Mexican national soccer team / world championships

Mexico
Estados Unidos Mexicanos

World Cup record goalscorer:	Chicharito and Luis Hernández (4 each)
World Cup record players:	Rafael Marquez (19)
Rank :	14th
Organizer:	1970, 1986
Balance sheet
57 World Cup games 16 wins 14 draws 27 defeats 60:98 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Mexico 1: 4 France Montevideo ( URY ); July 13, 1930
Biggest World Cup victory Mexico 4: 0 El Salvador Mexico City ( MEX ); June 7, 1970
Biggest World Cup defeat Mexico 0: 6 BR Germany Córdoba ( ARG ); June 6, 1978
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	16 ( first : 1930 )
Best results	Quarter-finals, 1970 , 1986
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of July 2, 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Mexican national soccer team at soccer world championships . In 2018, the Mexican national team takes part in world championships for the sixteenth time and thus the most frequently of all CONCACAF teams - only the countries ranked 1 to 4 in the all -time table Brazil (21 times), Germany (19 times), Italy (18 times) and Argentina (17 times) participated more often. In the all-time table, Mexico was ranked 13th as the best CONCACAF team before the 2018 World Cup. Mexico has played the most World Cup qualifiers, is the only team to win more than 100 qualifying games and the only team to score more than 400 goals in World Cup qualifiers . Mexico holds a lot of negative records, among other things, of all teams that have never been world champions, Mexico participated the most.

overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	Preliminary round	France , Argentina , Chile	13.	Juan Luque de Serrallonga	Eliminated after three defeats as bottom of the group. The game against France is considered the first World Cup game, even if the game between the USA and Belgium took place at the same time. In the game against Argentina, Manuel Rosas converted the first penalty at a World Cup.
1934	Italy	not qualified				Eliminated in the qualifying game against the USA that took place in Rome immediately before the World Cup .
1938	France	not participated
1950	Brazil	Preliminary round	Brazil , Yugoslavia , Switzerland	12.	Octavio Vial	Eliminated after three defeats as bottom of the group.
1954	Switzerland	Preliminary round	Brazil , France	13.	Antonio López Herranz	After defeats against vice world champions Brazil and France, eliminated as bottom group.
1958	Sweden	Preliminary round	Sweden , Wales , Hungary	16.	Antonio López Herranz	After defeats against the hosts and vice world champions Hungary and a draw against Wales, they were eliminated as bottom group.
1962	Chile	Preliminary round	Brazil , Spain , CSSR	11.	Ignacio Trelles	After defeats against world champions Brazil and Spain and a victory against the later vice world champions Czechoslovakia, they were eliminated as third in the group.
1966	England	Preliminary round	France , England , Uruguay	12.	Ignacio Trelles	After two draws against France and Uruguay and a loss to the hosts and eventual world champions, they were eliminated as third in the group.
1970	Mexico	Quarter finals	Italy	6th	Raúl Cárdenas	For the first time Mexico survived the group stage of a World Cup. The 4-0 win against El Salvador is still Mexico's biggest World Cup victory and the highest victory at the 1970 World Cup.
1974	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification in the second round of Haiti failed, which was qualified in 1974 so far only time.
1978	Argentina	Preliminary round	Tunisia , Germany , Poland	16.	José Antonio Roca	Eliminated as last group without winning points. The 6-0 defeat against Germany is Mexico's biggest defeat at the World Cup, the biggest defeat at the 1978 World Cup and Germany's only victory at the World Cup in Argentina.
1982	Spain	not qualified				In the qualification in the final tournament of Honduras and El Salvador failed.
1986	Mexico	Quarter finals	Germany	6th	Bora Milutinović	Loss on penalties against the eventual runner-up.
1990	Italy	not allowed				Suspended by FIFA for two years in 1988 after the Mexican Federation failed to adhere to player age limits in qualifying for the Olympic Games in Seoul.
1994	United States	Round of 16	Bulgaria	13.	Miguel Mejía Barón	Defeat on penalties, with which Bulgaria was able to retaliate for the 1986 defeat in the round of 16.
1998	France	Round of 16	Germany	13.	Manuel Lapuente	1: 2 defeat with two goals from Klinsmann and Bierhoff in the final quarter of an hour
2002	South Korea / Japan	Round of 16	United States	11.	Javier Aguirre	Two successful counterattacks by the Americans and the weakness of the Mexicans in the end ensured that the underdogs reached the quarter-finals in the end.
2006	Germany	Round of 16	Argentina	15th	Ricardo La Volpe	After Márquez had given the Mexicans an early lead, which was soon equalized by Crespo , Maxi Rodríguez's goal in extra time ensured the favorites advance
2010	South Africa	Round of 16	Argentina	14th	Javier Aguirre	Mexico played in the opening game for the fifth time, setting a new record for participation in the opening game. In addition, Mexico set a new record for elimination in the round of 16: Mexico ended there for the fifth time.
2014	Brazil	Round of 16	Netherlands	10.	Miguel Herrera	In the qualification , Mexico only finished 4th in the 4th round and had to compete against New Zealand in the intercontinental comparisons. There the team was able to qualify for the World Cup with two victories. In the group stage of the finals, Mexico faced Cameroon in the first game, then Brazil, as in 1950 and 1962, and at the end of the group stage, as in 2002, Croatia.
2018	Russia	Round of 16	Brazil	12.	Juan Carlos Osorio	Failed for the seventh time in a row in the round of 16

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• Participation waiver: 1 × (5%; 1938)
• Not permitted: 1 × (5%; 1990)
• Not qualified: 3 × (14%; 1934, 1974 and 1982)
• Sports qualification: 13 times (65% or 81% of the attempts)
• Participation without qualification: 3 × (14%; 1930, 1970 and 1986)
  • Preliminary round: 7 times (33%; 1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1978)
  • Round of 16: 7 times (33%; 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018)
  • Quarterfinals: 2 × (10%; 1970 and 1986)

1930 World Cup in Uruguay

The Mexican team before the first World Cup game against France

Mexico already took part in the first World Cup in Uruguay, but could not win any of the games. For the Mexicans it was the second soccer tournament in which they participated after the Olympic Games in 1928 . On July 13, 1930, Mexico played the first of all World Cup games, losing to France 4-1. The first goal scorer for Mexico was Juan Carreño , who made it 3-1 in the 70th minute. He had already scored the first goal for Mexico in the Olympic football tournament two years earlier. Without a goal, Mexico stayed 3-0 against Chile in their second game . By contrast, they scored three goals in the third group game against eventual runners-up Argentina . But since the Argentines scored six, this game was also lost. After all, Manuel Rosas was the first player to convert a penalty at a World Cup after Mexican goalkeeper Óscar Bonfiglio had previously saved Fernando Paternóster's penalty .

World Championship 1934 in Italy

While no qualifying games were necessary for 1930 and FIFA was happy that 13 participants were found, four years later all participating teams had to qualify . Mexico was officially introduced in the first of his World Cup qualifiers on March 4, 1934 in Mexico City to Cuba , which in the first round against Haiti had prevailed and won with 3: 2nd Seven days later they met again and this time Mexico won 5-0 and although Mexico had won twice, they played against each other again seven days later and Mexico won again, this time 4-1. The Mexicans therefore traveled to Italy believing that they were qualified for the World Cup. But since the USA had also registered their team - albeit too late - and had traveled to Italy, a qualifying game between the two was scheduled in Rome at short notice , which the northern neighbor won 4-2. For Mexico the World Cup was over before it had really started, but the USA also had to leave shortly afterwards, because they lost 7-1 in the first game against hosts Italy .

World Championship 1938 in France

Four years later, Mexico withdrew its participation before qualifying began. Since in this group, except for the Cubans, all the Mexicans did the same, not a single qualifying match took place and Cuba qualified without a fight for the World Cup finals in France in 1938.

World Cup in Brazil in 1950

To qualify for the first World Cup after World War II , Mexico had to play two games each against the USA and Cuba and won all four. In Brazil, the Mexicans met hosts Brazil in the first group game of one of the two groups of four and lost 4-0. They also conceded four goals against Yugoslavia , but at least they were able to score one. The defeat in the last game against Switzerland , which was only lost 2-1, was less severe . As the bottom of the group, the Mexicans were eliminated.

1954 World Cup in Switzerland

To qualify for the World Cup in Switzerland , Mexico had to play two games each against the USA and Haiti and won all four. In Switzerland they met the two seeded teams from Brazil and France as an unseeded team and lost first 5-0 to the Brazilians and then unlucky 3-2 to France, with the winning goal for the French only in the 88th minute a penalty fell. This victory was of no use to the French either, because together with Mexico they were eliminated because they had lost to the unseeded Yugoslavs .

1958 World Cup in Sweden

Six teams from Central and North America had already registered for the qualification for the World Cup in Sweden and the USA and Canada this time were the opponents again in the group stage . Mexico regained all four games and met in the finals of the CONCACAF group first in Mexico City to Costa Rica and won with 2: 0th The second leg in San José ended 1: 1 with Mexico qualifying again.

In Sweden they met hosts Sweden in their first game and lost 3-0. In the second group game they were able to win the first World Cup point in a 1-1 draw against Wales and thus end a series of nine World Cup defeats. Against Hungary they lost 4-0 in the last group game and were eliminated from the bottom of the group.

World Championship in Chile in 1962

For the World Cup in Chile , the teams from North and Central America were not entitled to a direct starting place for the only time. The winner of the CONCACAF qualification had to compete against a South American representative. In the first round of qualifying , the northern neighbor USA was the only opponent for Mexico. After a 3: 3 in Los Angeles , the Mexicans were able to win their home game 3: 0 and move into the final round. In this, the Mexicans lost their first game in Costa Rica. But since they won their home games against Costa Rica and the national soccer team of the Netherlands Antilles , but the Costa Ricans lost in the Netherlands Antilles, a draw in the Netherlands Antilles was enough for the Mexicans to win the play-off games “South America / North and Central America “Against Paraguay . With a 1-0 home game and a 0-0 win in Asunción , they qualified for the World Cup.

In Chile they met Brazil for the third time at a World Cup in their first game and achieved their best result against the Brazilians with a 2-0 draw. Against Spain there was then a close 0: 1 and against Czechoslovakia after 0: 1 deficit, which fell after 15 seconds, the first World Cup victory with the 3: 1. Nevertheless, the Mexicans were eliminated as third in the group and the Czechoslovaks advanced to the final, where they lost to defending champions Brazil.

1966 World Cup in England

Nine teams from Central and North America had already registered for the World Cup in England and CONCACAF was again entitled to a direct starting place. In the first qualifying round Mexico prevailed with three wins and one draw against Honduras and the USA. In the final round, Costa Rica and Jamaica were the opponents and with three wins and one draw they qualified again.

In England, the Mexicans met France in the first group game and won a 1-1 draw. In the second game against hosts England they lost 2-0, but then fought for a 0-0 win against former world champions Uruguay , which brought them back to third place.

1970 World Cup in Mexico

Mexico and Argentina had applied to host the 1970 World Cup and in the vote on October 8, 1964, Mexico won 56:32 against their competitors. Mexico was thus automatically qualified as host and CONCACAF received another starting place.

In the draw, Mexico was placed in Pot 2 along with Brazil, Peru and Uruguay and placed in Group A, which played in Mexico City . The Mexicans were drawn to the Soviet Union , against which they played the goalless opening game, as well as Belgium and the second CONCACAF representative El Salvador , against whom they won the second group game 4-0. To date, this is the only preliminary round encounter between two CONCACAF members at a World Cup final. With a 1-0 win in their last game against Belgium, the Mexicans finished second in the group for the first time and reached the quarter-finals. Here they met Italy , which had survived the preliminary round with just one goal, overcame its jam against Mexico and won 4-1. With that, Mexico said goodbye to the World Cup for eight years.

World Cup 1974 in Germany

Surprisingly, Mexico was unable to qualify for the World Cup in Germany , for which the CONCACAF teams were again only entitled to one place. Although the first round of qualification was masterfully survived with two wins each against the USA and Canada, in the second round Mexico was behind Haiti , which qualified for the only time so far and surprised the Italians in Germany, and only Trinidad & Tobago third place.

1978 World Cup in Argentina

Mexico was then able to qualify again for the World Cup in Argentina . In the first round of qualification , however, the goal difference was decisive, because Mexico, the USA and Canada had 4: 4 points, but the Mexicans were the only ones with a positive goal difference with 3: 1 goals. In the second round, Mexico won five games in five games against Haiti, El Salvador , Canada, Guatemala and Suriname .

In Argentina, they met World Cup newcomers Tunisia in their first group game and lost 3-1. Against defending champions Germany they had to accept their highest World Cup defeat 6-0 in the second game and they also lost the last game against third-placed Poland 1: 3 and thus said goodbye to the World Cup for 8 years.

1982 World Cup in Spain

By increasing the field of participants for the World Cup in Spain to 24 teams, CONCACAF received another starting place. Mexico struggled in the first round of qualification and only made it into the second round in second behind Canada and ahead of the USA. In this, Honduras , which qualified for the first time, and El Salvador only came third, ahead of Canada, Cuba and Haiti, which was not enough to qualify for the finals.

1986 World Cup in Mexico

The 1986 World Cup was supposed to take place in Colombia , but since Colombia was unable to meet certain FIFA requirements, a new host was sought. Mexico and the USA had applied as substitute hosts and Mexico was accepted on May 20, 1983. This meant that the Mexicans were automatically qualified as host again and were the first country to host for the second time. This time FIFA only granted the remaining CONCACAF teams one place in the finals, which Canada secured.

At the draw, Mexico was headed the group together with defending champions Italy , European champions France , record world champions Brazil , runner-up world champions Germany and third place in the World Cup, Poland. As 16 years earlier, the Belgian, Paraguay and World Cup newcomer Iraq were drawn . In the first game against the Belgians, they won 2-1. A 1-1 draw against Paraguay followed, and a 1-0 win against Iraq, making the Mexicans group winners for the first time. In the last sixteen a 2-0 win against Bulgaria followed , which had reached the knockout round for the first time. In the quarter-finals, the German team was the opponent. In a game in which both teams lost a player to a red card , neither team scored in 120 minutes, so the penalty shoot-out had to decide. Here Fernando Quirarte and Raúl Servín failed at the German goalkeeper Toni Schumacher and only Manuel Negrete could convert his penalty. Since the first four German shooters all converted, the last two Mexicans and the last German no longer had to compete. And again there was a break of eight years until the next World Cup game.

1990 World Cup in Italy

The qualification for the second World Cup in Italy took place without Mexico. Because Mexico had used older players in a junior tournament that served as qualifiers for the 1988 Olympics, Mexico was excluded from qualifying. From the CONCACAF zone, Costa Rica and the USA qualified for the World Cup finals in Italy.

1994 World Cup in the United States

In qualifying for the World Cup in the USA , Mexico was set for the 2nd round and, together with Honduras, eliminated Costa Rica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines , which were taking part in the World Cup qualification for the first time. In the CONCACAF finals, the Mexicans then prevailed against Canada, which failed in the intercontinental playoffs to Australia , El Salvador and Honduras.

In the USA, the Mexicans lost the first group game against Norway 1-0, then won 2-1 against Ireland and scored 1-1 against Italy . This gave all four teams four points and an even goal difference. But since Mexico had scored the most goals, the Mexicans were group winners. The Norwegians, against whom they had lost the first game, were eliminated as the bottom of the group. In the last sixteen they met Bulgaria like eight years before and fell behind in the 6th minute. Alberto García Aspe was able to equalize this 12 minutes later. It stayed until the 120th minute, so the decision had to be made on penalties. Alberto García Aspe missed first, then the Bulgarian goalkeeper saved Marcelino Bernal and Jorge Rodríguez's penalties , only Claudio Suárez and three Bulgarians were successful, so that the World Cup was over for Mexico.

1998 World Cup in France

With the increase to 32 teams for the second World Cup in France , the CONCACAF teams were now entitled to three starting places. Mexico only had to compete in the semi-final round of qualifying and placed second behind Jamaica, ahead of Honduras and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In the final round, the Mexicans took first place undefeated and qualified for the World Cup finals together with the USA and, surprisingly, Jamaica .

In France they won the first group game against South Korea 3-1. This was followed by two 2-2 draws against Belgium and the Netherlands . With that the second place was reached and with it the round of 16 against European champions Germany. In this, however, the Mexicans lost after 1-0 lead with 1: 2 and were eliminated.

World Championship 2002 in Japan and South Korea

The qualification for the first World Cup in Asia was successful again. Mexico only had to compete in the CONCACAF intermediate round and reached the final round behind Trinidad and Tobago and ahead of Canada and Panama . Costa Rica won it 6 points ahead of Mexico and the USA, all of which qualified. Honduras, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago were left behind.

In Asia, the World Cup third Croatia was the first opponent and was defeated 1-0. Against World Cup newcomers Ecuador they won 2-1, so that a 1-1 draw against former world champions Italy was enough to advance to the second round as group winners. Here they met their arch-rivals USA and were considered favorites, but lost 2-0 and were eliminated again in the round of 16.

World Cup 2006 in Germany

Mexican fans in the Munich Olympic Stadium

Qualification for the second World Cup in Germany was again successful. This started with two big wins (10-0 and 8-0) against Dominica in the second round. The team finished the third round with six wins in six games as group winners in front of Trinidad & Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Kitts and Nevis , conceding only one goal. The team finished the fourth round tied behind the USA due to the direct comparison (2: 1 and 0: 2) in second place, ahead of Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago, who also won the intercontinental playoffs against an Asian representative and for the only time so far qualified the finals. Guatemala and Panama , on the other hand, had not made it again.

At the draw, Mexico was headed the group together with host Germany, defending champions Brazil, Italy, Spain, Argentina, France and England. The draw for the Mexicans was Iran , Portugal and World Cup newcomer Angola . The first group game against Iran was won 3-1. The Mexicans had to be content with a goalless draw against Angola, but despite a 2-1 defeat by Portugal they were second in their group for the round of 16. Here the Central Americans met World Cup favorites Argentina and took the lead in the sixth minute. This only lasted four minutes, but no more goals were scored in regular time, so the game had to be extended. Here Maxi Rodríguez met in the 98th minute to make it 2-1 for the South Americans, so that Mexico was eliminated for the fourth time in a row in the round of 16.

World Cup 2010 in South Africa

Mexican fans at the 2010 World Cup

Cuauhtémoc Blanco scored the 2-0 penalty against France

Mexico was able to qualify again for the first World Cup in Africa . The qualification started for Mexico in the second round with two wins (2: 0 to 7: 0) against Belize which the third round was achieved. In this, Mexico prevailed as second in the group behind Honduras against the tied Jamaicans and Canada. In the fourth round, second place was taken behind the USA, ahead of Honduras and Costa Rica, El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago, and Mexico was there in South Africa. The qualification was secured on the penultimate matchday with a 4-1 win against El Salvador.

At the draw, Mexico entered the group with hosts South Africa and was allowed to play the opening game for the fifth time. Other opponents were vice world champions France and Uruguay , which had prevailed in the intercontinental playoffs against Costa Rica. Mexico fell behind in the opening game after a goalless first half in the 55th minute, but were able to equalize 24 minutes later, and it stayed. In the second game surprisingly a 2-0 win against the vice world champions, so that despite the 0-1 defeat in the last group game against Uruguay, the round of 16 was reached, as France also lost to South Africa. This victory was of no use to the South Africans as they had the worse goal difference against Mexico. Like four years earlier, Argentina was the opponent in the round of 16. This time, however, it was less exciting, because the Argentines were already leading 2-0 after 33 minutes and won 3-1 in the end. This was the fifth consecutive knockout loss for Mexico.

2014 World Cup in Brazil

Scene from the game against Brazil

Mexican fans during the game against Brazil

The Mexicans were able to qualify again for the second World Cup in Brazil . Mexico began qualifying with coach José Manuel de la Torre , who also relied on the players who won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics . In the third round , for which Mexico was automatically qualified, the team together with Costa Rica prevailed against El Salvador and Guayana , with all games being won.

The fourth lap started bumpy. Mexico started this round with five draws (four of them goalless) and a 1-0 win against Jamaica and then lost to Honduras for the first time in the Aztec Stadium , leading to the sacking of José Manuel de la Torre . But even under his successor Luis Fernando Tena , with whom Mexico had won the Olympic gold medal, the next game was lost against the USA, which was then replaced by Víctor Manuel Vucetich . He brought Rafael Márquez back into the team to stabilize the defense and was able to win against Panama - making Mexico the first team to achieve their 100th victory in a World Cup qualifier. But since the last game against Costa Rica was lost again, the coach was changed again. The fact that Mexico still had the chance to qualify for the World Cup was thanks to arch-rivals USA. Because of the victory of the already qualified team from Costa Rica against Mexico, Mexico was dependent on the result of the Panama game against the USA team, which was already group winners. Panama led 2-1 up to the 90th minute and would have qualified for the intercontinental playoffs against New Zealand with the same number of points and goal difference as Mexico, but more goals scored (10 versus 7) . Then the USA scored two more goals in stoppage time within two minutes, leaving Panama behind Mexico. After the new coaching change - now Miguel Herrera was responsible for the team - the two games against New Zealand were then easily won 5: 1 and 4: 2, so that Mexico qualified as the penultimate country for the World Cup. Like Uruguay, who qualified last, Mexico needed the most qualifying matches of any team qualified for Brazil. Only the unqualified teams Jordan and Panama played more qualifying matches (20 each).

In Brazil, the Mexicans faced Cameroon in their first group game and won 1-0. In the second game, against hosts Brazil , a 0-0 victory was fought and with a 3-1 win against Croatia , the second place was achieved and thus the entry into the knockout round. Here the Mexicans met the Dutch and lost after a 1-0 lead with 1: 2 by a penalty converted in the fourth minute of stoppage time. This increased the record number of defeats in the round of 16 to six.

World Cup 2018 in Russia

In qualifying for the World Cup in Russia , Mexico only had to intervene in the fourth round, which was held as a group stage. As of November 2015, Honduras , Canada and El Salvador were the opponents. A month before qualifying began, Juan Carlos Osorio became the new national coach for the Mexicans. Mexico qualified in the fifth round, in which the Mexicans had to compete against Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago and the USA, as the fifth team on the fourth from last game day for the World Cup finals.

In Russia, the Mexicans won the opening game against defending champions Germany 1-0, in return for their 4-1 defeat in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-finals . The second game against South Korea they won 2-1 with Chicharito scoring his international goal. Although they lost the last group game against Sweden 3-0, but since South Korea won 2-0 against Germany in the parallel game, the Mexicans reached the knockout round. Here they met Brazil and were eliminated by a 2-0 defeat for the seventh time in a row in the round of 16. After the World Cup, national coach Osorio resigned and World Cup record player Márquez ended his national team career.

Ranking of the Mexican World Cup players with the most appearances

Rafael Márquez , Mexican World Cup record player

01. Rafael Márquez - 19 appearances in 5 tournaments

02. Chicharito and Andrés Guardado 12 appearances in 3 and 4 (Guardado) tournaments respectively

04. Cuauhtémoc Blanco , Antonio Carbajal and Gerardo Torrado - 11 appearances in 3 and 5 (Carbajal) tournaments respectively

07. Carlos Salcido - 10 appearances in 3 tournaments

08. Giovani dos Santos , Héctor Moreno , Salvador Reyes - 9 appearances in 3 tournaments

11. Jesús Arellano , Jorge Campos , Alberto García Aspe , Héctor Herrera , Miguel Layún , Guillermo Ochoa , Ricardo Osorio , Óscar Pérez Rojas , Francisco Rodríguez , Hugo Sánchez and Claudio Suárez - 8 missions in 2 (Layún, Ochoa and Osorio) resp. 3 tournaments

Ranking of the Mexican World Cup players with the most World Cup goals

01. Chicharito , Luis Hernandez - 4 goals

03. Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Rafael Márquez - 3 goals each

World Cup captains

• 1930: Rafael Garza Gutiérrez
• 1950: Alfonso Montemayor (1st game), Horacio Casarín (2nd and 3rd game)
• 1954: José Naranjo
• 1958: Antonio Carbajal
• 1962: Antonio Carbajal
• 1966, 1970: Gustavo Peña
• 1978: Arturo Vázquez Ayala
• 1986: Tomás Boy (replaced four times)
• 1994: Ignacio Ambríz
• 1998: Alberto García Aspe (substituted three times)
• 2002, 2006: Rafael Márquez
• 2010: Gerardo Torrado (1st game), Rafael Márquez (2nd game and round of 16), Cuauhtémoc Blanco (3rd game)
• 2014: Rafael Márquez
• 2018: Andrés Guardado (group matches), Rafael Márquez (round of 16)

Note: Rafael Márquez is the only player to have captained five World Cup tournaments.

Players banned from World Championships

• 1986: Hugo Sánchez received the second yellow card in the second group game and was suspended for the last group game. Javier Aguirre received the red card in the quarter-finals , since the team was eliminated, it had no further effect.
• 1994: Joaquín del Olmo received the second yellow card in the last group game and was suspended for the round of 16. Luis García received the yellow-red card in the round of 16 against the Bulgarians , since the team was eliminated, they had no further effect, as did the second yellow cards for García Aspe and Claudio Suárez .
• 1998: Pavel Pardo received the red card in the second group game and was suspended for the last group game. Ramón Ramírez also received the red card in the last group game and was suspended for the round of 16. The second yellow card for Cuauhtémoc Blanco in the round of 16 had no effect due to the elimination.
• 2002: Rafael Márquez received the red card in the round of 16, since the team was eliminated, it had no further effect.
• 2006: Luis Ernesto Pérez received the yellow-red card in the last group match and was suspended for the round of 16. Rafael Márquez and Gerardo Torrado received the second yellow card in the round of 16, but this had no effect due to the elimination.
• 2010: Efraín Juárez received the second yellow card in the second group match and was suspended for the last group match.
• 2014: José Juan Vázquez received the second yellow card in the last group match and was suspended for the round of 16. Paul Aguilar and Rafael Márquez received the second yellow card in the round of 16, but this had no effect due to the elimination.
• 2018: Héctor Moreno received the second yellow card in the last group game and was suspended for the round of 16.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

No legionaries were deployed until 1986 . After that there were initially a few and also in 2010 and 2014 less than half of the tournaments. In 2018 it will be the majority for the first time.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1930 to 1978	0
1986 (5)	1 (in Spain)	Hugo Sanchez (4)
1994 (4)	2 (in Spain)	Luis García (4), Hugo Sánchez (1)
1998 (4)	1 (in the USA)	Jorge Campos (4)
2002 (4)	4 (1 in France, 3 in Spain)	Rafael Marquez (4); Cuauhtémoc Blanco (4), Francisco Palencia (4), Gerardo Torrado (3)
2006 (4)	4 (1 in England, 2 in Spain, 1 in USA)	Jared Borgetti (2); Guillermo Franco (3), Rafael Marquez (4); Claudio Suarez (0)
2010 (4)	9 (1 in Germany, 2 in England, 3 in the Netherlands, 2 in Spain, 1 in Turkey)	Ricardo Osorio (4); Guillermo Franco (4), Carlos Vela (2); Maza (4), Héctor Moreno (2), Carlos Salcido (4); Andrés Guardado (3), Rafael Márquez (3); Giovani dos Santos (4)
2014 (4)	8 (1 in Germany, 1 in England, 1 in France, 2 in Portugal, 3 in Spain)	Andrés Guardado (4); Chicharito (4); Guillermo Ochoa (4); Héctor Herrera (4), Diego Antonio Reyes (1); Javier Aquino (1); Héctor Moreno (4), Giovani dos Santos (4
2018 (4)	15 (1 in Belgium, 2 in Germany, 1 in England, 1 in the Netherlands, 4 in Portugal, 3 in Spain, 3 in the USA)	Guillermo Ochoa (4); Marco Fabián (1), Carlos Salcedo (4); Chicharito (4); Hirving Lozano (4); Jesús Corona (2), Héctor Herrera (4), Raúl Jiménez (2), Diego Antonio Reyes; Andrés Guardado (4), Miguel Layún (4), Héctor Moreno (3); Giovani dos Santos (1), Jonathan dos Santos (1), Carlos Vela (4)

Games

• So far Mexico has played 57 World Cup games against 35 different opponents. Of these, 16 won, 27 lost and 14 ended in a draw. Draw games had to be extended three times as a winner had to be determined, one was lost in extra time and two were lost on penalties .
• Mexico played most often (5 times) in the opening game or first game of a World Cup (first in 1930, last in 2010)
• Mexico played against the hosts five times (Brazil in 1950 and 2014, Sweden in 1958, England in 1966 and South Africa in 2010) and played nine home games.
• Mexico lost twice (1962 and 1966) to the eventual world champions.
• Mexico have played against the defending champions three times (1962, 1978 and 2018).
• Mexico faced opponents of all confederations except Oceania. However, there were two playoff games against New Zealand (Oceania) in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. Mexico met a team from their own confederation (CONCACAF) twice: in 1970 against El Salvador and in 2002 against the USA. These are the only World Cup games between CONCACAF teams to date.
• In 1958 and 1994 Mexico only faced European opponents.
  The 1994 World Cup was the last opportunity that a team could only meet European opponents at a World Cup finals. And this was only possible for Mexico at the 1994 World Cup, because Mexico was the only non-European team to play in the only preliminary round with three Europeans (Italy, Ireland, Norway). Mexico survived the preliminary round, but was eliminated in the round of 16 against Bulgaria.
  Since then, such a thing has been ruled out: Since the 1998 World Cup tournament, there can only be a maximum of two European teams in each group, and each team faces opponents from three different confederations.
• Mexico met a World Cup newcomer six times: 1958 / Wales, 1970 / El Salvador, 1978 / Tunisia, 1986 / Iraq, 2002 / Ecuador and 2006 / Angola
• Most frequent opponents: Brazil - five times, Germany and France - four times each
• Most frequent last opponent: Argentina (1930, 2006 and 2010)

All World Cup games
No.	date	opponent	Result	occasion		venue	comment
1	July 13, 1930	France	1: 4	Preliminary round	*	Montevideo ( URY )	First ever World Cup game, first international against France
2	July 16, 1930	Chile	0: 3	Preliminary round	*	Montevideo ( URY )
3	July 19, 1930	Argentina	3: 6	Preliminary round	*	Montevideo ( URY )	First international match against Argentina
4th	June 24, 1950	Brazil	0: 4	Preliminary round	A.	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA )	First international game against Brazil, first game of the 1950 World Cup
5	June 28, 1950	Yugoslavia	1: 4	Preliminary round	*	Porto Alegre ( BRA )	First international match against Yugoslavia
6th	2nd July 1950	Switzerland	1: 2	Preliminary round	*	Porto Alegre ( BRA )	First international match against Switzerland
7th	June 16, 1954	Brazil	0: 5	Preliminary round	*	Geneva ( SUI )
8th	June 19, 1954	France	2: 3	Preliminary round	*	Geneva ( SUI )
9	June 8, 1958	Sweden	0: 3	Preliminary round	A.	Solna ( SWE )	First international game against Sweden, first game of the 1958 World Cup
10	June 11, 1958	Wales	1: 1	Preliminary round	*	Solna ( SWE )	First international match against Wales
11	June 15, 1958	Hungary	0: 4	Preliminary round	*	Sandviken ( SWE )	First international match against Hungary
12	May 30, 1962	Brazil	0: 2	Preliminary round	*	Viña del Mar ( CHI )
13	June 3, 1962	Spain	0: 1	Preliminary round	*	Viña del Mar ( CHI )
14th	June 7, 1962	Czechoslovakia	3: 1	Preliminary round	*	Viña del Mar ( CHI )
15th	July 13, 1966	France	1: 1	Preliminary round	*	London ( ENG )
16	July 16, 1966	England	0: 2	Preliminary round	A.	London ( ENG )
17th	July 19, 1966	Uruguay	0-0	Preliminary round	*	London ( ENG )
18th	May 31, 1970	Soviet Union	0-0	Opening game	H	Mexico city
19th	June 7, 1970	El Salvador	4-0	Preliminary round	H	Mexico city	First World Cup game between two CONCACAF teams
20th	June 11, 1970	Belgium	1-0	Preliminary round	H	Mexico city	Mexico survived the preliminary round of a World Cup for the first time
21st	June 14, 1970	Italy	1: 4	Quarter finals	H	Toluca
22nd	June 2nd 1978	Tunisia	1: 3	Preliminary round	*	Rosario ( ARG )	First international match against Tunisia
23	June 6, 1978	BR Germany	0: 6	Preliminary round	*	Cordoba ( ARG )
24	June 10, 1978	Poland	1: 3	Preliminary round	*	Rosario ( ARG )
25th	June 3, 1986	Belgium	2: 1	Preliminary round	H	Mexico city
26th	June 7, 1986	Paraguay	1: 1	Preliminary round	H	Mexico city
27	June 11, 1986	Iraq	1-0	Preliminary round	H	Mexico city	First international match against Iraq
28	June 15, 1986	Bulgaria	2-0	Round of 16	H	Mexico city
29	June 21, 1986	BR Germany	0: 0 a.d.	Quarter finals	H	Monterrey	1: 4 n.e.
30th	June 19, 1994	Norway	0: 1	Preliminary round	*	Washington, DC ( USA )	Mexico is participating in a World Cup for the 10th time
31	June 24, 1994	Ireland	2: 1	Preliminary round	*	Orlando ( USA )
32	June 28, 1994	Italy	1: 1	Preliminary round	*	Washington, DC ( USA )
33	5th July 1994	Bulgaria	1: 1 n.V., 1: 3 IU	Round of 16	*	East Rutherford ( USA )	400th international match
34	June 13, 1998	South Korea	3: 1	Preliminary round	*	Lyon ( FRA )
35	June 20, 1998	Belgium	2: 2	Preliminary round	*	Bordeaux ( FRA )
36	June 25, 1998	Netherlands	2: 2	Preliminary round	*	St. Etienne ( FRA )
37	June 29, 1998	Germany	1: 2	Round of 16	*	Montpellier ( FRA )
38	June 3, 2002	Croatia	1-0	Preliminary round	*	Niigata ( JPN )
39	June 9, 2002	Ecuador	2: 1	Preliminary round	*	Rifu ( JPN )
40	June 13, 2002	Italy	1: 1	Preliminary round	*	Ōita ( JPN )
41	June 17, 2002	United States	0: 2	Round of 16	*	Jeonju ( KOR )
42	June 11, 2006	Iran	3: 1	Preliminary round	*	Nuremberg ( DEU )
43	June 16, 2006	Angola	0-0	Preliminary round	*	Hanover ( DEU )	First international match against Angola
44	June 21, 2006	Portugal	1: 2	Preliminary round	*	Gelsenkirchen ( DEU )
45	June 24, 2006	Argentina	1: 2 a.d.	Round of 16	*	Leipzig ( DEU )
46	June 11, 2010	South Africa	1: 1	Opening game	A.	Johannesburg ( RSA )	Mexico will be the first team to play the opening or first game for the fifth time
47	June 17, 2010	France	2-0	Preliminary round	*	Polokwane ( RSA )
48	June 22, 2010	Uruguay	0: 1	Preliminary round	*	Rustenburg ( RSA )
49	June 27, 2010	Argentina	1: 3	Round of 16	*	Johannesburg ( RSA )
40	June 13, 2014	Cameroon	1-0	Preliminary round	*	Natal ( BRA )	50th World Cup game
51	17th June 2014	Brazil	0-0	Preliminary round	A.	Fortaleza ( BRA )
52	June 23, 2014	Croatia	3: 1	Preliminary round	*	Recife ( BRA )
53	June 29, 2014	Netherlands	1: 2	Round of 16	*	Fortaleza ( BRA )
54	17th June 2018	Germany	1-0	Group game	*	Moscow ( RUS )
55	June 23, 2018	South Korea	2: 1	Group game	*	Rostov-on-Don ( RUS )	50th international goal by Chicharito
56	June 27, 2018	Sweden	0: 3	Group game	*	Yekaterinburg ( RUS )
57	2nd July 2018	Brazil	0: 2	Round of 16	*	Samara ( RUS )

Highest victories and defeats

The team achieved their highest victories against the following countries in World Cup tournaments:

•  Belgium : Preliminary round 1970 and 1986 - 1-0 and 2-1 respectively (also a 1-0 in a friendly match)
•  France : Preliminary round 2010 - 2-0 (only win against France)
•  Iraq : preliminary round 1986 - 1-0 (only game against Iraq)
•  Ireland : preliminary round 1994 - 2-1 (only win against Ireland)
•  Cameroon : Preliminary round 2014 - 1-0 (also a 1-0 in a friendly match)
•  Croatia : preliminary round 2014 - 3-1
•  Czechoslovakia : 1962 preliminary round - 3-1 (only win against Czechoslovakia counted by FIFA and the Czech Federation)

The team suffered their biggest defeats in World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Argentina : preliminary round 1930 - 3: 6 (also 0: 3 in the Copa América semi-finals in 2007 and 1: 4 in a friendly match)
•  Brazil : preliminary round 1954 - 0: 5 (also a 0: 5 in the Friendship Cup 1992)
•  Germany : preliminary round 1978 - 0: 6
•  Netherlands : Round of 16 2014 - 1: 2 (also twice 1: 2 and once 2: 3 in friendly matches)
•  Poland : preliminary round 1978 - 1: 3
•  Portugal : Preliminary round 2006 - 1: 2 (also a 0: 1 in a friendly match)
•  Sweden : preliminary round 1958 and 2018 - 0: 3
•  Tunisia : preliminary round 1978 - 1: 3 (only game against Tunisia)
•  Hungary : preliminary round 1958 - 4-0 (only defeat against Hungary counted by FIFA and the Hungarian Association)

Records

• First converted penalty: Manuel Rosas on July 19, 1930 in the 42nd minute (in other sources the 31st or 38th minute are also mentioned) to 1: 3 against Argentina (final score 3: 6).
• Most participations in World Cup tournaments: Antonio Carbajal (1950–1966) and Rafael Márquez (2002–2018), both Mexico and Lothar Matthäus (Germany, 1982–1998) and Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, 1998–2014) with 5 each
• The most common preliminary round pairings (4 × each) were Mexico against Brazil (1950, 1954, 1962 and 2014) and Mexico against France (1930, 1954, 1966 and 2010) as well as Argentina against Nigeria (1994, 2002, 2010 and 2014) and Brazil against Scotland (1974, 1982, 1990 and 1998)
• Biggest win in a tournament: 1970 Mexico - El Salvador 4-0 in the preliminary round
• Chicharito scored the 2100th World Cup goal on June 17, 2010 with a 1-0 win in a 2-0 win over France.
• Most qualifying matches: 173 (as of: After qualifying for the 2018 World Cup)
• Most qualifying game wins: 112
• Most goals in qualifying matches: 436 - only team with more than 400 goals
• Most common pairing in qualifying matches: Mexico vs. USA - 27 games

Negative records

• The first goal conceded: Lucien Laurent (France) scored it after 19 minutes at the 1930 World Cup.
• Most goals conceded: Antonio Carbajal - 25 out of 11 games from 1950 to 1966, only one clean sheet
• Second fastest goal conceded by Václav Mašek (Czechoslovakia) after 15 seconds in the preliminary round match in 1962
• Most tournament goals conceded:
  • 1930: 13 in 3 games
  • 1978: 12 in 3 games and Peru - 12 in 6 games
• The longest losing streak: 9 games 1930–1958
• Most defeats: 27 in 57 games
• Biggest defeat in a tournament: 1978 Mexico - Germany in the 1st final round and Peru - Argentina in the 2nd final round - each 0: 6
• In the round of 16, Mexico were eliminated the most (7 times in a row).
• Mexico held another remarkable negative record for almost 84 years: from the losing opening game of the 1930 World Cup when they lost 4-1 to France, Mexico always had the worst goal difference of all teams in absolute numbers in the all-time table , and only became during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil replaced by South Korea. Since June 27, 2018, both have had a goal difference of minus 36, but this worsened again to -38 in Mexico on July 2, while South Korea and Mexico cannot play in a World Cup finals again until 2022 at the earliest.
• Worst team at tournaments in 1930, 1958 and 1978 (ranked 13th and 16th twice by FIFA)

referee

Benito Armando Archundia (Mexico) is the first referee to lead five games (Brazil - Croatia, France - South Korea, Czech Republic - Italy, Switzerland - Ukraine and Germany - Italy) at a World Cup (2006).

places

• Most frequent venue overall: Mexico City (1970 and 1986, 23 games in 2 stadiums)
• Highest location: Toluca (1970 and 1986, 2,638 m)
• Most spectators in one stadium: 1,917,550 in the Aztec Stadium in 19 games (100,924 on average per game)

See also

• Football World - Statistics - Mexico on fifa.com
• fifa.com: "Statistical overview: records and milestones"

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Two games lost on penalties .
2. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2014 (PDF; 200 kB)
3. ↑ dfb.de "6-0 against Mexico: The good game in Cordoba"
4. ↑ nytimes.com: "Mexico Given Ban in Soccer"
5. ↑ bbc.com: "Juan Carlos Osorio: Mexico manager quits after three years"
6. ↑ fifa.com: Marquez hangs up his soccer shoes
7. ↑ In their match reports, FIFA names Carbajal as the captain of all three games, in the [rsssf.com statistics] he is only named as the captain of the 1st game, Raúl Cárdenas in the 2nd and 3rd game.
8. ↑ Match report Argentina - Mexico. In: fifa.com. FIFA , accessed July 28, 2013 .