Football World Cup 2006 Germany

Mexico

Mexico

Nickname	Los Tricolores, El Tri
Association	Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación
Coach	Ricardo Lavolpe
Most caps	Claudio Suárez (174)
Top scorer	Jared Borgetti (37)
First international Guatemala 2 - 3 Mexico (Guatemala City, Guatemala; 1 January 1923)
Largest win Mexico 13 - 0 Bahamas (Toluca, Mexico; April 28, 1987)
Worst defeat England 8 - 0 Mexico (London, England; May 10, 1961)
World Cup
Appearances	13 (First in 1930)
Best result	Quarterfinals, 1970 and 1986
CONCACAF Gold Cup
Appearances	8 (First in 1991)
Best result	Winners, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2003

The Mexico National Football Team — the Tricolores, or El Tri for short — is the national team of Mexico and is controlled by the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación (FEMEXFUT).

For most of the 20th century, but especially in the 1990s, they dominated the other CONCACAF sides, earning them the nickname Giants of CONCACAF.

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 of the 2002 World Cup. Mexico, nevertheless, then experienced a resurgence in football, vastly improving to its former glory in both the international and club level. With the continuous and overall good participation of the Mexican national team and Mexican club sides as guests in CONMEBOL tournaments like the Copa Libertadores, which witnessed an upset as Club Guadalajara also called Chivas (MEX) defeated Boca Juniors (ARG) by a score of 4-0, Mexican football seemed to once again regain its dominant foothold in the CONCACAF region. Mexico's 1-0 win over Argentina in the Copa América, as well as their qualification run for the 2004 Summer Olympics and championship victory in the 2003 Gold Cup, seemed to mark a new turning point in Mexican football.

Recent Play

The participation of the Mexican National Team in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, however, proved to the world the tremendous power Mexico is capable of exerting on the global stage. After defeating the World Cup Champions Brazil in one of the most dramatic upset victories of the tournament by a score of 1-0, the world suddenly became aware of Mexico's potent capabilities on the pitch. Mexico's surprises would not end with Brazil, however, as Lavolpe's men showed no mercy to South American Superpower Argentina in the quarterfinals, holding them out all the way before losing the game in a highly-contested penalty shootout. Having conceded its chances of winning a second Confederations Cup, Mexico then focused all of its energies on third place. Once again, they surprised another Football Superpower, this time Germany, losing only in extra time by 3-4. Finishing fourth place in the Confederations Cup, Mexico proved to the world that although its players may not be as well known in Europe as they should be, they are definitely a force to be reckoned with.

In the 2005 Gold Cup tournament, however, Mexico did not fare as well, being eliminated by guests Colombia in the quarterfinal match, 2-1, after conceding a wild goal on a shot from over 100 feet with less than 15 minutes to play. The tournament ended with an American victory, and at present, the rivalry between the two sides shows no sign of cooling, with the USA having secured qualification for the 2006 World Cup by defeating Mexico 2-0 on September 3, 2005. Mexico, nonetheless, soon secured their place in Germany four days later when they defeated Panama 5-0 in Mexico City.

Heading to Germany in less than a year, Los Tricolores still remain haunted by the fact that they have not enjoyed much success in any of the 13 World Cups they have participated in, despite the fact that they have qualified more times than most Football Superpowers have. Their most successful runs came in 1970 and 1986, when they hosted both tournaments. Many observers blame Mexico's global luck on the footballing quality of the area, comparing it to the success of leagues in South America, and the lack of Mexican players abroad, but neither claim can explain Mexico's success in the Confederations Cup hosted by Germany in 2005.

Although Los Tricolores still have much to improve on before they can call themselves FIFA World Cup Champions, they can certainly take pride in their October 2, 2005 victory, when the under-17 national selection won their first-ever FIFA Championship by defeating Brazil 3-0 in the Peru 2005 Under-17 World Cup. An effective display of football saw Mexico claim the FIFA U-17 World Championship Peru 2005 with an emphatic 3-0 win over reigning champions Brazil.

2006 World Cup

Mexico is one of seeded teams heading the groups for the final draw of 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. Recently El Tri played an amistoso or fiendly matches in preparation for the World Cup on March 29, 2006 and defeated Paraguay 2-1 held in the 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 States to watch and also allow fans from the other side, Paraguay, Korea etc. who have fans in the States to also watch.

Mexico currently has a claim to possess the best league outside Europe. It can certainly boast more strength in depth than Brazil or Argentina. The reason is economic; oil prices are high relative to the 1990s and with it the Petrodollars. The South American clubs are exporters of talent. Mexico has the financial strength to import; quality players from Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Colombia and so on are enticed north by higher salaries, and the country can also attract foreign coaches even from Europe. Routinely Argentine and Brazilian players come to play in the Primera Division of Futbol Liga Mexicana.

Manager Ricardo La Volpe has announced his final World Cup roster. [1] It does not, not include the irascible Blanco. Some observors say that this is due to the more than year long sniping bewteen the coach and the aging star whose form has declined markedly.

History

Mexico participated in the first World Cup in 1930 but did not appear 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). 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 playing 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). Aginst 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 a youth tournament, but have since qualified for four consecutive World Cups.

World Cup record

1930 - Round 1
1934 - Did not qualify
1938 - Withdrew
1950 - Round 1
1954 - Round 1
1958 - Round 1
1962 - Round 1
1966 - Round 1
1970 - Quarterfinals
1974 - Did not qualify
1978 - Round 1
1982 - Did not qualify
1986 - Quarterfinals
1990 - Disqualified
1994 - Round 2
1998 - Round 2
2002 - Round 2
2006 - Qualified

Gold Cup record

1991 - Third place
1993 - Champions
1996 - Champions
1998 - Champions
2000 - Quarterfinals
2002 - Quarterfinals
2003 - Champions
2005 - Quarterfinals

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

1992 - Did not qualify
1995 - Third place
1997 - Round 1
1999 - Champions
2001 - Round 1
2003 - Did not qualify
2005 - Fourth place

Famous players

Jared Borgetti
Cuauhtémoc Blanco
Jorge Campos
Antonio Carbajal
Guillermo Franco
Alberto García Aspe
Luis García
Carlos Hermosillo
Luis Hernández
Rafael Márquez
Manuel Negrete
Daniel Osorno
Francisco Palencia
Pavel Pardo
Hugo Sánchez
Carlos Salcido
Oswaldo Sánchez
Claudio Suárez
Ramón Ramírez
Luis Roberto Alves
Luis Miguel Salvador
Francisco Fonseca
Andrés Guardado

Famous Coaches

Javier Aguirre
Miguel Mejía Barón
Manuel Lapuente
César Luis Menotti
Enrique Meza
Bora Milutinovic

Current Squad

Goalkeepers:

Oswaldo Javier Sánchez Ibarra - Club Deportivo Guadalajara
José de Jesús Corona Rodríguez - UAG Tecos
Francisco Guillermo Ochoa Magaña - Club América

Defenders:

Carlos Arnoldo Salcido Flores - Club Deportivo Guadalajara
Rafael Márquez Álvarez (Captain) - FC Barcelona
Francisco Javier Rodríguez Pinedo - Club Deportivo Guadalajara
Claudio Suárez Sánchez - Club Deportivo Chivas USA
Gonzalo Pineda Reyes - Club Deportivo Guadalajara
Joel Adrián Huiqui Andrade - Club Deportivo Cruz Azul
Mario Méndez Olague - Club de Futbol Monterrey
Ricardo Osorio Mendoza - Club Deportivo Cruz Azul
José Antonio Castro González - Club América

Midfielders:

Pável Pardo Segura - Club América
Antonio Naelson Matías - Deportivo Toluca Futbol Club
Jaime Arturo Lozano Espín - Tigres UANL
José Andrés Guardado Hernández - Club Deportivo Atlas de Guadalajara
Israel López Hernández - Deportivo Toluca Futbol Club
José Rafael García Torres - Club Deportivo Atlas de Guadalajara
Luis Ernesto Pérez Gómez - Club de Futbol Monterrey
José de Jesús Arellano Alcocer - Club de Futbol Monterrey
Ramón Morales Higuera - Club Deportivo Guadalajara
Gerardo Torrado Díez de Bonilla - Club Deportivo Cruz Azul

Forwards:

Jared Francisco Borgetti Echavarría - Bolton Wanderers F.C.
José Francisco Fonseca Guzmán - Club Deportivo Cruz Azul
Omar Bravo Tordecillas - Club Deportivo Guadalajara
Guillermo Luis Franco Farcuson - Villarreal CF

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