Mexico is stomping on the gas and nobody in Group A can catch them. The co-host nation just put up a clinical 2-0 lead over Czechia in Mexico City, and if that score holds, El Tri will make history they have never touched in 17 previous World Cup appearances.
Javier Aguirre’s squad came in sitting on six points after beating South Africa and Korea Republic. But winning group stage games has never been the problem for Mexico. Winning all three of them in a single tournament? That’s the part they’ve never pulled off. Until now, apparently.
Mateo Chávez, the 22-year-old left back from AZ Alkmaar, cracked the code first. He buried a composed finish that sent the Estadio Azteca crowd into full chaos mode. It was his first senior international goal, and honestly, the kid picked a hell of a moment to find the net for the first time.
Six minutes later, Julián Quiñones made it 2-0 after Czechia’s defense basically handed him the ball in a dangerous spot. He didn’t miss. Another nail in the coffin for the Czechs, and another step toward something Mexico has never done.
Here’s the part that should worry the rest of the field: Mexico has been quietly stacking wins while everybody talks about the USMNT and Canada making historic runs. The Americans are through to the knockout stage for the first time in modern memory. Canada is doing things they’ve literally never done. But Mexico? They might be the scariest co-host of the three right now, simply because nobody is talking about them.
This team is physical when they need to be. They’re patient when the game gets tight. And now they’re scoring in bunches. The perfect group stage record would give them serious momentum heading into the Round of 32, where the stakes get real and the margin for error shrinks to nothing.
Mexico has been here before — knocking on the door of something big, only to run into a buzzsaw in the knockout rounds. But this year feels different. The crowd is a factor every single match. The roster is young enough to run through opponents and experienced enough to know when to slow things down.
One more half of soccer and they’ll have that first-ever 3-0 group record. Then the real test starts.
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