What's Next for Mexico? Building on the 2025 Concacaf Nations League Success | OneFootball

The Concacaf Nations League is far from being the most prestigious international tournament in world soccer, but for this generation of the Mexico national team, the inability to win it perfectly encapsulated the sporting crisis El Tri have been immersed in since the tournament's inception in 2019-20.

That title drought ended last week. With solid wins over Canada and Panama, Mexico conquered the Concacaf Nations League in what's El Tri's biggest achievement of the decade.

The 2020s for El Tri have been defined by embarrassments and turmoil. Since Mexico's first FIFA World Cup group stage exit in 44 years at the 2022 Qatar World Cup cost Gerardo "Tata" Martino his job, the crisis only worsened. Diego Cocca arrived as manager on the back of two consecutive Liga MX titles with Atlas. Turmoil within the federation and a pitiful defeat against the USMNT in the 2023 Concacaf Nations League semifinals saw Cocca's tenure end after just seven games in charge.

Jaime Lozano, the man who led Mexico's U-23 side to a bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, replaced Cocca in hopes he could usher in a much needed generational change. Lozano's inexperience became evident quickly and another uncompetitive defeat vs. the USMNT in the 2024 Nations League final plus a group stage exit in the 2024 Copa América resulted in El Tri firing a third manager in 20 months.

With less than two years before the 2026 FIFA World Cup Mexico will co-host, the national team was in complete shambles. No longer the region's dominant force, incapable of advancing past the group stage at major tournaments and looking devoid of individual quality. Rock bottom appeared within reach.

The solution? Mexico activating their "break in case of emergency" plan for a third time this century: Javier Aguirre.

Aguirre is known as El Tri's firefighter. His two previous stints in charge came when manager's Enrique Meza and Sven-Göran Eriksson were dismissed in the midst of struggles during the 2002 and 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Twice, El Vasco managed to do two things: extinguish the fire and lead Mexico to their historical ceiling —the FIFA World Cup round of 16. Last week, Mexico's firefighter took the first major step towards achieving part one by winning a tournament where many didn't consider Mexico as the favorites going in.

What's next for Aguirre and El Tri?

What's Next for Mexico? Aguirre Extinguishes the Fire

Raúl Jiménez (left) and Luis Ángel Malagón (right) are very likely going to start for Mexico in the 2026 World Cup. / IMAGO/Agencia-MexSport

Since his appointment in the aftermath of the 2024 Copa América, Aguirre has managed nine games with a record of 6W-2L-1D. Defeating a young and ascending Canada side in the semifinals and finishing the job against Panama to deservedly win the Nations League for the first time should serve as a turning point.

Through nine months, Aguirre has managed to raise El Tri's floor relying on defensive stability and a well-organized structure—core foundations of every team he's managed. El Vasco has been pragmatic, deploying a 4-2-3-1 formation in his early days in charge, a 3-4-2-1 in a must-win Nations League quarterfinals second leg vs. Honduras and an old-fashioned 4-4-2 in the semifinal and final.

Formations and game plans may vary, but in the heart of it all is discipline, toughness, effort and order. Had it not been for Johan Vázquez giving up a clumsy penalty in the final, Mexico would have seven clean sheets in Aguirre's nine game tenure.

Mexico had become an extremely volatile team prior to Aguirre's arrival, a coin-flip of a team, incapable of maintaining the same level of play from game to game or even half to half. A team capable of drawing 2-2 vs. Germany only to follow it up with an 0–2 defeat vs. Honduras a month later.

The last week showed that's no longer the case under Aguirre. He's managed to steady the ship and make Mexico a solid team, that alone allows you to compete in Concacaf. Add a player like Raúl Jiménez who's going through a career renaissance playing at a level above the rest plus a worryingly poor version of the USMNT and that can lead to trophies in the region.

Now that a competitive floor has been set, up next for Aguirre is raising El Tri's ceiling before Mexico kicks-off the opening game of the 2026 FIFA World Cup at the Estadio Azteca.

But is that possible?

What's Next For Mexico? Maximizing Talent and Players Stepping Up

Alexis Vega is one of the best players in Liga MX but must find a way to consistently replicate that form with El Tri. / IMAGO/Agencia-MexSport

After the victory over Panama, Aguirre said he hopes to have "70% or 80%" of the squad he plans to take to the 2026 World Cup during the upcoming 2025 Gold Cup. The vast majority of the players on the 23-man roster called-up to the Nations League Finals will likely be part of the 2026 team.

Is there room for improvement? Yes. Is there room for major improvement? Realistically, not likely.

With a strong defensive foundation and Jiménez looking poised to lead the line in the World Cup, Mexico's biggest areas for improvement are in midfield and the wings. El Tri doesn't have a surplus of talent that allows them to compete against the best national teams in the world. There aren't many, if any, major absentees from the most recent squad that can significantly improve the team for the World Cup.

Aguirre must find a way to maximize the talent he has to work with, but it's also time for players the likes of Alexis Vega, Julián Quiñones, Orbelín Pineda, Charly Rodríguez, Luis Romo and César Huerta to step up and consistently deliver at the level they're capable of. Fringe players like Hirving Lozano and Diego Lainez are in this boat too.

If the plan is to stick with playing to center forwards, then Aguirre and assistant Rafael Márquez also must find a way to maximize the potential of Santiago Giménez. The AC Milan striker has impressed at the club level over the past two years, but his last goal for El Tri came over 900 minutes played ago in the 2023 Gold Cup final. Re-establishing his confidence and helping him find his club form with the national team is a key task before the summer of 2026.

Expectations for this team don't change much following the Nations League triumph. Considering the expanded World Cup field plus playing the group stage at home, returning to the round of 16 is Mexico's obligation. But is this team ready to be among the top eight national teams in the world come 2026? No, but they should be able to be competitive against any team, and that's what the players, Aguirre and co. must find a way to do.

Winning the Nations League should serve as the moment in time where El Tri finally left behind the worst sporting crisis in national team history. It's now time to build on that and squeeze the maximum potential of the team to confirm that ascending trajectory in the 2026 FIFA World Cup by returning to Mexico's historical ceiling. Anything less than that is a failure, anything more than that is gravy.