‘We’re on the right track' - Mexico manager Javier Aguirre encouraged after El Tri's draws against South Korea and Japan

Mexico wrapped up their September friendlies with back-to-back draws - a scoreless match against Japan and a thrilling 2-2 tie with South Korea in Nashville. Despite the lack of wins, head coach Javier Aguirre insisted that El Tri is on the right path and already has a core group to build around for the 2026 World Cup.

Aguirre made eight changes to his starting XI for Tuesday’s match against South Korea compared to the Japan clash, but he defended his decision to keep rotating players in order to test options before narrowing down the final list.

“I can’t say whether we’re close or far from where we want to be for the World Cup, but after a year, we’ve established a base, we’re on the right track,” Aguirre explained. “Good, bad, or average football - that’s for you to judge. My job is to train, to find players for the World Cup, and to give them a clear football identity. We’ve used around 35 players so far, and we’re still searching.”

Santiago Giménez, who struck in stoppage time to secure the draw, was upbeat about both his goal and the team’s fightback. 

“In this game, we never gave up. Every one of my teammates gave their all, and I think we deserved the win. It didn’t come, but we earned a last-minute draw for all the fans who supported us....We had two very good matches," he said. 

Veteran striker Raúl Jiménez also highlighted the positives but admitted the team has plenty to improve. 

“I think we took good things from both games, but of course, there’s still work to do. That’s football - no game is easy. We’ll keep preparing for what really matters, which is a year from now," he said. 

Jiménez has reached 43 goals with the Mexican national team, moving just three shy of tying Jared Borgetti (46) as El Tri’s second all-time leading scorer. Javier Hernández tops the chart with 52 goals.