Frida the rescue dog, with her iconic doggy goggles, was a Golden Labrador whose first rescue operation at home was in 2013 at the Pemex Tower gas leak explosion in Mexico City. SEMAR
Frida, a search-and-rescue Labrador famous for locating victims after an earthquake devastated Mexico City in 2017, died of natural causes, the Ministry of the Navy (Semar) reported on Tuesday on Twitter.
“Dear Frida, although we are hurt by your departure, the Naval Family promises today to honor your memory, acting under the legacy that you taught us: ‘kindness, loyalty and love.’ Thank you for serving Mexico, you will always live in our hearts,” the Semar statement said.
Minister of the Navy Rafael Ojeda also lamented her passing on the social media platform, thanking her for her “tireless work” and recognizing her role as a beacon of hope “to thousands of Mexican families in the most pressing moments.”
Querida Frida, aunque tu partida nos duele, hoy la Familia Naval promete honrar tu memoria, actuando bajo el legado que nos enseñaste: “nobleza, lealtad y amor.”
Gracias por servir a México, siempre vivirás en nuestros corazones.#HastaSiempreFrida💔🐾🐶https://t.co/pIt0qbTniXpic.twitter.com/0rGGtTgHsi
The Ministry of the Navy announced Frida’s passing on its Twitter page on Tuesday.
Known for her custom-made doggy goggles and neoprene boots, Frida was born on April 12, 2009, and started her training just a few days afterward. Thanks to her extraordinary skills, she finished her training in a record eight months, the Navy said.
Her first rescue work actually didn’t occur in Mexico: after the 2010 earthquake in Haití, she found 12 people alive amidst debris. She then helped in rescue work to locate civilian personnel trapped under rubble after the Pemex Tower in Mexico City exploded in 2013 due to a gas leak.
In 2017, she joined another international relief brigade in Ecuador to help locate trapped people after a landslide, just before the Sept. 19 earthquake hit Mexico City and she became a global icon and national hero.
In October, a life-size bronze statue in Frida’s honor was unveiled outside of the Navy’s office in the Mexico City borough of Coyoacán. Depicted with her googles and boots, the statue reads: “Your life motivates us to continue giving everything to serve Mexico. Thank you, dear Frida!”
Throughout her life, Frida was deployed to 53 rescue operations in Mexico, Haiti, Ecuador, and Guatemala, and found a total of 55 people – 43 dead and 12 alive.
Like thousands of other retailers nationwide, this store in México state is ready to start the El Buen Fin sales event on Friday. Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro
While high inflation may pose a financial challenge for many Mexicans this holiday gift-giving season, one of the nation’s biggest retailer associations, Concanaco, is predicting that 2022’s annual kickoff to the holiday buying season this Friday, El Buen Fin, will see growth in sales of at least 10% compared to 2021.
Hector Tejada Shaar, Concanaco’s president, said he expects the 12th annual long-weekend discount shopping event, which starts on Nov. 18 this year and ends on Nov. 21, to bring in revenues of 195 billion pesos (US $10 billion).
Many of Mexico’s biggest retail businesses participate in El Buen Fin, including members of the National Association of Self-Service and Department Stores and organizations like the Confederation of National Chambers of Trade, Services and Tourism. Mexicans can find El Buen Fin deals on everything from computers to major household appliances to airline flights. El Buen Fin even attracts buyers from the United States who live in border cities.
Big companies not affiliated with El Buen Fin, such as Walmart, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, have already been offering discounts, night sales and other strategic sales events to attract customers before the official start date.
The federal consumer protection agency Profeco posts on its website a constantly updated Buen Fin guide, with lowest and highest prices for several big-ticket items it’s found in stores nationwide since September. https://elbuenfin.profeco.gob.mx/
Marcela Muñoz, deputy director of fundamental analysis at the Mexican financial institution Vector Casa de Bolsa, said that this year’s shopping event will be atypical since the pandemic restrictions have been lifted and the enthusiasm of consumers pairs with the festive ambience prior to the World Cup 2022, which starts on Sunday.
Although overall inflation eased in the first half of October, dropping to 8.5%, it is still at a high. Core inflation – which strips out volatile food and energy prices – hit a 22-year high of 8.39% in the first half of October, according to the federal statistics agency INEGI.
However, this has not discouraged consumers. A study conducted in August by the Mexican Association of Online Shopping (AMVO), found that despite the high inflation rates, people were looking forward to buying and plan to do so on monthly statements using their credit cards.
AMVO expects that 80% of internet users will make at least one purchase and 81% will use their credit cards.
HelloSafe also found that 34.6% of its users would “at least buy something” during the shopping event. Topping their wish list are electronic devices and household appliances, followed by clothes, shoes, wine and liquor, and finally, travel, furniture, and video games.
Tejada also said that El Buen Fin is a “unique opportunity” that especially benefits small and medium-sized companies while helping reactivate Mexico’s economy.
"Museum of the Moon" by artist Luke Jerram, one of the art installations to be displayed in the festival. Twitter @FiluxMexico
Light art installations with curious names such as “Museum of the Moon” and “Global Rainbow” will be among the draws at the International Festival of Lights (Filux) to be held in Mérida and two other Yucatán cities in the coming weeks.
The event – which was first held in Mérida in 2017 but was absent from the cultural calendar in 2020 and 2021 – will commence in the Yucatán capital on Nov. 24 for a four-night run.
The homegrown festival will then move to Valladolid for another four nights of light art from Dec. 1 before concluding with a three-night program in Tekax, a small city in Yucatán’s southwestern corner. It is the first time that Filux will be held in those two cities.
A total of 27 luminous works will be on display in the Yucatán cities, according to the Filux website. They include “Museum of the Moon” by British artist Luke Jerram, “Global Rainbow” by U.S. artist Yvette Mattern, “Pájaro Toh” by Mexican artist Miguel Bolívar and “Intrude” by Australian artist Amanda Parer.
“Pájaro Toh” by artist Miguel Bolívar, one of the light art installations included in the festival. Gobierno de Yucatán Twitter
Festival-goers can expect to see innovative and awe-inspiring uses of light in the various works, which include light sculptures, projection mapping onto buildings and laser projections. The artworks mentioned above feature a large replica of the moon, rays of colorful light projected over a long distance, a light sculpture of the toh (or motmot) bird and a group of four brightly-lit inflatable rabbits.
Maps showing the different locations where the works will be on display in Mérida, Valladolid and Tekax are available on the Filux website. Organizers recommend that people attend the festival on two different nights to ensure they have the time to see everything.
Filux founding director David Di Bona thanked Yucatán Governor Mauricio Vila for his support of the festival, which will run between 6 and 11 p.m. and is completely free.
Previous editions of Filux, including those held in Mexico City, have attracted over 5.5 million spectators, according to the festival’s Facebook page, which describes the event as the first of its kind in Latin America.
This stone mask, said by the sellers to be a Mezcala artifact found in Guerrero, is expected to sell for US $15,000-$17,000. Catawiki
The federal government is once again attempting to stop an international auction of pre-Hispanic artifacts.
The Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said in a joint statement Tuesday that 38 archaeological items that are part of the “cultural heritage of the Mexican nation” are listed on the Dutch-owned online auction platform Catawiki.
The authorities condemned the sale of the items and noted that Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto has called on Catawiki and the vendors who have listed Mexican pre-Hispanic items on the site to terminate the auction, “taking into account the historic, symbolic and cultural value of the assets, … which is greater than any commercial interest.”
They also said that INAH has filed a complaint with the federal Attorney General’s Office and notified Interpol with a view to having the items seized and repatriated.
Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto has called upon the auction site Catawiki to terminate the sale. Alejandra Frausto/Twitter
Bidding on the 38 items identified as Mexican cultural assets is scheduled to end on Nov. 20. “The pieces … cover a timespan ranging from … 300 B.C. to A.D. 1500,” the Culture Ministry and INAH said.
“… The assets deemed to be of pre-Columbian origin have a cultural affiliation with the styles of the Gulf coast of Mexico, the Maya area, the central highlands, the western shaft tomb tradition and with the Casas Grandes culture, which was established in the territory now occupied by Mexico’s north,” the Mexican government agencies both said.
The seller of this figure — of either of a Maya dignitary or priest — says that it is from sometime between A.D. 500-800. Catawiki
Mexico has attempted to stop numerous international auctions of pre-Hispanic artifacts, but has only had limited success. Many items considered cultural assets have been sold at auction in cities such as Paris and New York.
Despite that, nearly 9,000 pre-Hispanic pieces have been recovered over the past three years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said recently, a figure that includes more than 50 items whose repatriation was announced in September.
The manufacturing sector was responsible for almost 90% of export revenue. (Mireya Novo/Cuartoscuro)
The slump precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic and associated restrictions is the worst economic crisis Mexico has experienced, according to Bank of México (Banxico) Deputy Governor Galia Borja Gómez.
On a positive note, economic activity has almost returned to pre-pandemic levels, Borja said, noting that the length of the COVID-induced downturn is thus set to be shorter than other economic crises that affected Mexico in the past 40 years.
GDP declined by more than 8% in 2020 before growing almost 5% last year. That left the total size of the economy still below 2019 levels in 2021. However, Borja said Monday that the latest data shows that economic activity is just 0.05% short of reaching pre-pandemic levels.
The near total recovery has taken 30 months, the central bank official told the Mexico Capital Markets Forum, whereas the economy took 32 months to regain the ground lost during the Mexican peso crisis of the mid 1990s.
Bank of Mexico Deputy Governor Galia Borja said formal sector job growth, a surge in remittances, and tourism revenue are among reasons for Mexico’s near-total recovery. Government of Mexico
Borja said that the economy also took longer to recover from other economic crises. Recovery from the debt crisis of the early 1980s and the dot-com bubble deflation in the early 2000s took 34 months and 67 months, respectively, she said.
The Mexican economy’s recovery from the Great Recession in the second half of the 2000s took an even longer 72 months, Borja said.
The near total recovery from the COVID-induced slump is due to the recovery of the majority of sectors that make up the Mexican economy, she said. Borja said that 69% of those sectors are now generating revenue at pre-pandemic levels while 13% are less than five percentage points off reaching those levels.
The federal Finance Ministry is forecasting GDP growth of 2.4% this year, saying in a statement late last month that economic activity remained “solid” in the third quarter. Growth in the number of formal sector jobs, a surge in remittances,tourism revenue, strong demand for Mexican-made and grown exports and foreign investment fueled by the nearshoring phenomenon are among the factors that have benefited the economy this year.
A man looks for work at a job fair in Toluca, México state. Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar
However, Borja noted that high inflation – 8.41% in October – is a drag on economic activity. Banxico last week raised its benchmark rate by 75 basis points for a fourth consecutive time as it attempts to tame the scourge, and Borja indicated that the key rate will rise beyond its current record-high level of 10%.
Each of the central bank’s super-sized interest rate hikes have come after the United States Federal Reserve lifted rates by 75 basis points, but Borja stressed that the “synchronization” with U.S. monetary policy is not automatic but rather “conditional on the type of shocks we face.”
“It’s not mechanical nor is [matching the Fed’s rate hikes] an objective in itself,” she said.
Banxico’s key rate is currently six points higher than the upper end of the Fed’s 3.75-4% range. Borja said that each monetary policy decision is taken after considering all relevant economic data and “with a lot of prudence.”
The National History Museum housed inside Chapultepec Castle was the most visited in the country this year. INAH
Each year, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) publishes the statistics on the volume of visitors to museums, historical monuments, and archaeological sites across the country.
The 2022 count goes from January to September and was published earlier this month.
Compared to the tourist influx of 2021, the figures have gone up by 52% at Chichén Itzá, which ranks as the most visited archaeological destination in the country.
As for museums, the four most visited are in Mexico City: the National History Museum (located in Chapultepec Castle), the National Museum of Anthropology, the Templo Mayor Museum and the National Museum of World Cultures.
The ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá was Mexico’s most popular archaeological site this year. Mouse over each column to compare percentages of Mexican visitor numbers versus foreigners at each site.
Most of the visitors to these museums are Mexican nationals, and the National History Museum is the only one to receive close to a million visitors this year.
When it comes to archaeological sites, more than one million tourists have visited the top two most visited sites: Chichén Itzá in Yucatán attracted more than 2 million, and Teotihuacán in the State of Mexico, saw an influx of 1.4 million visitors.
The third most-visited site was Tulum – which registered more foreign visitors than Mexican nationals – followed by Monte Albán in Oaxaca and Palenque in Chiapas.
Lack of monitoring and access to health services exacerbated the mortality of the disease, according to public health experts. Shutterstock
Deaths caused by diabetes increased significantly in 2020 and 2021 compared to previous years due to a lack of preventative measures, deficiencies in the public health system and pandemic-related reasons, according to a prominent doctor followed by many Mexicans online.
Data from the national statistics agency INEGI shows there were 291,748 diabetes deaths in Mexico in 2020 and 2021, a 42% increase compared to the previous two years. Just over 151,000 of those deaths occurred in 2020, while there were almost 141,000 last year.
INEGI data also shows that diabetes was the third biggest killer in Mexico last year behind COVID-19 and heart disease.
The federal Health Ministry issued a health alert about the problem in late 2016 due to the high prevalence of diabetes and obesity in Mexico, but diabetes deaths exceeded 100,000 in every subsequent year, spiking notably in 2020 – the first year of the coronavirus pandemic – before declining by about 7% last year.
Some doctors have been critical of the government’s preventative policies in response to this public health crisis. Secretaría de Salud Facebook
Héctor Rossete, a Tlaxcala-based doctor and surgeon with a large following on social media, criticized the current federal government for not doing more to prevent diabetes and for not addressing problems in the public health system. Those two factors, as well as a failure to adequately monitor and treat diabetes patients during the pandemic, have caused deaths from the disease to increase, he told the newspaper El Universal.
“Not considering prevention is a hallmark of this government. The health system is lacking and without supplies, and that has had a negative impact on patients’ health. … Investment in health has been decreasing, public policies in the health sector require a lot of improvement, but there must be interest and concern for that [to occur],” Rossete said.
“Authorities currently don’t have a clear strategy [to combat the diabetes epidemic],” the doctor asserted.
The high rate of diabetes among Mexicans – data shows that 16.9% of adults aged 20 to 79 have the disease – was a contributing factor to Mexico’s high COVID-19 death toll. Health Ministry data shows that almost 37% of over 330,000 people who have died from COVID in Mexico suffered from diabetes, making the disease the second most common comorbidity after high blood pressure.
In a statement published Monday – World Diabetes Day – the World Health Organization (WHO) said that “globally, around 422 million people have diabetes, and 1.5 million deaths are directly attributed to diabetes every year.”
Some 12.4 million type 1 and type 2 diabetes sufferers are Mexicans, according to data collected via the 2021 National Health and Nutrition Survey.
The plane touched down at a hidden landing strip near Tamazula, Durango. Sedena
The military was involved in a shootout with a suspected drug trafficker Saturday after a suspicious plane was tracked to a landing strip in western Durango.
The Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) said in a statement that its air surveillance system detected an unidentified aircraft that traveled to Mexico from South America.
Three Air Force planes were deployed to monitor its movement through Mexican air space before it landed 14 kilometers from the town of Tamazula.
Sedena said that three military helicopters transported army and Air Force personnel to the location where the plane landed and that they were met with gunfire when they arrived.
[wpgmza id=”370″]
The military personnel returned fire and “an aggressor” was wounded, the ministry said, adding that the injured person was offered first aid before he was arrested and transported to a hospital in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
Soldiers inspected the suspicious aircraft and found a firearm and 30 packages containing a substance believed to be cocaine. The packages, which weighed over 300 kilograms, the gun and the plane were turned over to the relevant authorities to aid their investigations, Sedena said.
“These activities were carried out in accordance with the rule of law and with respect for human rights, thus preventing these kinds of addictive substances from affecting the health and development of Mexican youth,” the ministry said.
Despite that claim, the cocaine was in all likelihood destined for the United States, the world’s largest market for illicit drugs.
5 seizures in 4 days, totaling over 3 million fentanyl pills, 19.5 lbs fentanyl powder, 251 lbs of meth, 47 lbs of cocaine, 2.6 lbs of heroin and approx 350 Yaba tablets. This massive amount of dangerous narcotics will not reach the streets. Excellent work by Team Nogales! pic.twitter.com/MFg7L4Frd7
— Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) November 14, 2022
Massive amounts of narcotics flow into the U.S. from Mexico, but some shipments of illicit cargo come to an abrupt halt at the two countries’ shared border. One border crossing where United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has stopped a significant quantity of drugs entering the U.S. in recent days is that between Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Arizona.
Michael W. Humphries, CBP port director in Nogales, reported on Twitter Monday that there had been five drug seizures in four days. He said that over 3 million fentanyl pills, almost nine kilograms of fentanyl powder, 114 kg of methamphetamine, 2 kg of cocaine, 1 kg of heroin and approximately 350 yaba (methamphetamine and caffeine) tablets were confiscated.
“This massive amount of dangerous narcotics will not reach the streets. Excellent work by Team Nogales!” Humphries wrote.
Some of the drugs were concealed in commercial shipments of tortillas, according to information posted by the CBP official.
Mexican and U.S. authorities have acknowledged that the northward flow of fentanyl — a powerful synthetic opioid that killed tens of thousands of Americans last year — is a particularly serious binational problem. The drug, and its precursor chemicals, are shipped from Asia to Pacific coast ports in Mexico, where criminal organizations pick up the contraband for processing and/or shipment to the U.S.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard said last month that combating the smuggling of weapons and fentanyl will remain a priority for Mexico and the United States over the coming year.
“We have a common plan for 2023, which is to drastically reduce the trafficking of weapons to Mexico and … to increase controls on precursor chemicals and the movement of fentanyl [to the United States],” he said.
Guanajuato's historic downtown reflects its long history as a Spanish colonial center — making for picture perfect barhopping. Gerardo Martín Fernandez/Unsplash
Home of the Cervantino festival, the city where insurgents turned the tide of Mexican Independence and once the silver capital of the Americas, Guanajuato city has a lot of charm and a lot of history to offer visitors. But of late, it’s becoming more than just a quaint, historical day trip. With upscale boutique hotels and high-end dining and drinking, the town is attracting more and more of those moneyed tourists that their mayor clamored for back in 2018.
That said, this is still a college town at heart, and if dark and divey is your vibe, you can find plenty of possibilities for philosophy discussions and old-school rock-and-roll here as well. Here’s a list of some great new (and some classic) bars for a night out in the state’s most up-and-coming dining and drinking scene.
La Notaria creates a chic-but-mellow vibe where you can relax and enjoy their signature cocktails.
Just steps from the city’s famed Juárez Theater is the La Notaría bar, atop the La Notaría hotel. It’s a bit of climb to the third floor with no elevator, but the view is worth it as you look out over the city from the chic blue-and-gray couches in the lounge.
Mellow dance music plays in the background while you sip on a signature cocktail like the Red Dragon — made with vodka, vermouth, and caramelized hibiscus flowers and dusted with Tajin chile powder. Or try a Mezcal Chillen with chile serrano mezcal, cucumber, lime and ginger salt.
It’s totally Instagram-worthy here, with an ancient stone wall that serves as the bar’s balcony. However, the glass barrier around the rooftop, while probably keeping you safe, makes photos a tad complicated. Instead, just sink into one of the boxed-in seating areas and breathe in the lavender.
One of the best rooftop bars, Antigua 13 has a more bohemian vibe than La Notaría, while still being fancy enough to wear something slinky or bring your in-laws for brunch.
Down a tiny alley near the famous Callejón del Beso, the spectacular rooftop view — featuring Guanajuato University, La Basilica and El Templo de la Compañia churches as a backdrop — is what draws people in. The full menu, mostly Mexican fare, includes some great fish tacos and aguachiles.
In the mood for a night out with a group of friends? There is a small covered area for a private party of about 10 people, whimsically lit with golden Christmas lights. Alternatively, with lots of little corners to enjoy a cocktail, this bar’s fancy-but-friendly feel makes a perfect intimate date-night location.
Antigua 13 is a place where you can either bring your in-laws or bring a date.
Also atop a hotel — the design-focused 1850 Hotel Boutique — the One bar is more dance party than easygoing hangout spot. It’s perfect for a DJ’ed night out of music and loud conversation. You can’t beat the view, which looks out over the city’s picturesque main plaza — which itself is always bustling with wandering musicians, outdoor diners and loads of tourists.
Iridescent neon-lit tables and chairs seem to almost float around the One Bar’s terrace, and the cocktail menu is a mix of classics — like a heavy-poured old-fashioned — and house-made mixes that sound like recipes for a nasty headache in the morning (The Miami Vice – pineapple, rum, curacao, strawberry and vodka, for example). There’s also bottle service for more than 60 types of alcohol.
There’s a small dining menu, but with surprisingly hefty options like fettuccine or grilled tuna steak.
For anyone who wants a bar that’s a little more dark and divey, try Golem. It looks innocuous from the street — just another collection of rooms that leads to rooms that leads to rooms, but this bar is actually atop of one of the city’s famous historic tunnels – built toward the end of the 1800s to control flooding.
Keep things 100% with Golem bar’s traditional Mexican cuisine meals of the day, and a classic domestic beer. Golem/Facebook
Over the years, many of the tunnels’ bridges became houses or, in this case, a cool bar with weird mannequins in the window and patrons that wear shirts that say things like “Got Clorox?”
Feel free to sit out on the narrow balcony that overlooks the tunnel and experience the city’s history with a cheap beer or mezcal in hand.
If you rather keep your feet on the ground and deeply rooted in authentic Mexican culture, right off of the city’s main plaza is a tiny pulque bar called El Guiso, where you’ll find a massive mural of the naked pulque goddess on the wall and young, hip drinkers in the half-dozen seats that fit around the bar, imbibing this fermented Mesoamerican alcoholic beverage to Mexican rock.
One of the many great places I visited with Mexico Street Food Tours, this bar feels like a neighborhood version of the bar in the TV show “Cheers.” They have great examples of pulque from the state of Hidalgo; you can have it either natural or curado (with added fruit juice). There are few places outside of tiny rural towns where you can get pulque as fresh and delicious as this. Plus, the ambience is mellow without being dumpy.
Guanajuato is one of Mexico’s oldest cities, much of it built on the region’s mountains — which means bars and restaurants with spectacular views. One Bar & Lounge/Facebook
This is a chain bar, with locations in multiple states in Mexico, but it does a good job nonetheless at providing a taste of homegrown brews. For some local craft beer, try this tall, skinny three-story bar that includes a rooftop terrace.
Try an Allende or Dos Aves beer (made in San Miguel de Allende), or a Chelalibre (made in Celaya), or a Panorámica beer (made in Guanajuato). This is also a cozy spot to watch a sports game, with TVs mounted in all directions and a view overlooking the Plaza Allende.
Plaza Rock Bar
Last but definitely not least, this place has a college-bar vibe with its classic rock-and-roll on the stereo and black-clad kids huddled in the corners discussing politics, an eclectic collection of wall hangings, posters, chandeliers and weird art surrounding them.
There are several rooms to tuck yourself into here, but the best seats are outside, on a quaint plaza in the middle of downtown Guanajuato, where you can watch the world go by while enjoying an oversized gin-and-tonic or a cold Modelo-brand beer. We included no address because it’s so off the radar, it doesn’t even show up on Google Maps, but you can find it at the Plaza del Baratillo across from the fountain.
Know of any great bars in Guanajuato city we missed? Feel free to add to our list and share your favorites in the comments.
Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based out of Mexico City. She has been published widely both online and in print, writing about Mexico for over a decade. She lives a double life as a local tour guide and is the author of Mexico City Streets: La Roma. Follow her urban adventures on Instagram and see more of her work at www.mexicocitystreets.com.
El Tri team members jog at a training session on Saturday. Federación Mexicano de Fútbol
In anticipation of his team’s opening game in the 2022 World Cup next week, Mexico’s head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino has revealed his 26-man roster for the global soccer extravaganza in Qatar.
“El Tri” — the team’s nickname based on Mexico’s tri-colored flag — will open the 32-team tournament on Nov. 22 against Poland. Four days later, it will play superstar Lionel Messi and Argentina before closing the group stage Nov. 30 against Saudi Arabia.
The main criticisms of Martino’s roster is that it has been built from an aging player pool without any real direction for the future. That being said, there weren’t any major surprises in the Argentine’s final 26 picks.
One of the selections who warrants attention — especially with Mexico’s offensive starpower hampered by several key injuries — is 27-year-old winger Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, who plays for Napoli in Italy’s Serie A, the fourth-ranked league in the world (Mexico’s Liga MX ranks ninth). He was born in Mexico City, raised in El Pedregal (an upper-class neighborhood in the south part of the city) and recruited by the first-division Mexican team Pachuca to begin playing for its youth teams when he was just 11.
Mexico’s roster for Qatar this year. Twitter @miseleccionmx
Lozano scored an iconic goal in the last World Cup, in 2018 in Russia, to help Mexico stun defending champion Germany 1-0, and though he has battled injuries the past couple of years, his pace and creativity make him Mexico’s most dynamic forward.
Midfielder Edson Álvarez, nicknamed “El Machín,” is another player on the roster worth checking out. A defensive-minded player from Tlalnepantla de Baz, in the state of México just north of Mexico City, Álvarez has played four years with perennial Dutch champion Ajax and has appeared in 58 international games for Mexico, a pretty high total for someone who just turned 25 last month.
For goalkeeping, Martino has turned to experience in 37-year-old Guillermo Ochoa, 40-year-old Alfredo Talavera, and 35-year-old Rodolfo Cota, who all play for teams in Mexico’s top division, Liga MX. Though Carlos Acevedo, 26, of Santos Laguna is seen by many as the best Mexican goalkeeper in Liga MX today, and certainly a future component of the national team, he has failed to catch Martino’s eye.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Ochoa will be Mexico’s starting goalkeeper. A standout goalie for one of Mexico’s marquee pro teams, Club América, Ochoa’s shaggy curls and aggressive style of play make him a highly recognizable player, and his stellar performance in a 0-0 tie against the host team, Brazil, in the 2014 World Cup cemented his status as Mexico’s top choice for years to come.
Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa at a recent practice. Federación Mexicano de Fútbol
Ochoa has guided El Tri to some important wins and ties in each of the last two World Cups — helping Mexico continue an uncanny streak. For seven straight World Cups, Mexico has finished either first or second in its group, thus qualifying for the round of 16.
But each time, Mexico has lost that next game in the round of 16, also called the knockout round, leaving the team and its rabid fans yearning for an elusive fifth game. Mexico hasn’t made it to that fifth game, the quarterfinals, since 1986, and the team has never advanced beyond that in any World Cup.
As always, the pressure is on for a better result this year, but even making it out of Group C won’t be easy for Mexico, currently ranked No. 13 in the world. Messi’s Argentina squad is ranked No. 3 and Poland is No. 26, so El Tri will have its hands full.
Mexico’s schedule in Doha, Qatar will be 10 a.m. Nov. 22 against Poland, 1 p.m. Nov. 26 against Argentina and 1 p.m. Nov. 30 against 51st-ranked Saudi Arabia.
Martino, who has said he feels like public enemy No. 1, has been under fire for a lot of uninspiring performances by the national team over the past couple of years, though overall, Mexico has played decently without being spectacular. Martino even reportedly turned in his resignation in September, but it wasn’t accepted by Mexican Football Federation officials and he was convinced to stay until after the World Cup.
For the time being, the Mexican team has set up camp in Girona, Spain, before departing to Qatar next week. El Tri played a World Cup tuneup match on Nov. 9 against Iraq, rolling to an easy 4-0 victory. Another friendly tuneup, this one against Sweden, is set for Wednesday, Nov. 16 at Estadi Montilivi in Girona, which is in Catalonia, Spain.
