When Javier Aguirre was a player, he believed Mexico’s grueling, year-long training camp ahead of the 1986 World Cup was the key to El Tri’s run to the quarterfinals \u2014 matching its best result.<\/p>\n
As coach of the national team, he is trying to replicate that vintage formula.<\/p>\n
Unlike most competing nations, which must wait for domestic leagues to conclude before gathering their squads, Mexico began assembling its players more than a month before its opening World Cup match on June 11 against South Africa \u2014 pulling them away from their teams while the Liga MX was ongoing.<\/p>\n
“This is a project, not a whim \u2014 it\u2019s a project to try and make this a great World Cup,” Aguirre says. “We concluded that being at home and having these magnificent facilities we needed to be well prepared in every way. This meant having them ready five weeks before the World Cup.”<\/p>\n
The 67-year-old manager, steering Mexico into the World Cup for a third time, was an integral part of the 1986 squad that beat Belgium and Bulgaria and lost to eventual finalist West Germany in a penalty shootout in the quarterfinals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The only other time El Tri reached that stage was in 1970, also on home soil.<\/p>\n
“Being part of the national team and being able to play in a World Cup at home is priceless,” Aguirre says of the 48-team tournament that Mexico is co-hosting with the U.S. and Canada.<\/p>\n
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – MAY 20: Players of Mexico listen to their Head Coach Javier Aguirre (C) during a training session at CAR on May 20, 2026 in Mexico City, Mexico. \u00a0(Photo by Agustin Cuevas\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Modern soccer presents challenges that didn\u2019t exist in 1986. While that Mexico squad featured only one Europe-based star \u2014 Real Madrid icon Hugo S\u00e1nchez \u2014 the current pool boasts 14 players competing in Europe.<\/p>\n To secure his domestic players early, Aguirre had to convince the owners of the 18 Liga MX first-division teams that an extended camp was the only way to truly stand out at home. His blueprint was approved last December, and the gates to the training ground opened on May 6 with an initial group of 12 domestic players.<\/p>\n Yet, the strategy has drawn criticism from prominent figures within Mexican football, most notably former national team manager Ricardo La Volpe, who led El Tri to the round of 16 at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m truly surprised, and I have a lot of respect for Javier Aguirre, but I don\u2019t understand him for one simple reason: First, he doesn\u2019t have most of the players, making the practices meaningless,” La Volpe argued. “I would say that if you can\u2019t work with everyone you should let the players use the domestic playoffs to maintain their match rhythm.”<\/p>\n Mexico’s midfielder Erik Lira (C) and defender Johan Vasquez (R) take part in a training session with head coach Javier Aguirre ahead of their friendly match against the Portuguese national team in Mexico City on March 26, 2026. Mexico will play a friendly match against Portugal on March 28 at the Banorte Stadium (formerly known as Azteca Stadium) in Mexico City. (Photo by Luis CORTES \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n To ensure optimal preparation, the Mexican Football Federation invested 400 million pesos ($23 million) into a massive renovation of its elite training center, the Centro de Alto Rendimiento on Mexico City’s outskirts.<\/p>\n “This investment reflects our responsibility toward the World Cup,” federation president Mikel Arriola says. “We have built a facility that will provide the national team with the best possible conditions for preparation, on par with the world\u2019s leading football powers. Hosting a World Cup demands that we raise all our standards, both on and off the field.”<\/p>\n Accommodations for the senior team expanded from 20 to 45 private rooms, supplemented by new player entertainment lounges.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, the crown jewel of the renovation is a state-of-the-art facility housing a massive gym, which ballooned from 1,200 to 6,000 square meters. The new complex also integrates a modernized medical wing, advanced physiotherapy and hydrotherapy labs, locker rooms, coaches\u2019 offices, and a dedicated sports intelligence hub.<\/p>\n Mexico’s defender Israel Reyes controls the ball during a training session in Mexico City on May 15, 2026. (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY When Javier Aguirre was a player, he believed Mexico’s grueling, year-long training camp ahead of the 1986 World Cup was the key to El Tri’s run to the quarterfinals \u2014 matching its best result. As coach of the national team, he is trying to replicate that vintage formula. Unlike most competing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}