Five Mexico stars who offer crucial continuity
After enduring a painful exit last time around, a number of El Tricolor veterans are champing at the bit for a special World Cup on home soil.
Mexico excited Qatar 2022 at the group stage
El Tricolor seeking to rebound in North America
FIFA takes a look at key players seeking redemption
Mexico’s early exit at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ left them facing an uncomfortable reality. For the first time in decades, they bowed out of the World Cup in the group stage, bringing the curtain down on the careers of several key players: Andres Guardado, Hector Moreno and Hector Herrera, veterans from different eras who will all be adjusting to experiencing the FIFA World Cup 2026™ as onlookers.
However, Mexico’s latest World Cup project has not been a total reset. Several of the players who were dealt the blow of elimination are now champing at the bit for a tournament on home soil – the setting of Mexico’s most successful World Cup campaigns – with this continuity likely to indicate the players who could play a key role for them at the World Cup.
Here, FIFA takes a look at how some of these players have developed over the last few years, a period that has been marked by several pieces of silverware for Mexico at the Concacaf Gold Cup and the Nations League.
Cesar Montes has come on leaps and bounds for Mexico. Drafted into the squad in the run-up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ with Juan Carlos Osorio at the helm, the defender failed to make the final cut but remained firmly on the team’s radar. At Qatar 2022 under Gerardo Martino, he played a far more pivotal role in the squad, featuring in all three matches and adapting to the tactical variations at the heart of the team’s defence.
His career at club level has also been marked by change. After the last World Cup, he called time on his career at Rayados de Monterrey to make the switch to European football, with stints at Espanyol and Almeria. Since 2024, Montes has been playing for Lokomotiv Moscow, where he has cemented his place in the side as a regular, reinforcing his status as one of the most reliable figures in Javier Aguirre’s side.
Johan Vasquez was handed his senior debut back in 2019 with Martino at the helm and was part of the squad at Qatar 2022, where he spent the entire tournament warming the bench without even so much as a cameo appearance. Rather than being a showcase for his skill, that World Cup served as a learning phase in a process where he was yet to establish himself as a nailed-on starter.
Since then, Vasquez has come into his own and earned himself a regular place in the side. Under Aguirre, he has been a frequent starter and has only been absent through injury. In European football, he has built his career in Italy, with two stints at Genoa and a short spell playing for Cremonese. While playing for Genoa, he has also been deployed in several defensive roles, including deputising at full-back, which has enabled him to add versatility to his game. He has now established himself as a mainstay and the skipper of the side, even as the team fights tooth and nail to avoid relegation. His strong development has been reflected in the Mexican team, where he now lines up alongside Montes at the heart of the defence.
Edson Alvarez is one of the longest-serving players in the current Tricolor squad. Having made his senior debut for the side in 2017, he went on to feature in all four of Mexico’s matches at Russia 2018, playing at full-back. He continued to be a mainstay in the side and was included in the squad for Qatar 2022, where he played two games in midfield, putting his versatility to the test.
Beyond the World Cup, Alvarez’s role in the side speaks volumes about his development. During this period, he has cemented the role of a holding midfielder and strengthened his leadership skills, being named ‘Vasco’s’ current skipper and tasked with steadying the ship after several key players hung up their boots. At club level, Edson has played for a number of teams in Europe, including Ajax and West Ham, and now plies his trade at Fenerbahce, where he has been a regular starter since arriving.
Alexis Vega burst onto the scene in 2019, making his senior debut under Martino and quickly made a name for himself within the side. At Qatar 2022, he enjoyed plenty of game time, starting all three matches and switching between the wing and central attacking areas, though he was unable to find the back of the net at the tournament.
He was at Chivas during that World Cup, but has since made a triumphant return to Toluca, the club that handed him his professional debut. Vega has enjoyed the most successful spell of his career at Toluca, where he was instrumental in helping his side win back-to-back Mexican league titles, orchestrating the play on the pitch with goals and assists, while keeping the squad together through tough times off the pitch. On the back of his impressive form, he now has the full backing of the coaching staff as one of the side’s most dangerous attacking options and will be expected to bring his club-level form to the World Cup.
Mexico were blessed when Raul Jimenez made his senior debut in 2013, quickly leaving a lasting impression with a spectacular bicycle kick against Panama that put his side back on track for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™, which was his very first World Cup. He was barely given a run-out at that tournament, playing only six minutes, the beginning of a World Cup journey in which, over the years, he has played minor roles, almost always coming off the bench to replace strikers in better form.
His career was turned on its head following a serious accident in a Premier League game at the end of 2020, an incident that put his career on hold and threatened to dash his hopes of ever returning to the top level. Despite his accident, Jimenez made a comeback and slowly re-established himself as a striker in the Premier League, where he currently plays for Fulham. With his fourth World Cup just around the corner, he finds himself in a completely different place: a striker who has regained his decisive touch and whose experience now sets the tone for Mexico’s attack.