The Search for Answers: Mexico’s Final Test Before 2026 Begins Now

In the final national team roster of the year, “El Tri” head coach Javier Aguirre has turned to young talent to fill the gaps left by injuries, opening the door for new faces to impress—while also regaining valuable leadership with the return of Raúl Jiménez and Edson Álvarez.

Mexico -- Who’s in and who’s out:

IN:

Goalkeepers:

o Luis Angel Malagon – Club America

o Raul Rangel -- Chivas

o Carlos Acevedo – Santos Laguna

Defenders:

o Kevin Alvarez — Club America

o Israel Reyes — Club America

o Cesar Montes – Lokomotiv Moscow

o Edson Álvarez – Fenerbahçe

o Johan Vazquez -- Genoa

o Jesus Orozco – Cruz Azul

o Jesus Gallardo – Toluca

o Mateo Chavez – AZ Alkmaar

Midfielders:

o Fidel Ambriz – Monterrey

o Erik Lira – Cruz Azul

o Gilberto Mora – Club Tijuana

o Erick Sanchez – Club America

o Obed Vargas – Seattle Sounders

o Marcel Ruiz – Toluca

Forwards:

o Alexis Gutierrez – Club America

o Roberto Alvarado – Chivas

o Diego Lainez – Tigres

o Jorge Rulvalcaba – Pumas

o Hirving Lozano – San Diego FC

o Raul Jiménez – Fulham

o German Berterame – Monterrey

o Armando Gonzalez – Chivas

OUT:

Santiago Gimenez – Ankle injury, out for about five weeks

Julian Quiniones – Muscle injury, expected to be out three weeks

Alexis Vega – Hamstring injury, expected to return late November 2025

Rodrigo Huescas – Knee injury, out for the season

Luis Chavez – Torn ACL, out for the season

Cesar Huerta – physical discomfort

Others left out for this window:

A couple of names that would usually be expected in the call-ups that were left out this time around are: Carlos “Charly” Rodriguez, Jorge Sanchez, and Luis Romo.

Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa who has for a long time been an unquestionable call-up for the Mexican National Team was left out this time around as well. In fact, Memo hasn’t been on the roster since this past summer when Mexico competed and won the CONCACAF Gold Cup, in which Memo never actually got any playing time. Memo hasn’t actually played a match for “El Tri” in almost a year during the knockout stage of the 2024 CONCACAF Nations League.

Young Talent Ready to Rise to the Occasion:

17-year-old Gilberto Mora is in the call-up after there being questions about him being able to be ready to play, since he had hand surgery to fix a fracture in one of his fingers. Mora rose to prominence at the U-20 FIFA World Cup, after scoring three goals and making two assists for Mexico at the tournament before getting eliminated by Argentina in the quarterfinals. Mora has become a big part of his club team as well, as he currently has five goals and one assist across all competitions. Aside from his talent Mora has begun to instill hope in the hearts of many, he has shown his skill and discipline on the field, but it’s his humble character off the field is what is impressing fans as well.

Alaskan-Born Obed Vargas from the Seattle Sounders is among one of the newer faces on the Mexican National Team. Vargas also represented Mexico in the U-20 FIFA World Cup, but he is currently standing out in MLS. Though some may think Vargas is a surprising call-up to El Tri, he is doing very well for himself with the Seattle Sounders, in this season he’s played 29 matches and has scored six goals across all competitions, two of those being in MLS playoffs. His contributions to the Sounders have earned him the #1 spot on the MLS 22 under 22 list.

Armando Gonzalez, better known as “Hormiga”, has quickly become what people believe to be Chivas’ new prodigal son. Chivas started off the season struggling have a genuine attacker in the final third, some thought it would be Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez who would bring Chivas back into direct qualification to the playoffs, or Alan Pulido, or maybe even Cade Cowell. But no, it was “Hormiga” Gonzalez who emerged as the leading goal scorer for Chivas, and even

ended the regular season in a three-way tie for leading goal scorer of the Apertura with 12 goals.

Uruguay -- Who’s in and Who’s out:

IN:

Goalkeepers:

o Santiago Mele

o Cristopher Fiermarin

Defenders:

o Nahitan Nandez

o Jose Luis Rodriguez

o Guillermo Varela

o Sebastian Caceres

o Ronald Araujo

o Jose Maria Gimenez

o Santiago Bueno

o Santiago Homenchenko

o Matias Vina

o Mathias Olivera

o Joaquin Piquerez

o Juan Sanabria

o Maximiliano Araujo

Midfielders:

o Manuel Ugarte

o Emiliano Martinez

o Rodrigo Bentancur

o Rodrigo Zalazar

o Giorgian De Arrascaeta

Forwards:

o Brian Rodriguez

o Facundo Torres

o Facundo Pellistri

o Ignacio Laquintana

o Luciano Rodriguez

o Rodrigo Aguirre

o Federico Vinas

OUT:

Federico Valverde – Hamstring injury, expected to be out for two weeks

Darwin Nunez – Knee injury, out until Mid-December 2025

Head-to-Head

The series between Mexico and Uruguay is fairly one sided. The two teams haven’t faced each other much in recent years. In fact, they’ve only faced off in six matches in the last 15 years.

Three of which were in friendlies, two were in Copa America, and one in the FIFA World Cup. Across their previous meetings, Uruguay has dominated the matchup with five wins, while Mexico has just one, and the two sides have yet to record a draw.

Paraguay – Who’s In and Who’s Out:

IN:

Goalkeepers:

o Roberto Fernandez

o Orlando Gill

o Aldo Perez

Defenders:

o Gustavo Gomez

o Omar Alderete

o Junior Alonso

o Gustavo Velazquez

o Alexis Duarte

o Juan Caceres

o Agustin Sandez

o Alan Benitez

o Blas Riveros

Midfielders:

o Matias Galarza

o Andres Cubas

o Lucas Romero

o Braian Ojeda

o Damian Bobadilla

o Diego Gomez

o Diego Leon

o Hugo Cuenca

o Alejandro “Kaku” Romero

Forwards:

o Miguel Almiron

o Diego Gonzalez

o Ramon Sosa

o Ronaldo Martinez

o Julio Enciso

o Antonio Sanabria

OUT:

Omar Alderete – Concussion (sustained on Oct 22,2025, and is expected to return

late November 2025, doubtful if he plays in this window)

Antonio Sanabria – Calf injury on Oct 30, 2025 (doubtful)

Head-to-Head:

Meetings between Mexico and Paraguay have been relatively scarce, with just five matchups in the last 14 years – all of them friendlies rather than official tournament play. In that span, Mexico has dominated the series, winning four of the five encounters. In their most recent match which was in Atlanta, Georgia in 2022, Paraguay secured their first win against “El Tri” with a goal from Derlis Gonzalez.

Match Preview:

Mexico will play their first match of the November FIFA Window vs Uruguay at the Estadio Corona in Torreón, Mexico on Saturday, November 15, 2025, at 8PM EST. This match will be an important trial for Mexico as they prepare their roster moving closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026. There is, however, a unique dilemma of having many players who are club teammates on both sides. Club America from Mexico is the club team for five of the El Tri players and three of the Uruguayan nationals.

Club America Players:

o Mexico:

Luis Angel Malagon

Kevin Alvarez

Israel Reyes

Erick Sanchez

Alexis Gutierrez

o Uruguay:

Brian Rodriguez

Sebastian Caceres

Rodrigo Aguirre

It should be noted that although Mexico won the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2025, they have not had a win since then. In the recent FIFA windows, they went up against Switzerland, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Colombia, and Ecuador and of those matches only managed to win one of them (vs Turkey before the Gold Cup).

Mexico in the last three FIFA Windows:

In contrast, Uruguay is unbeaten in their last six matches and have secured their spot in the FIFA World Cup 2026. Uruguay have shown that they are a force to be reckoned with since last year. They managed to take the third-place spot in the Copa America Tournament, having defeated teams like: Panama, Bolivia, United States, Brazil, and Canada.

Mexico will then take on Paraguay just three days later on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas at 7:30 PM EST. Paraguay has been doing relatively well as of late. The Albirroja has managed to make their way back to the FIFA World Cup after missing the last three editions of the tournament.

The last time Paraguay qualified for a World Cup was in 2010 when it was held in South Africa. Paraguay made it all the way to the quarterfinals, but eventually got eliminated by Spain, who would ultimately go on to win the tournament. In the

last three FIFA windows Paraguay has gone up against Uruguay, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Japan, and South Korea.

Predictions:

All-in-All I hope that the matches that Mexico will play in this FIFA Window will give the team and its fans a clearer vision of what the squad needs to look like. Whether Mexico wins or loses both games there needs to be a more obvious discussion of what they are doing wrong. The opponents that they will be facing are good competition and will be good indicators of where the team is lacking. There is a good bit of positions on the roster that aren’t set in stone yet, and there

are many players waiting for their chance to prove themselves.

As a Mexican National team fan, the biggest question should be who is taking Memo Ochoa’s spot in goal. At some point, whether we want to admit it or not he is going to retire, and who will take his throne that he’s had for some time now is still yet to be discovered. For the past year or so it was evident that Luis Angel Malagon would be his successor, but he’s recently been struggling to keep his sharpness and form, while still arguably being the best choice.

One name who is coming to start in the match vs Uruguay is Carlos Acevedo. According to ESPN Deportes, Aguirre’s starting goalkeeper in Torreón will be the man who plays for Santos Laguna. Carlos Acevedo will have the privilege of starting for the national team in front of his home crowd.

Another position to keep an eye on during these matches is the right back position. Although it seemed that rising talent Julian Araujo would be locked in for this position, having gotten multiple call-ups in 2022-2023, he’s only gotten called up three times in the last two years. Kevin Alvarez has been called up for this window and will likely fill that position, as he also been in and out of the call-ups. It will be interesting to see if he shines during these matches like he once

did before, and if he impresses enough to make it to his second World Cup.

My official predictions:

1st match:

o Mexico: 1

o Uruguay: 1

2nd match:

o Mexico: 2

o Paraguay: 1

The draw vs Uruguay would make sense to me because Mexico has been in my opinion more compact out of possession lately, focusing on reducing transition gaps. Against a team like Uruguay – who thrive on quick counters and vertical play—the structure will help keep the game tight.

Although I believe Paraguay is starting to build more momentum and fast, I think Mexico get the upper hand in this match despite them missing a lot of key players. I do think that Mexico has a lot of depth especially in the attacking midfield and winger positions, so I’m relying on the fact that they can really benefit from second half substitutions to keep the tempo high and take the

win. This scoreline however could honestly be flipped, because Paraguay is a hard team to break down defensively as well, Mexico just needs to make sure they can afford to take risks to try and score from open play.