Teams
Mexico are hosts of their third FIFA World Cup, but whilst they were solo-hosts in 1970 and 1986, this time around, they are sharing that honour with Canada and USA. Between 1994 and 2018, Mexico were eliminated at the Round of 16 stage in each of those 7 tournaments, but last time round in Qatar, they failed to get out of the Group Stages for the first time since 1978. Though they have only played friendly matches in the last 12 months, they did manage to win the Gold Cup in July 2025 after defeating USA in the final and are also reigning CONCACAF Nations League champions where they defeated Panama four months earlier. Mexico’s best performances in the tournament, where they reached the quarter final stage, came in the two other tournaments they hosted.
27 year old Vasquez currently plies his trade at Italian Serie A side Genoa, where his leadership skills will be vital to ensuring Mexico can make it far on their home turf. He has been almost ever-present in the Mexico international set up for many years. He was named in the ‘Best XI’ awards for the Gold Cup and the Nations League last year.
