Team Profile

As Mexico enters the Concacaf Gold Cup for the 17th time, it will hope to once again lift the cup and add a record ninth trophy to its case.

Mexico’s overall record in Gold Cup play is a sparkling 57W-12-D-10L, with a whopping 180 goals scored and just 47 conceded. No nation has scored more Gold Cup goals than Mexico.

Manager Jaime Lozano’s side will have to do it without MF Andres Guardado, who recently retired for international play. He is El Tricolor’s most-capped player in the tournament (24) and his dozen Gold Cup goals ties him with Luis Roberto “Zague” Alves.

But the team still will have plenty of experience, with GK Guillermo Ochoa set to add to his 19 appearances in the tournament, as he looks to backstop a Mexico team that finished runner-up in the 2021 edition.

Other veterans of Mexico’s 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign will join Ochoa, with MF Edson Alvarez, DF Cesar Montes and FW Orbelin Pineda, who scored three goals in the 2021 Gold Cup among the star names Lozano is calling upon.

There also are some new faces in the team. After a standout season helping Feyenoord to the Eredivisie title, FW Santiago Gimenez is set to make his Gold Cup debut, as is DF Julian Araujo, who will join up with FC Barcelona’s first team after the tournament.

Lozano will need to blend in these new players with those who already have chemistry from previous Gold Cup and Concacaf Nations League campaigns and also find quality replacements for Guardado, and the injured Hirving Lozano, but Mexico fans are confident he’ll be able to find the right balance and push the team to another Gold Cup championship.