Four Takeaways From Worrying, Winless Start to Rafa Marquez Era With Mexico

El Tri failed to win any of its four games this window and endured two shocking defeats.

Rafa Márquez had little to smile about in his first four games as Mexico manager. | Robin Alam/ISI Photos/Getty Images

The Rafael Márquez era as Mexico national team manager got off to a worrying start, with El Tri managing just two draws to go alongside two defeats during the September-October international window.

Spirits were sky-high entering the international window following Mexico’s strong 2026 World Cup performance. Even after a draw against Colombia in Márquez’s debut where El Tri outplayed the South Americans for long stretches, fan support and overall confidence remained unharmed given there was reason to believe the team was building from the foundation it laid this summer.

Thing quickly unraveled after that, though. An unconvincing draw against Peru was followed by an embarrassing defeat against the arch-rival USMNT. Instead of responding after this dreadful setback, El Tri dropped its final game of the window against an inferior Chile side.

The positive momentum harnessed during the World Cup disappeared in just two weeks. Only four games into his tenure, Márquez and his entire squad are under fire. It’s still early, but it’s been far from an ideal start to a new era for Mexico.

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Time to Return to Reality After Dream World Cup

Mexico lost for the first time against Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT. | Chris Coduto/Getty Images

It’s not that some of the shine from Mexico’s fairytale 2026 World Cup campaign wore off, but it became clear that El Tri’s brilliant form during the tournament—in which it pushed a team of England’s caliber to the absolute limit—was the exception rather than the norm. Over the past two weeks, Mexico experienced a drastic reality check.

Let’s not forget, Mexico entered 2026 immersed in a six-game winless streak that spanned the last six months of 2025, almost limping toward the World Cup. Results to start the summer were good, but it wasn’t until the second half of the final group stage match against Czechia that former manager Javier Aguirre finally struck the right chord, which allowed Mexico to perform at its best.

Aguirre found his best XI at the perfect time as the knockout rounds started and, fueled by unprecedented levels of support and the intimidating Estadio Azteca, Mexico played two of its best games in World Cup history against England and especially Ecuador in the round of 32.

Throughout history, Mexico has shown it’s capable of raising its level depending on the stage. It required a playoff win against New Zealand to qualify to the 2014 World Cup after a dreadful qualifier campaign, but then it drew against host nation Brazil and was five minutes away from besting the Netherlands in the round of 16.

It’s the process between big tournaments when Mexico and its managers often suffer the most, and Márquez already is no different. In four games, any notion of El Tri sustaining the level it showed over the summer disappeared. It’s time to build back up.

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Doubts Over Player Profiling, Overall Depth

Orbelín Pineda (right) struggled as a winger against the USMNT. | Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

Outside of the home-field advantage, it also quickly became clear that Mexico’s summer success came in large part thanks to a clear-cut best starting lineup Aguirre discovered on the fly. Take away a couple of pieces, and El Tri’s lack of depth and talent deficiencies become glaring.

Mexico’s talent pool is simply not deep enough. Against Colombia, with seven players who started both World Cup knockout games, Mexico played its best minutes of the fall. Márquez deployed an entirely different lineup againt Peru three days later and El Tri could only muster a draw against a vastly inferior team.

Ultimately, results obtained during Márquez’s first four friendly matches in charge were never that important. How El Tri’s entire operation on the pitch looked under him and how he profiled the players at his disposal were the most important things to evaluate as his tenure started. This is perhaps the most worrying part.

#VocesTricolor after our game in LA. 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/0bStF5bgnE

— Mexican National Team (@miseleccionmxEN) October 7, 2026

Outside of 50–60 minutes against Colombia and the opening 25 minutes against the USMNT in which the team performed similar to its World Cup version, Mexico was borderline unwatchable the rest of the window. One of the main reasons? Márquez misprofiling his players.

Orbelín Pineda has been one of the best organizing midfielders in Liga MX this season, yet Márquez almost exclusively used him as a touchline winger and he suffered. Álvaro Fidalgo won three Liga MX titles as Club América’s version of Pedri, yet Márquez insists on mostly using him as a No. 10. Fresh faces such as Jeremy Márquez, Santiago Sandoval, and even Inter Miami’s Germán Berterame operated away from the positions where they’re at their best for significant periods.

Without quality depth, it’s essential for Márquez to maximize the talent at his disposal, not compromise it by misplacing it on the pitch.

Overall, though, El Tri’s stellar World Cup version sustained itself thanks to an XI that, without a couple of key players, could collapse like a house of cards. That became abundantly clear at one position in particular.

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Life After Raúl Jiménez Will Be Very Difficult

Mexico missed Raúl Jiménez dearly. | Luke Hales/Getty Images

Take away 35-year-old Raúl Jiménez and Mexico has a major problem at center forward. The Wolverhampton Wanderers frontman missed the start of Márquez’s era through injury and El Tri scored only two goals in four games. The first was a brilliant solo effort from 17-year-old Gilberto Mora and the second came thanks to a center back winning an aerial duel at a set-piece.

Armando González, Santiago Giménez and Berterame all had a chance to impress Márquez and did the exact opposite. It’s true that Mexico, especially without Mora, struggles to create chances, but the trio of strikers didn’t convert the few they had and otherwise struggled significantly in every other aspect of the game.

Jiménez is a complete striker, a brilliant outlet up top that enjoys linking up with other forwards and midfielders. No other Mexican striker has those traits. Gimenez was perhaps the best at replicating that style during his start against the USMNT, but he also wasted by far the two best chances any El Tri center forward had this window.

Since the start of the 2025 Gold Cup, the trio of strikers has collected four goals in 40 combined appearances for El Tri, none of them coming in official competition. Jiménez scored three goals in the 2026 World Cup alone.

What’s perhaps more concerning is that Márquez has no other options. These are Mexico’s current best alternatives without Jiménez, and there aren’t any young center forwards knocking on the door either.

Jiménez will be 39 come the 2030 World Cup, it’s hard to envision him leading El Tri’s line in four years time. The big problem is that there’s currently no player in Mexico’s landscape capable of coming even close to what he offers and, most importantly, produces.

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Too Early to Panic

Rafa Márquez needs more time. | Chris Coduto/Getty Images

There’s no other way around it, the Márquez era got off to an incredibly dissapointing start. Overreacting to it, though, would be a huge mistake.

These were Márquez’s first four games not only at the helm of Mexico, but the first of his senior managerial career. He was also missing key players such as Jiménez, Julián Quiñones, César Montes and Mora—the latter didn’t play the last three games of the window.

Growing pains were expected with a rookie manager and patience was always going to be required. Yes, there were concerning signs, but it’s also a valuable learning experience for Márquez. How he responds from his own failures will be telling.

Mexico will face Jamaica in the two-legged Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals in November. In the first official games of his tenure, Márquez is obligated to collect the first wins of his senior managerial career against an inferior foe to keep El Tri’s title defense intact.

He has a month to prepare and he should continue to get full support during this period. It’s easy to envision Mexico cruising past Jamaica, getting a confidence boost and restoring positive momentum as 2026 comes to an end.

Defeat against Jamaica, though, could have drastic consequences for Márquez based on Mexico’s recent history with managers.

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