It’s easy to forget just how dire and stormy things looked for the Mexico a few months ago.
El Tri closed out 2025 in dismal fashion, stumbling through a gloomy six-game winless streak that marked their worst run of form in a decade. On the cusp of a FIFA World Cup year, alarm bells began ringing.
“Mexico loses to Paraguay and also all of its credibility,” read another, which then went on to ponder if this was the worst national team of the past 50 years.
Typically brash, but with a wry smile, even charismatic manager Javier Aguirre appeared somber while chatting with media after his final match of last year.
“You can never truly be at ease when you aren’t winning,” Aguirre said to media over the winter. “Sometimes things come up, things you thought you had already overcome, and a negative result makes you realize that you haven’t. We haven’t yet reached the place where we want to be.”
How quickly the weather can change. Kicking off January with a 1-0 victory over World Cup-bound Panama, Mexico have escaped their once-turbulent waters and embarked on a five-game unbeaten run in 2026. Through a 3W-2D-0L record and a commendable plus-6 goal differential through those matches, El Tri are now picking up momentum ahead of the summer.
Granted, those two draws came in this March window against Portugal (0-0) and Belgium (1-1), but considering that both are in the top 10 of ESPN’s World Cup rankings, the results still represent a step in the right direction for the national team program — especially when analyzing Tuesday’s draw with Belgium.
Mexico outshot their opponents 10-5 (0.9 xG for Mexico, 0.3 xG for Belgium), won more duels (54.4% to 44.9%) and created more key passes (seven to two) than the European side that seemed stunned by El Tri‘s intensity throughout the game. Were it not for a wonder-strike from distance by Dodi Lukebakio to score Belgium’s lone goal, we would be talking about a historic result for Aguirre and his men.
National media, once flustered with Aguirre and El Tri, have also changed their tune. Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti, a former coach of Mexico and current pundit on Futbol Picante, was full of praise after Tuesday’s draw with Belgium.
“In the Javier [Aguirre] era, this is the best game that I’ve seen,” he said.
Mexico earned a 1-1 draw with Belgium on Tuesday in Chicago. VICTOR HILITSKI/EPA/ShutterstockMind you, it’s an imperfect comparison when considering roster rotations, but this is the same Belgium that thrashed a fellow Concacaf peer like the U.S. men’s national team 5-2 last week. The U.S. then went on to lose to Portugal 2-0 on Tuesday. For Aguirre, avoiding such losses and being able to keep pace with Portugal and Belgium are signs of finally taking his roster where he wants them to be.
“The team’s attitude was very good … the camp was positive,” he said of the past two games. “I’m leaving [the March window] satisfied.”
But what exactly changed for Mexico in 2026? It’s one thing to defeat more manageable opponents like Panama, Bolivia and Iceland earlier in the year, but how were they able to nearly surpass an elite team like Belgium and go toe-to-toe with a World Cup contender like Portugal?
A number of factors can be highlighted here — one interesting trend to watch in 2026 is an increasingly scrappy Mexico that’s winning more duels — but perhaps the most obvious variable in the latest window, and in general this year, is the platform given to alternate players. With injuries impacting several positions, the race for World Cup roster spots has become more open.
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Key internationals such as Edson Álvarez, Rodrigo Huescas, Mateo Chávez, Gilberto Mora and César Huerta are recovering from short-term injuries, and the likes of Luis Ángel Malagón and Marcel Ruiz are out of the picture entirely due to more severe injury setbacks. Undoubtedly, having a 100% healthy roster is the more ideal situation, but this also became a catalyst for others to step up and take charge in their place.
During both March games, backups and newcomers such as Brian Gutiérrez, Erik Lira, Obed Vargas and Álvaro Fidalgo excelled in their starts. Julián Quiñones, someone who has been in and out of Aguirre’s teams, was arguably the best player vs. Belgium. Jorge Sánchez, who could possibly be a No. 3, No. 4 or even No. 5 option at right back if the roster was fully fit, exceeded expectations in his start on Tuesday and opened up the scoresheet with a goal in the 19th minute.
The list goes on, and these players are being driven by not only the opportunity at hand, but also the recognition that the latest international window was essentially the final tryout in front of Aguirre before he selects his squad for the World Cup. When asked after the Belgium result if he felt that he’s assured his place for the major tournament, the Spanish-born Fidalgo laughed in response.
“No, no, no, of course not,” he said. “There are truly big players here. I have to keep doing things right. At my club, I just have to keep playing. I have to keep growing.”
With 71 days until their World Cup opener against South Africa, will El Tri continue growing as well?
That’ll be the big question for Aguirre & Co. as they fine tune their blueprint for what could possibly be a sunny and radiant summer. In the competition that they’ll co-host with the U.S. and Canada, the forecast is nearly always promising for home nations of any World Cup.
Gone are the dark clouds of Mexico’s winter. With some support from reinforcements, they’ve yet to return, for now.
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