2022 FIFA World Cup

Lore & Background

The 2022 campaign opened with a statement. In the opening fixture, Mexico dispatched Saudi Arabia 2-0, with Hirving Lozano leading the charge in a performance that briefly silenced the chorus of doubt that had followed the squad through qualifying. The green-and-white shirts moved with the kind of controlled, positional patience Martino had instilled, and for ninety minutes the stands roared as if the knockout rounds were already within reach.

Then came Poland. A 2-0 defeat, clinical and unforgiving, stripped the momentum and exposed the fragility of a midfield that struggled to convert possession into threat. The dressing-room silence after that match was reportedly heavy, a collective recognition that one more result was all that stood between Mexico and another early exit.

The final group match against Argentina carried the weight of a decade of near-misses. Mexico struck first, the crowd surging, but the champions-in-waiting answered with the composure of a team built for the long haul. The 1-2 scoreline sealed a third-place finish, and the walk-off from the pitch was met not with celebration but with a long, collective exhale. For the fans watching in living rooms from Monterrey to Miami, the screen went dark and the question remained: when, exactly, will the next round come?

In Their Own Story

The stadium lights hummed over a pitch that smelled of cut grass and diesel from the distant generators. In the stands, a grandmother in a hand-painted jersey pressed her palms together, murmuring to a saint she'd carried in her purse since 1986. Beside her, her grandson — seven years old, a Lozano sticker still shiny on his shin guard — bounced on his toes. The kickoff whistle cut the air. For ninety minutes, the boy's hands never left his mother's fingers. When the final whistle blew and the scoreboard read 1-2, he didn't cry. He just looked up and said, 'Mamá, next time we go through.' She kissed his hair. The crowd began the slow, shuffling walk toward the exits, and somewhere in the tunnel, a goalkeeper with silver-streaked hair peeled off his gloves one finger at a time, already calculating the next cycle.

Reader's Guide

The build-up was defined by cautious optimism. Martino, a former Argentina international, had been given time to reshape the squad's identity around structured possession and positional discipline. The expectation in Mexico was not merely to qualify — that was assumed — but to finally break the group-stage curse that had haunted the team through so many tournaments.

The group draw was a gauntlet. Argentina, the eventual champions, loomed over the pool. Poland brought physicality and set-piece threat. Saudi Arabia, the dark horses, were the one opponent Mexico could afford to beat. And beat them they did: a 2-0 win, Lozano sharp and clinical, the back line holding firm. For a few hours, the narrative shifted. The knockout rounds felt possible.

Then Poland dismantled that narrative in ninety minutes. A 2-0 loss, tidy and efficient, left Mexico needing a result against Argentina to keep any mathematical thread alive. The final match delivered a goal, a surge of hope, and then the slow, inevitable unraveling as Argentina's quality found its way past the Mexican press. 1-2. Third place. Elimination.

The defining moment was not a single play but the collective silence after the final whistle — the absence of the roar that had come after the Saudi win. The emotional arc for the fanbase was a full circle: elation, deflation, resignation. Martino's tactical approach, while sound, could not overcome the gap in individual quality against the top two teams in the group.

The legacy is one of nearness. Mexico had been so close in 2014, in 2018, and now in 2022. The group stage, that most cruel of thresholds, kept asserting its grip. And the question that echoes in every Mexican living room remains the same: what is the one thing missing?

Did You Know?

• Guillermo Ochoa, born in 1985, was among the oldest outfield-adjacent players at the 2022 tournament and had been the first-choice goalkeeper for El Tri for well over a decade before Qatar.
• Hirving Lozano was playing for PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch Eredivisie at the time of the 2022 World Cup, having joined the club in 2019.
• Mexico's 1-2 defeat to Argentina in the final group match meant they lost to the team that would go on to win the entire 2022 World Cup.
• The 2-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in the opening match was Mexico's only win of the tournament, and it was enough to keep the squad in the group but not to advance.