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

El Tri made its 2026 debut with two friendly matches vs. Panama and Bolivia in the past week.

Raúl Rangel was the standout performer of Mexico’s January camp. | Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images

With less than six months to go before the Mexico national team take the pitch in the opening game of the 2026 World Cup, El Tri played its first two games of the year and a handful of players took advantage of the opportunity to raise their status in a fight for a spot in Javier Aguirre’s roster.

Mexico secured a couple of 1–0 victories in away friendly matches against Panama and Bolivia. Although neither opponent was at full strength, Mexico wasn’t either, and it still completed the mission of securing two positive results after entering the year immersed in a six-game winless run.

Aguirre’s side didn’t play a flashy brand of soccer in either friendly—to be expected given the short preparation time. However, individual player analysis was the main priority of El Tri’s January camp, and some players impressed just five months out from the 2026 World Cup.

A number of Mexican talents overseas were also in action over the past week with their respective clubs, but one of them specifically continued to make a case for Aguirre to give him further opportunities.

So, with the battle for a place in Mexico’s World Cup roster intensifying, here’s Sports Illustrated’s ranking of the four best El Tri players of the past week, a list dominated by players from Liga MX powerhouse Chivas.

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4. Luis Romo

Luis Romo (left) translated his club form to the national team. | Arnulf Franco/AFP/Getty Images

Luis Romo has been sensational for Chivas ever since the appointment of Gabriel Milito, playing as a third center back that drifts into the base of the midfield and is in charge of organizing build-up from the back. Aguirre had stuck to his preferred 4-3-3 formation for months, but upon Romo’s return to El Tri, he switched to a 3-4-3 set-up and the 30-year-old was brilliant.

The versatile natural midfielder was the best player on the pitch in Mexico’s victory against Panama. It wasn’t the most thrilling of matches, but Mexico was able to dominate emphatically thanks in large part to Romo being responsible for playing the ball out of the back. Whether it was short yet smart passes to the open man, or long-range, cross-field deliveries into space, Romo showcased his natural ability as a distributor, completing 95 of 102 passes.

Inconsistency has been Romo’s enemy for much of his career, but he’s rediscovered his mojo and is playing some of his best soccer at the perfect time. In a way, Romo’s recent form at the club level forced Aguirre to trial a new system.

If Mexico plan on being flexible and pragmatic with specific game plans during the World Cup, then the system utilized over the past week could be deployed in the summer—and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better alternative than Romo as that center back-midfielder hybrid.

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3. Richard Ledezma

Mexican-American Richard Ledezma (right) impressed in his first game with El Tri. | Arnulf Franco/AFP/Getty Images

Ex-U.S. men’s national team player Richard Ledezma started the week getting his FIFA one-time association switch approved, allowing him to represent Mexico at the international level. He then made his El Tri debut and ends the week seemingly with a very realistic chance of making the World Cup roster.

Like fellow Chivas teammate Romo, Ledezma benefited significantly from Aguirre’s change of system. The dual-national is a solid right back, but he takes his game to another level when operating as a wingback.

Ledezma started against Panama and tirelessly covered ground down the right flank. He wasn’t dribbled past a single time, was involved in Mexico’s best passages of play and could’ve bagged an assist had Germán Berterame capitalized on a perfect cross Ledezma whipped in from the right wing.

Aguirre has been looking for someone to fill the shoes of the injured Rodrigo Huescas since October. In Ledezma, Aguirre has found a very similar profile and a valuable alternative to replace his injured fullback.

If you add the fact that Jorge Sánchez, another potential option at right back, struggled vs. Bolivia and continues to generate more questions than answers, then there’s perhaps no player whose stock surged more over the past week than Ledezma’s.

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2. Julián Quiñones

World Cup hopeful Julián Quiñones continues to dominate the Saudi Pro League. | Omar Vega/Getty Images

Quiñones wasn’t part of El Tri’s January camp because he was busy continuing his absolutely spectacular start to 2026, scoring another three goals across two games in the Saudi Pro League.

Quiñones followed up a four-goal week with three more strikes for Al Qadsiah. A brace in the 2–1 win vs. Al Ittihad on Jan. 22 and the game winner in the 3–1 victory over Al Najma at the weekend saw Quiñones go level with Cristiano Ronaldo atop the Golden Boot race with 16 goals—nine of them have come since the turn of the year.

Quiñones’s prolific finishing ability was on full display, continuing to shine operating as a second striker. Aguirre has deployed Quiñones as a left winger predominantly since the start of his tenure, a position where Quiñones doesn’t feel as comfortable, resulting in the manager looking for other options at the position.

However, given the attacker’s stellar form, Aguirre was asked about Quiñones’s chances of getting called up to El Tri again soon, with the manager stating, “Julián [Quiñones] is a spectacular player. He’s helped us a lot [in the past]. Nobody has the doors closed [of the national team].

If Quiñones continues his brilliant form, it’ll be hard to excuse his absence from future El Tri camps and, more importantly, the eventual World Cup roster.

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1. Raúl Rangel

Raúl Rangel is starting to look like Mexico’s starting goalkeeper come the World Cup. | Chris Gardner/Getty Images

The goalkeeper battle between Raúl Rangel and Luis Malagón was expected to reignite this week. But when the dust settled, the race for the starting job between the sticks didn’t really resume, as Rangel started both friendly matches and didn’t put a foot wrong.

The Chivas goalkeeper kept clean sheets against Panama and Bolivia, registering five saves across both games, including an stunning acrobatic stop in the second match to deny Bolivia from breaking the deadlock during Mexico’s worst passage of play during the match.

But perhaps what was most impressive is his ability as a distributor. Rangel completed 61 of the 68 passes he attempted across both games, and was constantly used as an outlet in the early stages of build-up to bypass the press.

Aguirre has historically valued goalkeepers that are comfortable with the ball at their feet, an aspect of the game Rangel is miles better at than Malagón. When you add that Rangel is superior at handling contested balls in the air, you can understand why the tide has changed in his favor over the past three camps.

Marcel Ruiz, an all but guaranteed starter come the World Cup, was the only player other than Rangel to start both friendlies—a very telling decision from Aguirre.

“I visualize myself [starting at the World Cup],” Rangel admitted after the match vs. Panama. Recent evidence and his performances over the past week make it seem like he’s the overwhelming favorite to be between the sticks when El Tri battles South Africa in its World Cup debut.

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