Mexico Win Opening Friendly Against Internacional | OneFootball

Javier Aguirre's Mexico opened its account for 2025 with a win at the Estadio Beira-Rio.

Mexico arranged back-to-back friendlies in South America, preparing for a busy year which involves the CONCACAF Nations League and CONCACAF Gold Cup, ultimately gearing up for next summers FIFA World Cup.

Aguirre chose to field a youthful squad, with only three players aged 29 or older: Jesús Gallardo, José Ramírez, and Guillermo Martínez.

Mexican fans eagerly tuned in to watch the exciting talents of Pumas' Jorge Ruvalcaba, Tijuana's Efraín Álvarez, and Pachuca's 19-year-old star Elías Montiel, all of whom were named in the starting lineup. Additionally, there were spots for 22-year-old Eduardo Águila from San Luis, Club América's Ramón Juárez, and Chivas' young right-back José Castillo.

The first major chance of the match arrived within the opening 20 minutes when Ruvalcaba broke through on goal. However, his first-time strike was well within Anthoni's reach, allowing him to parry it away comfortably.

Ten minutes remaining in the first half, El Trí took the lead when Erik Lira was afforded time and space in the box. He calmly took a touch before lofting his shot into the roof of the net. Jesús Gallardo linked up well with Jorge Ruvalcaba on the left, then delivered a perfectly weighted ball towards Lira, who scored his first international goal.

Mexico doubled the lead moments before the halftime whistle with a blistering move down the left once more. Gallardo lofted a ball over the defence for Ruvalcaba to run onto, beating the Internacional backline for pace, the young Pumas winger was able to curl his effort beyond the on-rushing Internacional goalkeeper.

The second half showed reasons to be excited with Mexico's young stars putting on a solid display. Defensively, Aguila made a number of quality blocks and stops to deny Enner Valencia as Gilberto Mora became the youngster player to ever represent El Trí, coming onto the pitch with five minutes left to replace Martínez.