Mexico vs Portugal – Match preview and team news
Mexico vs Portugal – Match preview and team news Portugal faces Mexico in an international friendly on Saturday as both nations step up preparations for the 2026 World Cup. This will be the final round of games before Portugal head towards the World Cup in June and Roberto Martinez will certainly want to have some positive momentum going into the competition. Mexico vs Portugal – Match preview and team news Date: Sunday, 29th March.
Kick-off: 2:00 GMT. Venue: Estadio Banorte, Ciudad de Mexico. Last Meeting: Portugal 2-1 Mexico, 2nd July 2017, FIFA Confederations Cup Mexico team news Mexico are heading into the World Cup with a depleted squad, missing 12 regular call-ups, including captain Edson Álvarez, and several starters from the Nations League and Gold Cup-winning sides of last year.
Among those sidelined are AC Milan striker Santiago Giménez, midfielders Luis Chávez and César Huerta, and full-back Rodrigo Huescas, all of whom currently play their club football in Europe. In addition, goalkeeper Luis Angel Malagon and midfielder Marcel Ruiz have suffered serious injuries that will rule them out of the tournament, where Mexico open their World Cup campaign on 11 June against South Africa. Despite the injury crisis, Javier Aguirre is expected to retain his preferred 4-3-3 shape against Portugal, even though he has experimented with a 3-4-2-1 system in recent friendlies.
With so many midfielders unavailable, Erik Lira is set to step in as the holding midfielder in place of Alvarez, Carlos Rodriguez is poised to seize his opportunity with Ruiz out, and Alvaro Fidalgo is in line for a highly anticipated debut in midfield with Gilberto Mora still sidelined. Mexico’s trusted central defensive partnership is expected to start in front of Raul Rangel, who is now viewed as the frontrunner to be the first-choice goalkeeper at the World Cup following Malagon’s season-ending Achilles injury, despite the veteran return of Guillermo Ochoa to the squad. Portugal team news Portugal arrive without star striker Cristiano Ronaldo, sidelined by a hamstring injury from Al-Nassr, alongside Diogo Costa (GK), Rafael Leao, Rodrigo Mora, and omissions like Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias, Joao Palhinha, and Néeson Semedo.
Roberto Martínez has called up Toluca’s 33-year-old Paulinho (returning after five years), debutant Mateus Fernandes (West Ham), and Gonçalo Guedes for depth. Joo Neves and Pedro Goncalves trained separately from the rest of the squad before travelling. Ruben Neves is poised to anchor the midfield pivot.