Will Mexico ever become a dominant footballing nation?
Mexico has always been a team who underperforms in the World Cup. Every four years there is hopeful talk that Mexico will have a good World Cup run, but every tournament El Tri does not seem to live up to expectations. After a 3-0 defeat to Uruguay, it seems like this trend will continue in the 2022 World Cup. While it was just a friendly match, it still perfectly showcases Mexico’s lack of ability to become an elite team in world soccer.
Soccer is by far the most popular sport in Mexico and Mexico is one of the most populous nations in the world. Usually this translates to success. Take populous nations like Brazil, Argentina, and Germany for example, who are some of the most decorated national teams in history. There are also countries with small populations and successful national teams like Uruguay or Croatia. There are also countries like Russia, the United States, China, etc. who have high populations and aren’t very good at soccer, but this comes down to the fact that soccer is not the most popular sport in any of these countries. However Mexico falls into a category of its own. As a nation with a very large population and with soccer as the most popular sport by quite some distance, there really is no comparison for Mexico when it comes to soccer.
Mexico is one of the largest footballing nations in the world. However, for Mexico, this does not translate to being a successful footballing nation. The farthest Mexico has been in a World Cup is only the quarter finals, and the last time Mexico made a World Cup quarter final was 1986. Since then their World Cups have consisted of Round of 16 and Group Stage exits. The only success Mexico has seen has been at the Gold Cup, winning a record 11 tournaments. While this is something, it is not very impressive as their only real competition is the United States. This dominance in the Gold Cup is also decreasing as the United States is becoming better and better and will undoubtedly surpass Mexico, unless something changes for Mexico.
So what needs to change for Mexico to become more successful on a global scale? There are two main problems that I see as reasons why Mexico is not a global force in soccer.
Problem #1: Liga MX
Liga MX is Mexico’s domestic league. It is by no means a bad league, however, the main problem here is that Liga MX prioritizes profit over player development. Rather than letting young Mexican players rise through the ranks into the first team, clubs in Liga MX bring in foreign talent from South America and young Mexicans are not given the opportunity to shine. This forces the Mexican players to get their chances later in their careers and is one of the reasons we don’t see many young Mexican stars in the top European leagues. This brings me to problem number 2.
Problem #2: The lack of Mexican players in Europe's Top Leagues
When looking at Mexico’s first team, several of them play in Europe, but not enough, and definitely not enough when compared to teams like Brazil and Argentina, who the likes of Mexico are striving to become in world soccer. Look at any successful international team and the majority of players will be playing in elite European leagues. If Mexico wants to become a more successful team they need to send more players abroad at younger ages. This starts with solving problem #1 and giving their youth a chance to be seen at a young age, so these European clubs begin signing Mexican players at younger ages.
While these aren’t the only problems, nor the only solutions, it is still a starting point for Mexican soccer. If Mexico wants to close the gap between themselves and other elite footballing countries they need to start investing in their youth, which will allow them to play at the highest level in Europe at a young age.
