Road to 2026 World Cup: Mexico’s Four Best Players of the Week—Ranked

Two prolific El Tri attackers continued their stellar start of 2026 this weekend.

Raúl Jiménez was unstoppable at the Stadium of Light. | Mark Fletcher/MI News/NurPhoto/Getty Images

With the opening game of the World Cup less than four months away, a number of Mexican talents were in action over the past week, and four players in particular stole the show, peaking at seemingly the perfect time.

Mexico will play its third international friendly of 2026 against Iceland in a matter of days, with Javier Aguirre building a roster entirely of Liga MX players, some of which starred at the weekend.

However, for the first time all year, it’s players overseas who dominate this list. In a relatively quiet weekend for Mexican stars in Liga MX, El Tri standouts competing outside the nation’s borders stepped up, especially two attackers that have had devastating starts of the year in front of goal.

Here’s Sports Illustrated’s ranking the top four performances of the past week from Mexico World Cup hopefuls, as the tournament begins to loom large in the horizon.

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4. Mateo Chávez (AZ Alkmaar)

Mateo Chávez is hitting his stride in the Eredivise. | Jeroen van den Berg/Soccrates/Getty Images

It took a little while for young Mateo Chávez to find his footing upon joining AZ Alkmaar, but the left back has only seen his minutes increase as the season’s gone on, and on Sunday, he collected his second European goal contribution.

Chávez was key to unlocking his side’s victory over Sparta Rotterdam. The Chivas academy graduate assisted Sven Mijnans’s opener with a perfectly placed weak-foot cross between defenders and into the path of his oncoming teammate.

Defensive fragility has always been considered the biggest weakness in the 21-year-old’s game, but he has grown leaps and bound in this department since migrating to Europe. On Sunday, he had double-digit defensive contributions, had three recoveries and made six tackles without committing a single foul.

The talented young left back might only be scratching the surface of his full potential, but he seems to be a lock for the World Cup roster, backing up Jesús Gallardo.

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3. Carlos Rodríguez (Cruz Azul)

Carlos Rodríguez (right) scored the goal of the weekend in Liga MX. | Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images

Cruz Azul spoiled Chivas’ perfect Clausura 2026 record in the biggest game of the week in Liga MX, and it was Carlos Rodríguez, the heavily questioned Mexico international, who scored the match winner.

Rodríguez has blossomed over the past year into one of the best midfielders in all of Liga MX. Against Chivas, he once again pulled the strings of Cruz Azul’s prodigious midfield. Not content with once again assuming the role of lead creator, the diminutive midfielder rose above the rest, scoring a header from a corner in the 85th minute to give La Máquina all three points.

Aside from his match-winner, Rodriguez continues to operate with a cleverness and feel for the game uncanny for a Mexican talent. Cruz Azul’s game flows through the 29-year-old, who was one of the best players on the pitch against the best team in Mexican soccer since the start of the year.

Rodríguez’s inability to translate his club form to the national team has turned into the major stain of his career. He might face a difficult challenge to change his international perception, but the reality is that based on pure form, him being absent from Mexico’s 2026 World Cup roster would be hard to justify.

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2. Julián Quiñones (Al Qadsiah)

High profile players have made their way to the Saudi Pro League in bunches in recent years. Still, you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody in the league in better form than Mexico’s Julián Quiñones.

Quiñones scored his second hat trick of 2026 in Al Qadsiah’s 4–2 victory against Al Akhdoud. The six-time Liga MX champion continued his devastating form in front of goal with three clinical finishes—however easy they were.

No player has more non-penalty goals in the Saudi Pro League this season than Quiñones’s 20, and his 21 total goals trail only Ivan Tony‘s 23 in the Golden Boot race, currently one goal clear of Cristiano Ronaldo in third.

No Mexican player has more goals than Quiñones’s 14 since the start of 2026. Excuses for Quiñones not to be given another look in El Tri—alongside the next member on this list—are getting hard to find. The Colombian born Mexican international has done more than enough to merit being included in upcoming Mexico rosters; it’s now up to Aguirre to oblige.

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1. Raúl Jiménez (Fulham)

Raúl Jiménez with the best penalty conversion rate in Premier League history. pic.twitter.com/Tgax49dRmm

— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) February 22, 2026

Raúl Jiménez continues to deliver the goods in the most competitive league in the world, this time scoring a brace to propel Fulham to a 3–1 victory against Sunderland on Sunday.

The veteran striker buried a header into the bottom corner to open the scoring before extending his lead as the most clinical penalty taker in Premier League history with a classy finish from the spot, securing his brace and all three points for the Cottagers.

It was vintage Jiménez at the Stadium of Light. There might be more prolific strikers than him across the English soccer landscape, but Jiménez has matured into a into one of the most complete center forwards in the league, a player whose influence goes beyond statistics—though he is nearing another double-digit goal season.

Aguirre recently revealed he wishes he could put Jiménez on ice from now until the start of the World Cup—that’s how vital he is for El Tri’s success this summer.

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