🇲🇽 In search of perfection, Mexico eye a group-stage clean sweep

The Mexico National Football Team faces an unprecedented opportunity in its World Cup history. Under Javier Aguirre, the national side’s top priority is to secure a perfect group stage by taking nine points from nine possible.

To date, El Tri has never managed to advance with a perfect record in the first stage of a World Cup. The times it came closest were in the 2002 Korea-Japan and 2018 Russia editions.

In 2002, after winning its first two matches, El Tri drew against Italy. Likewise, on Russian soil, after brilliant wins over Germany and South Korea, the team stumbled painfully against Sweden in the final match of the stage.

Why is winning all three matches important?

To determine the final positions of the eliminated teams (except the semifinalists), FIFA uses a virtual ranking based on the total points earned throughout the tournament.

In the hypothetical case that Mexico falls in the quarterfinals — the long-awaited sixth match under the new format — having a perfect group-stage tally could secure El Tri an unprecedented fifth place overall, ahead of the rest of the eliminated teams.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.