53.52% Winner Gold Cup 2003

External links

North American national football teams | Football in Mexico

منتخب المكسيك لكرة القدم | Mexická fotbalová reprezentace | Mexikanische Fußballnationalmannschaft | Selección nacional de fútbol de México | Équipe du Mexique de football | 멕시코 축구 국가대표팀 | Tim nasional sepak bola Meksiko | Nazionale di calcio del Messico | נבחרת מקסיקו בכדורגל | Meksikos vyrų futbolo rinktinė | Mexicaans voetbalelftal | サッカーメキシコ代表 | Reprezentacja Meksyku w piłce nożnej | Seleção Mexicana de Futebol | Сборная Мексики по футболу | Mexické národné futbalové mužstvo | Фудбалска репрезентација Мексика | Meksikon jalkapallomaajoukkue | Mexikos fotbollslandslag | Meksika Milli Futbol Takımı | 墨西哥國家足球隊

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Mexico national football team".

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