Hooligan Soccer
·10 Oktober 2025
Mexico vs Colombia – 2026 FIFA World Cup Friendly Preview

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Yahoo sportsHooligan Soccer
·10 Oktober 2025
Mexico will ramp up their preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup during October’s FIFA International period with a South American double-header, starting with Colombia.
The fixture comes after back-to-back meetings with two of the best from Asia, Japan and South Korea. Both matches ended in stalemates for Javier Aguirre’s men.
This time, El Tri faces a tough challenge against a Colombia side that remains unbeaten in its last five matches, netting an impressive nine goals in its two most recent outings.
Saturday night’s clash highlights the ambition from the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) to provide its team with a range of friendlies to prepare for any type of opponent ahead of next summer’s showpiece event, which Mexico will co-host alongside the United States and Canada.
Colombia currently sit 13th in the FIFA World Rankings, one place higher than El Tri. They even went on a two-year, 28-match, unbeaten run between 2022 and 2024. That stretch saw them go all the way to the CONMEBOL Copa América final, before an extra-time loss to eventual winners Argentina.
Last month, Colombia sealed their place in the FIFA World Cup by finishing third in the South American qualifiers, only behind Argentina and Ecuador, who Mexico will be facing in the second friendly of their October Internationals.
Sporting Lisbon’s frontman has been in dangerous form for both club and Colombia this season.
In the Portuguese topflight, the 27-year-old has netted six times in eight games, filling the shoes of Viktor Gyökeres, who departed for Arsenal this summer for $70 million.
On the international stage, Suárez caught the eye of the world by crushing Venezuelan dreams of a first-ever World Cup by scoring four goals on the final day of qualifications in a 6-3 win. He will be looking to add more to that tally at the AT&T Stadium on Saturday evening.
El Tri will be missing several key players, as injuries have hit the first team and some of the nation’s brightest young talents are away at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile.
Elías Montiel and Tijuana’s 16-year-old superstar Gilberto Mora have become regulars in the first team but have played instrumental roles in helping the U-20 side reach the quarter-finals, having topped a group with Brazil, Spain, and Morocco before sending Chile packing in the first knockout round.
As for injuries, Rodrigo Huescas was having a standout season with Danish giants FC Copenhagen before suffering a heartbreaking ACL injury in the UEFA Champions League meeting with Qarabag FK. He seems set to be sidelined for next summer’s competition.
Mexico’s deadliest goalscorer, Raúl Jiménez, is also set to miss the October meetings through hip injury, although the Fulham striker is set to return for international duty when the squad next gathers in November.
Whilst Javier Aguirre’s options have been cut short, he has managed to name an experienced squad that will be expected to test Colombia.
Five-time Liga MX champion Julián Quiñones returns to the squad, having started the season strongly with Al-Qadisiyah with three goals in four appearances, whilst there is a chance that Germán Berterame could make a first start for Mexico, after hitting the back of the net eight times for title hopefuls Monterrey this season.
There’s no return for captain Edson Álvarez, who steadily returns from injury, but Toluca’s double of Marcel Ruíz and Alexis Vega come into the international break in sublime form as Los Rojos Diablos recently returned to the top of the Liga MX table.
The match will take place on Saturday 11th October, 2025 at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas at 19:00, CET.
Who do you think will win this friendly? Let us know!
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