Mexico at Copa America 2024: Mexico without big ambitions in Copa America 2024

Copa America this time is Pan-American, so in addition to Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and others, representatives of CONCACAF, Mexico, the United States of America, Canada, and others will participate in this tournament. This will be the 48th edition of Copa America, where the competition was won fifteen times by Argentina and Uruguay, nine times by Brazil, twice by Paraguay, Chile, and Peru, and once by Bolivia and Colombia. The tournament will be held in 14 cities across the United States of America, and the grand final will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The Copa America 2024 for the Mexican national team will be some preparation for 2026 and the World Cup will be held in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. In Group B besides Mexico, there are Ecuador, Venezuela, and Jamaica. Mexico is certainly the favorite to qualify for the tournament's next stage.

Maybe a little bit surprising, but the manager Jaime Lozano didn’t call up many famous Mexican football stars for this competition. He said that these players will certainly end their careers soon, and won’t be part of the World Cup 2026, so it’s time for fresh legs and young talents. Hirving Lozano, Guillermo Ochoa, and Raul Jimenez were left out of the squad. Edson Alvarez and Santiago Gimenez are some of the youngsters on the team who can make a difference and maybe become leaders of this generation. Mexico never won this competition, its biggest achievements are being runners-up in 1993 and 2001 and 3rd placed team in 1997, 1999, and 2007. Even though Mexico is currently the winner of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Mexico isn’t among the favorites to win this competition or finish in the top 3.

Goalkeepers: 23-Jose Raul Rangel (Chivas), 1-Julio Gonzalez (Pumas), 12-Carlos Acevedo (Santos Laguna).

Defenders: 19-Israel Reyes (America), 2-Jorge Sanchez (Porto), 20-Brian García (Toluca), 3-Cesar Montes (Almería), 5-Johan Vsquez (Genoa), 13-Jesus Orozco (Chivas), 6-Gerardo Arteaga (Rayados), 26-Bryan Gonzalez (Pachuca).

Midfielders: 4-Edson Alvarez (West Ham), 7-Luis Romo (Rayados), 14-Erick Sanchez (Pachuca), 17-Orbelín Pineda (AEK), 25-Roberto Alvarado (Chivas), 24-Luis Chavez (Dynamo Moscu), 8-Carlos Rodríguez (Cruz Azul), 16-Jordi Cortizo (Monterrey).

Forwards: 18-Marcelo Flores (Tigres), 21-Cesar Huerta (Pumas), 9-Julian Quinones (America), 11-Santiago Gimenez (Feyenoord), 10-Alexis Vega (Toluca), 15-Uriel Antuna (Cruz Azul), 22-Guillermo Martínez (Pumas)

In this tournament, the goal of Mexico is to set the structure and lay the basics of this team full of very talented young players, to make a more competitive team for the World Cup 2026. However Mexico is the favorite in Group B, and the main goal of this team is to qualify for the knockout stage. Recent friendly matches showed that this team is far from the best level and a lot of work is ahead of them, so the quarterfinal is the goal everything else is a bonus. I believe that Mexico will dominate in the Group B, and with such young players maybe make some surprise in the knockout stage.