Mexico World Cup 2018
1986 World Cup hosts, Mexico, booked their place at a seventh consecutive finals and will be confident of easing through to at least the last 16.
History at the World Cup
Mexico will be appearing at their seventh consecutive World Cup finals in Russia, reaching the last 16 in the previous six tournaments. They have only failed to qualify for a finals three times since appearing at the first ever World Cup in 1930. Two other occasions when they haven’t taken part were in 1938, when they withdrew from the competition, and in 1990 due to a ban. The last finals they failed to qualify for were in 1982, and they were last knocked out in the group stage of a finals in 1978.
- World Cup Finals Appearances – 15
- Best Performance – Quarter Finals (Twice)
How they qualified
Mexico entered CONCACAF qualifying at the fourth-round stage, as they were the second-highest ranked nation in the region. They were drawn in a group with Honduras, Canada, and El Salvador, and eased through with five wins and one draw from their six matches. In the fifth round, they again played Honduras, as well as Costa Rica, Panama, United States, and Trinidad & Tobago.
They won six and drew three of the first nine matches, to ensure they would be at the finals in Russia, but ended on a low note with a shock defeat to Honduras that meant United States were eliminated from the tournament.
Coach/Manager
Former Manchester City assistant manager Juan Carlos Osorio became head coach of the Mexico national team in 2015.
He started his reign with a win in the first match of World Cup qualifying and, at the time of writing, has a 66.67 winning percentage after forty-two games in-charge.
In that time, Osorio has taken Mexico to the Semi Finals of both the Confederations Cup and CONCACAF Gold Cup.
His reign hasn’t been short of controversy, as Osorio received a six-match ban for aggressive behaviour during the Confederations Cup.
Star Players
Mexico have several stars throughout their squad, with West Ham United’s Javier Hernandez perhaps the most well-known by English fans.
Hernandez, known as Chicharito, is Mexico’s all-time leading goal scorer and is likely to be the focal point of the Mexico attack in Russia.
The attacking supporting cast isn’t bad either, with Carlos Vela, Raul Jimenez, and Oribe Peralta all having over 60 caps apiece.
Captain Andres Guardado is the most capped player in the current squad, with more than 140 appearances to his name.
Giovani Dos Santos is a player well known to English football fans, having spent four years at Tottenham Hotspur. The midfielder currently plays for LA Galaxy and will be appearing at a third World Cup finals if selected in the final squad.
Mexico World Cup 2018: Assessing Their Chances
Mexico will start their finals tournament against reigning world champions Germany in Moscow, in as tough an opening game as they could have been given.
Alongside those two in Group F are South Korea and Sweden.
They have never beaten Germany, drawing three and losing two in five previous meetings. So, it’s a tough opener and one in which they will be the outsiders for.
However, the betting odds make Mexico second favourites to advance to the next round. Most bookmakers have them priced at 1/1, slightly ahead of Sweden, and we believe the odds will prove to be correct on this occasion.
Mexico haven’t played Sweden since 2009, but have the edge with regards FIFA rankings, and they beat South Korea 4-0 when they last met in 2014.
If they do make it through as runners-up, as expected, they are likely to meet Brazil in the last 16. For us, that will be the end of the road for the Mexicans as they have lost four of the last six meetings between the two.
Our Mexico World Cup Prediction
Although Germany are hotly tipped to top Group F, we believe Mexico are the next best team of the four in that group and that they will advance to the last 16 for a seventh consecutive finals. Unfortunately, we think this is where the competition ends for them yet again. The likelihood is that they will face Brazil, in a match we believe they will fall short in. It will probably be another strong showing by Mexico but we cannot see them going past the first knock-out round.