The history of soccer in Mexico doesn’t have the same starting point as in many other Central and South American countries such as Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, to name some of the most important in the area. However, the passion for soccer in Mexico started to bloom a few years prior to the first World Cup in 1930, with a professional championship being formed and the first national selection in the history of Mexican soccer history occurring in 1927.
The first ever international match in the history of soccer in Mexico was played on January the 1st, 1927, against Guatemala on their home ground.
The Mexican team won 3-2 and it looked it would have a bright start. Unfortunately, this hope proved without a foundation, as Mexico had one of the poorest World Cups in the entire Mexican soccer history in 1930, finishing last in the group stage, with nothing but defeats.
Unfortunately, after the 1930 World Cup, a very poor period emerged in the history of Mexican soccer, on both local and international levels.
The Mexican league, despite being professionalized by now, was still suffering from corruption, match fixing and lack of training conditions and that state of things translated into a poor performance by the national team as well.
Participating in 5 World Cups before 1970, Mexican soccer history recorded a single win in these tournaments, with the Central American team beating Czechoslovakia 3-1 in 1962. But despite this darker period, Mexican soccer witnessed a slow ascendance, with better conditions for youngsters and professional soccer players and with a revived passion for the game.
With more and more investments in soccer and with the rise of a few powerful clubs in Mexico, several state-of-the-art stadiums were built, which could also host the Mexican national soccer team’s matches. This made FIFA consider Mexico for hosting a World Cup and this highly anticipated moment occurred in 1970.
The year 1970 is viewed as one of the most important in the history of Mexican soccer. Not only did Mexico managed to pull off a good organization of the World Cup they hosted, but their national team also managed its best performance so far, reaching the quarter finals of the competition.
The Mexican National Soccer Team
Mexican Soccer League
Mexican Soccer Jerseys
Mexican Soccer
August 12th, 2009
World Cup qualifying match as the U.S. National Men’s soccer team fell to Mexico 2-1 in Mexico City.
The importance of the 1970 World Cup is not necessarily given by the fact that they managed to reach the quarter finals (which, otherwise is not such a great performance, let’s be honest). Its biggest plus is that it created a popularity boom for the game throughout Mexico and ever since that moment, we can truly say that soccer is the most important sport in the Central American country.
Following this successful World Cup, FIFA would allow Mexico to host yet another World Cup, in 1986. By now, the Mexican soccer culture was already well defined and their national team looked sharper than ever. After the group stage of the tournament, where Mexico managed to come in first place, many thought they stand a solid chance on winning the trophy for the first time in the Mexican soccer history.
Although confirming the trust of their fans with a strong performance that ended with a 2-0 win over Bulgaria in the Round of 16, Mexico was stopped yet again in the quarter finals, this time by West Germany, who won the match after a dramatic penalty kick out.
Despite not having great success in what regards international trophies, soccer in Mexico is steadily rising and with soccer players such as Luis Garcia or Rafa Marquez playing at the highest possible level, this long awaited success looks closer than ever.
Millions of soccer fans live and breathe green, white, and red, the colors of The Mexican National Team (MNT), or El Tricolor to its adoring fans. With a rich legacy of soccer excellence, excitement, and legendary players, such as Luis Roberto Alves ‘Zague’, El Tricolor is synonymous with the passion of soccer to its many fans.
Soccer is a very popular sport in the United Mexican States. The history of Mexico soccer team dates back to the year 1927. The Mexican Soccer Federation is the regulatory body of all Mexican soccer events. Mexico soccer calendar offers the details of all of soccer events that take place throughout the year.
The Mexican Soccer League has gained substantial popularity over the passage of time. Since the year 1930 the Mexican national soccer team has become an active participant of the soccer world cup. It has also qualified twice for the world cup quarterfinals in the year 1970 and 1986.
The Mexican national soccer team has also performed well in many other international soccer events like CONCACAF champions, Pan American Champions and NAFC champions. The natives popularly call the team as El Tricolor.
The Mexican national soccer team jersey features a beautiful combination of teal, red and white. The soccer jersey is available in all soccer stores of the Mexican territory. Mexican line out jersey, Xara International Rec, Mexico Sweatshirt, Mexico Map T-shirt, Mexico Federation YOUTH T-Shirt, Mexico Marquez 4 SS T-shirt are some of the best selling varieties of Mexican soccer jersey.
The soccer lovers in Mexico prefer to create Mexican wave while watching the game. The jam-packed stadium with fans doing waves, make the Mexican soccer events much more enjoyable.
The Mexican national soccer team is under the Fédéracion Mexicana de Futbol Asociacion, A.C. (FEMEXFUT). The FEMEXFUT is the official governing body of the sport soccer in Mexico.
The Mexican national soccer team is also know as the “El Tricolor” and it is also one of the top soccer teams (playing under Group D along with Iran, Angola and Portugal) in the recently concluded FIFA World Cup 2006 that was held in Germany.
The Mexican national soccer team is under the CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American Caribbean Association Football). CONCACAF is the governing body of football associations in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
The Mexican national soccer team is currently leading in the number of most Gold Cup wins in CONCACAF. The Mexican national soccer team is also the leader in the overall number of CONCACAF wins.
They were not able to claim a slot in the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament. They were knocked out by the Columbian national soccer team.
Even though they were not able to secure a place in the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament, the Mexican national soccer team has been included the Word Cup for numerous times.
In the qualifying round the Mexican team defeated Costa Rica and then two months later defeated the U.S. soccer team. The Mexican national soccer team defeated the Iranian soccer team 3-1 in the opening game of the World Cup.
The Mexican team was then tied against Angola in a 0-0 score. However, Portugal knockout the Mexican soccer team in a heartbreaking 2-1 score, for a slot as a qualifier in the FIFA World Cup Semi Finals.
The Mexican national soccer team participated in the first World Cup in 1930 but was not able to participate until 1950. Since then, it has qualified six successive World Cups and hosted the 1970 FIFA World Cup.
Even before the Mexican national soccer team had made an impression in the World Cup series, it was compared to South American and European soccer teams.
The Mexican national soccer team only had one victory out of the five World Cup tournaments that they participated since then.
Mexico professed that they have the best league in soccer outside Europe, outplaying the Brazilian soccer club and Argentinian soccer club, because most of the South American soccer players tend to play in other countries rather than their own.
The Mexican national soccer team was the only team in to ever have a player participating in five consecutive World Cup tournaments.
That Mexican national soccer team player was their goalkeeper named “Antonio Carbajal” who became a legend in the international soccer game.
At present there are a lot of the Mexican national soccer players who want to prove their worth in the international world of soccer. Who can ever tell? Maybe the next soccer superstar will be a Mexican.
Final. 2-1 Mexico. Hats off to el Tricolor, who have put themselves a point behind the U.S. in qualifying, not sure we’ve ever seen the U.S. play such a defensive game, as the ball literally seemed to be in their end for 85 percent of the game.
12:30 p.m. ET: The U.S. national soccer team takes on arch rival Mexico in Mexico City today in a qualifying match for next year’s World Cup tournament.
Mexico has more to lose here than the visitors, and the pressure will be on the home side. The U.S. sits second in the Concacaf region (covering North and Central America and the Caribbean) behind leaders Costa Rica, and has some winnable games coming up that should ensure an easy ticket to South Africa.
Mexico, meanwhile, sits fourth and a loss would seriously damage its prospects. Only the top three teams qualify, while the fourth must head to a playoff with the fifth place finisher in South America–not an easy task.
For the U.S., however, winning is easier said than done. A long history of futility south of the border will loom almost as large as the concrete facade of the venue, towering Azteca stadium.
Most of those losses have come at the cavernous Azteca. Anyone who has been to the Azteca can tell you that the sight of 105,000 flag-waving, horn-blowing Mexicans during a national game is an awesome spectacle. It is one of the most intimidating stadiums in all of soccer. It also happens to sit more than 7,300 feet above sea level, which makes the ball travel further and saps visiting players of oxygen.
The U.S. team believes it has a real chance to change that history today. Coming off a successful run at the Confederations Cup, the U.S. team is ranked 12th in the world by FIFA, while the Mexicans have sagged to 30th.
In the last 40 years of World Cup competition, Mexico has only failed to qualify twice, in 1974 and 1982 (in 1990, it was disqualified for having older players in the youth team). If that happens, it would be a national tragedy in Mexico.
It would be a loss for soccer fans, too. I’ve been to three World Cups, and in my experience, there are three national teams whose fans are loved by nearly all supporters from other nations: Brazil, Scotland and Mexico.
Still, Mexico goes into today as a favorite and will likely join the U.S. next year in South Africa. As the underdog, the U.S. is likely to go for a counter-attacking style that paid dividends against Spain and Brazil in the Confederations Cup. Can they do it again? –Luhnow
The 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the tenth edition of the Gold Cup competition, and the twentieth association football championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was contested from July 3rd through July 26th, 2009 in the United States. This competition was the fourth tournament without guests from other confederations. Mexico won their fifth Gold Cup, and eighth CONCACAF Championship overall, after beating the United States 5–0 in the final.
