Mexico announce first call ups for 2026 World Cup
Mexico called up 12 players for the training camp for the 2026 World Cup and 8 extra players for their May friendly
Mexico gave the list of players that will take part in the 2026 World Cup and will miss the Liguilla. Javier Aguirre called up the first 12 players that will take part in the World Cup, which mean that if their teams are playing the Liguilla, they won’t take part. Mexico also called up 8 players that will take part as sparring and will be able to take part in the friendlies where no European player will be based like the match against Ghana in Puebla.
Mexico will host part of the 2026 World Cup and will play in the opener against South Africa on June 11th. The call up list of players that will take part in the World Cup is the following: Goalkeepers : Raul Rangel (Chivas), Carlos Acevedo (Santos Laguna) Defenders : Jesus Gallardo (Toluca), Israel Reyes (America), Luis Romo (Chivas) Midfielders : Gilberto Mora (Tijuana), Brian Gutierrez (Chivas), Erik Lira (Cruz Azul), Roberto Alvarado (Chivas) Forwards : Armando Gonzalez (Chivas), Alexis Vega (Toluca), Guillermo Martinez (Pumas) The call up list of players that will be used as sparring and to complete the call up list for the Ghana match are the following: Goalkeepers : Oscar Garcia (Leon) Defenders : Jesus Antonio Gomez (Tijuana), Eduardo Aguila (San Luis), Luis Rey (Puebla), Denzell Garcia (FC Juarez) Midfielders : Iker Fimbres (Monterrey), Jairo Torres (FC Juarez) Forwards : Kevin Castañeda (Tijuana) The most notable call ups are the expected like Gilberto Mora, Alexis Vega, Raul Rangel, Armando Gonzalez and Israel Reyes. The most surprising by a lot is Guillermo Martinez as forward.
Martinez had done well in Pumas but was not expected to be part of the team and hadn’t done much with the National team either. It’s clear that he was called up because of his height in a strange experiment from Aguirre. Among the most notable omission, the biggest surprise could be Richard Ledezma.
Ledezma had arrived in Mexico and had done well with the National team. It was expected he would get called up but wasn’t. Diego Lainez should be the more surprising but he had failed to be called up in February and March and the rumors were strong that he wouldn’t be called up because of problems with Aguirre.