Mexico national football team players: Márquez’s 29, and no Jiménez or Quiñones
Rafael Márquez’s first Mexico squad has 853 caps and 69 goals between 29 players, and neither Raúl Jiménez nor Julián Quiñones, who scored seven of Mexico’s ten World Cup goals. Here is the full list, with Chile next in Los Angeles.
Jul 27, 2026 · Updated Oct 5, 2026
Rafael Márquez named 30 players for his first window as Mexico coach, lost two of them to injury and called up one more, so the Mexico national football team players currently in camp number 29. Between them they have 853 caps and 69 international goals. Neither Raúl Jiménez nor Julián Quiñones is in the group, and that matters more than any other number on this page: those two scored seven of Mexico’s ten goals at the 2026 World Cup.
Three games in, Márquez has two draws and a defeat. Mexico drew 1-1 with Colombia in Baltimore and 1-1 with Peru in New Jersey, then lost 3-0 to the United States in Glendale, Arizona on 3 October. The window closes against Chile at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on 6 October, a 7pm local kick-off that is 7.30am on Wednesday in India.
Mexico’s current squad
This is the group for the four autumn friendlies against Colombia, Peru, the United States and Chile. Caps and goals are as of 3 October 2026, after the United States game. Defender Dagoberto Espinoza of Club América came in after César Montes went back to Lokomotiv Moscow with a gluteal strain, and midfielder Alan Cervantes also withdrew injured.
| Player | Position | Club | Caps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raúl Rangel | Goalkeeper | Chivas | 21 | 0 |
| Óscar García | Goalkeeper | León | 1 | 0 |
| Alex Padilla | Goalkeeper | Athletic Bilbao | 0 | 0 |
| Jesús Gallardo | Defender | Toluca | 128 | 3 |
| Jorge Sánchez | Defender | Atlas | 64 | 3 |
| Johan Vásquez | Defender | Genoa | 52 | 3 |
| Israel Reyes | Defender | América | 40 | 2 |
| Mateo Chávez | Defender | AZ Alkmaar | 14 | 1 |
| Víctor Guzmán | Defender | Monterrey | 7 | 1 |
| Everardo López | Defender | Toluca | 5 | 0 |
| Diego Campillo | Defender | Chivas | 3 | 0 |
| Dagoberto Espinoza | Defender | América | 0 | 0 |
| Orbelín Pineda | Midfielder | Monterrey | 97 | 12 |
| Roberto Alvarado | Midfielder | Chivas | 75 | 5 |
| Luis Romo | Midfielder | Chivas | 69 | 5 |
| Luis Chávez | Midfielder | Dynamo Moscow | 48 | 5 |
| Érik Lira | Midfielder | Cruz Azul | 31 | 0 |
| Gilberto Mora | Midfielder | Tijuana | 13 | 1 |
| Obed Vargas | Midfielder | Atlético Madrid | 12 | 0 |
| Álvaro Fidalgo | Midfielder | Real Betis | 10 | 1 |
| Denzell García | Midfielder | FC Juárez | 4 | 0 |
| Jeremy Márquez | Midfielder | Cruz Azul | 2 | 0 |
| Hirving Lozano | Forward | LA Galaxy | 76 | 18 |
| Santiago Giménez | Forward | Porto | 53 | 6 |
| Germán Berterame | Forward | Inter Miami | 11 | 2 |
| Armando González | Forward | Olympiacos | 10 | 1 |
| Isaías Violante | Forward | América | 4 | 0 |
| Santiago Sandoval | Forward | Chivas | 2 | 0 |
| Hugo Camberos | Forward | Chivas | 1 | 0 |
Three teenagers from Mexico’s under-20 programme also trained with the squad without being registered for the matches: Juan Echilvestre of Santos Laguna, Yohan Orozco of Chivas and Henrique Simeone of Tigres.
What the numbers say about this squad
The goals are concentrated in two players. Hirving Lozano has 18 of the squad’s 69 and Orbelín Pineda has 12, so the pair account for 30, or 43 percent. Lozano is back after missing the World Cup entirely, and on this evidence it is easy to see why Márquez wanted him. Santiago Giménez, now at Porto, has six goals in 53 caps, a modest return for a centre-forward and the reason Lozano’s numbers stand out.
The caps are lopsided too. Jesús Gallardo alone has 128, about 15 percent of the whole squad’s total, and five players (Gallardo, Pineda, Lozano, Roberto Alvarado and Luis Romo) hold 445 between them. At the other end, 13 of the 29 have ten caps or fewer, and two have none at all: Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Alex Padilla and Espinoza.
It is also a more domestic squad than the one that went to the World Cup, which had 12 of its 26 players in Liga MX. Nineteen of these 29 play there, six of them for Chivas. The other ten are spread across seven countries, with three in Spain (Padilla, Álvaro Fidalgo and Obed Vargas) and two in MLS (Lozano at LA Galaxy and Germán Berterame at Inter Miami).
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Players named (after withdrawals) | 29 |
| Total caps | 853 |
| Total international goals | 69 |
| Most caps | Jesús Gallardo, 128 |
| Most goals | Hirving Lozano, 18 |
| Players with 10 caps or fewer | 13 |
| Uncapped | 2 |
| Based in Liga MX | 19 |
| Average age on 6 October | 25.5 |
Who is missing, and why
Mexico scored ten goals at the World Cup. Quiñones got four of them and Jiménez three, and both are out injured, Jiménez after picking up a problem at Wolverhampton and Quiñones with a muscle injury at Al-Qadsiah. The only World Cup scorers in this squad are Romo, Fidalgo and Mateo Chávez, with one goal each.
Edson Álvarez, who has 102 caps and headed the winner in the 2025 Gold Cup final, was left out after a lack of minutes at West Ham. Guillermo Ochoa retired after the World Cup, his sixth, on 153 caps. Montes, with 71, would have been here but for his injury. Alexis Vega, who went to the World Cup, was not named either.
| Player | Caps | Goals | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guillermo Ochoa | 153 | 0 | Retired |
| Raúl Jiménez | 128 | 48 | Injured |
| Edson Álvarez | 102 | 7 | Not selected |
| César Montes | 71 | 4 | Injured (withdrew) |
| Alexis Vega | 53 | 7 | Not selected |
| Julián Quiñones | 27 | 6 | Injured |
Those six players hold 534 caps and 72 goals. That is more goals than the entire squad that is actually in the United States, and Jiménez on his own has 48 of them.
Márquez’s first four matches
| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Mexico scorer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Sep | Colombia | M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore | D 1-1 | Gilberto Mora 62′ |
| 29 Sep | Peru | Sports Illustrated Stadium, Harrison | D 1-1 | Víctor Guzmán 49′ |
| 3 Oct | United States | State Farm Stadium, Glendale | L 0-3 | None |
| 6 Oct | Chile | Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles | 7pm local (7.30am IST, 7 Oct) |
Mexico went behind in both draws. Colombia scored through Luis Suárez after nine minutes and Mora levelled just after the hour. Against Peru, Jairo Vélez opened the scoring in the 26th minute and the defender Guzmán equalised four minutes into the second half. Then the United States won 3-0 in Glendale, with goals from Julian Hall, Cavan Sullivan and Malik Tillman. Mexico played the last 20-odd minutes with ten men after Mateo Chávez was sent off in the 67th minute for a foul on Yunus Musah and then slapping Sebastian Berhalter. Sullivan, at 17, became the youngest player ever to score for the US men’s team.
So that is two goals in three games, one from a 17-year-old midfielder and one from a defender. None of the forwards has scored yet. Of all the problems Márquez inherited, that is the one the absence of Jiménez and Quiñones explains most directly.
Who are Mexico’s key players?
Hirving Lozano (forward, LA Galaxy). The squad’s top scorer by a distance with 18 goals in 76 caps, and the clearest sign that Márquez is not simply promoting youth. He was left out of the World Cup squad and now he is the attack’s senior figure.
Orbelín Pineda (midfielder, Monterrey). 97 caps and 12 goals, and three appearances short of a hundred. With Álvarez out, he and Romo are the experience in midfield.
Gilberto Mora (midfielder, Tijuana). He was the youngest player at the 2026 World Cup and scored the first goal of the Márquez era, a solo effort against Colombia. He turns 18 on 14 October.
Obed Vargas (midfielder, Atlético Madrid). Born in Anchorage, Alaska, Vargas is 21 and has 12 caps. Along with Mora he is the player the federation talks about when it talks about 2030.
Johan Vásquez (defender, Genoa). 52 caps, and with Montes injured, the most established centre-back in the group.
Santiago Giménez (forward, Porto). 53 caps, six goals, on a season-long loan at Porto from AC Milan since 31 August, and the one forward in this squad whose job is the same as the one Jiménez did at the World Cup.
What did Mexico do at the 2026 World Cup?
Mexico won all three Group A games without conceding: 2-0 against South Africa at the Azteca on 11 June, 1-0 against South Korea in Guadalajara on 18 June and 3-0 against Czechia on 24 June. They beat Ecuador 2-0 at the Azteca in the round of 32 on 30 June, their first World Cup knockout win since 1986, with Quiñones and Jiménez scoring.
England ended it in the round of 16 on 5 July, again at the Azteca. Jude Bellingham scored twice in the first half and Harry Kane added a penalty, and goals from Quiñones and a Jiménez penalty were not enough. England won 3-2. Javier Aguirre left after the tournament and Márquez took over.
Who is Mexico’s coach?
Rafael Márquez, the former Barcelona centre-back who played at five World Cups for Mexico. The federation confirmed him in July 2026, after the England defeat, on a contract running to the 2030 World Cup. He had been Aguirre’s assistant since August 2024, and these four friendlies are his first matches in charge.
What’s next for Mexico?
Chile on 6 October is the last game of this window. After that the competitive calendar is the CONCACAF Nations League and a Gold Cup title defence in 2027. I would not read too much into a 3-0 friendly defeat with Jiménez, Quiñones and Álvarez all missing, but the attack needs a goal from a forward soon, and on current numbers Lozano is the likeliest source.
Our squad pages also cover Uruguay, Belgium, both in action this week, and England, who knocked Mexico out at the Azteca. Argentina and Brazil have pages too.