Mexico’s first wave of World Cup selections has put a 17-year-old offensive whiz and 11 other Mexican pro players at the center of another attempt to push a long-suffering soccer program deeper than it has ever gone in the sport’s showcase tournament.

Head coach Javier “Vasco” Aguirre, who returned in 2024 to lead Mexico’s men’s national team for a third time, named 12 Liga MX players to the squad this week, days before launching a 5½-week camp that will pull his picks out of the league playoffs after an agreement with club owners.

The group is scheduled to report Monday to begin training in Mexico City. A smaller group of younger players has been selected to mimic future opponents. So far, all call-ups come from Liga MX rosters.

The remaining spots on the 26-player roster — which Aguirre must submit by June 1 — will go to higher-profile Mexican players from teams in Europe and elsewhere.

Those call-ups are expected to include Raúl Jiménez, a scorer at Fulham in the English Premier League, and Edson Álvarez, a key starter for Fenerbahçe in Turkey’s Süper Lig and one of Mexico’s best players.

The 39-day tournament will begin June 11 in Mexico City and, for the first time, will be hosted by three countries: Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. Thirteen of the 104 matches will be played in Mexico City, Monterrey and the Guadalajara suburb of Zapopan.

Gilberto Mora, who plays for Tijuana, was the headliner among the Tuesday selections. With his 18th birthday not until Oct. 14, the midfielder could become the youngest Mexican ever to appear in a World Cup, breaking 18-year-old Manuel “Chaquetas” Rosas’ mark from 1930.

The Chiapas native started for the team that won the 2025 Gold Cup and owns several age marks, including the youngest to start and score in Liga MX and the youngest to debut for the Mexican national team.

Seven 17-year-olds, including Pele in 1958, have played in a World Cup. The youngest was Northern Ireland’s Norman Whiteside, who was 17 years and 41 days in 1982. If Mora debuts when Mexico opens against South Africa on June 11, he would be the sixth-youngest at 17 years and 241 days.

Mora recently resumed playing for Tijuana after a groin injury sidelined him for two months. “I’m happy to be back,” he said. “I feel great physically and ready for what’s next. I’m 100% in every aspect.”

Raúl Rangel, 26, of Club Deportivo Guadalajara (Chivas), and Carlos Acevedo, 30, captain of Santos Laguna in Torreón, Coahuila, were the first two goalkeepers invited. A decision still looms on Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa, the 40-year-old goalkeeper expected to be named among the 14 foreign-based players for what would be his sixth and final World Cup.

The mop-topped Ochoa is a Mexican icon, having played for Club América 2004-11 and 2019-23. In the years in between and since, he has made stops in France, Spain, Belgium, Italy and Portugal and now starts for AEL Limassol in Cyprus’ first division.

Versatile defender-midfielder Luis Romo, 30, adds vital experience all over the field, having hoisted the Gold Cup and won the Concacaf Nations League with the Mexican national team.

Romo is one of five Chivas players among the initial 12, along with attacking forward Armando González. Up front, Toluca’s Alexis Vega and Pumas striker Guillermo Martínez add scoring punch.

Vega is the only current selection with World Cup experience, having appeared in three games at Qatar 2022; Romo was on the Mexico roster but didn’t play.

For now, the new group is focused on a May 22 friendly against Ghana in Puebla, followed by two more friendlies.

After that, the aim will be to reverse a World Cup history in which Mexico — while a mainstay in the quadrennial tournament — has never reached a semifinal or final and has only once made the quarterfinals, at home in 1970.

From 1994 through 2018, Mexico advanced from the group stage in seven straight tournaments but was knocked out in the round of 16 each time. That frustrating pattern turned even harder to stomach at Qatar 2022, when the team failed to even reach the knockout round.

With reports from El Universal, El Informador, ESPN, Reuters and Associated Press