Mexico ended their preparations for the 2026 World Cup by crushing Serbia in their final friendly by a 5-1 score. Mexico completely dominated the match and bounced back after Serbia got an early lead, to make it 3 out of 3 in their last friendly tour. Mexico will now face off a week for now against South Africa in the 2026 World Cup opening match.
The 1st half started with Mexico coming out with Raul Jimenez up top for the first time in the last friendly tour prior to the World Cup. A low right footed
shot inside the area from Brian Gutierrez forced a save from Serbia’s goalkeeper, Filip Stankovic. A cross into the area was headed from close range by Julian Quiñones forced and incredible save from Stankovic. A great back heeled pass from Jimenez allowed Gutierrez to get into the area but his right footed shot went wide in a bad miss. After a bad mistake from Jesus Gallardo gifted the ball to Petar Stanic, he was allowed to get into the area and get off a right footed shot past Mexico’s goalkeeper, Raul Rangel to score and give Serbia the 1-0 lead against the run of play. Mexico had completely dominated the match but a bad mistake allowed Serbia the shock lead. After getting the ball in the area, Jimenez got off a right footed shot that was well saved by Stankovic. A great combination play between Alvaro Fidalgo and Gutierrez ended with the ball left there for a close range volley shot from Quiñones but it went wide in a bad miss. Off a corner kick, the cross into the area found Cesar Montes but his header went wide. A cross into the area from Gallardo would find Jimenez but he whiffed on the left footed shot. The ball would then fall to Gutierrez but his left footed shot was blocked wide. In the ensuing corner kick, the short pass would find Gutierrez, who got a good cross into the area where Johan Vasquez would get a close range header that went past Stankovic and into the net to score and tie the match at 1-1. It was another set piece and another headed goal from Vasquez, who had doubled the amount of goals he scored for the NT in a week. A great cross into the area from Gallardo would be missed by Jimenez. A shot from outside the area by Quiñones looked like it forced a save from Stankovic although the referee ruled it had gone wide without a touch by the goalkeeper. A cross into the area was wonderfully volleyed by Jimenez but right to Stankovic. A back pass by Stefan Bukinac was terribly misjudged by Stankovic and the ball would go in for an own goal to give Mexico the 2-1 lead. The own goal was given to Bukinac but the mistake had been totally on Stankovic. The halftime whistle blew and although Mexico only had a one goal lead, they had completely dominated and deserved a bigger lead.
The 2nd half started with Mexico subbing out Erik Lira for Edson Alvarez. Serbia subbed out Petar Stanic, Nikola Tulic and Lazar Randelovic for Dejan Zukic, Mihailo Ivanovic and Veljko Birmancevic. Jimenez would get the ball in the area and get off a left footed shot that would go just wide. Bukinac got off a left footed shot that would go just wide. A great play by Mexico had Roberto Alvarado making a great pass to Quiñones, who got off a right footed shot past Stankovic but it hit the post. The ball then went straight into the path of Raul Jimenez, who volleyed it into the empty net to score and give Mexico the 3-1 lead. Mexico subbed out Raul Jimenez, Julian Quiñones, Brian Gutierrez, Alvaro Fidalgo and Cesar Montes for Guillermo Martinez, Alexis Vega, Luis Chavez, Gilberto Mora and Israel Reyes. After getting the ball in the area, Ivanovic got off a right footed shot that went wide. Serbia subbed out Stefan Bukinac, Vanja Dragojevic and Filip Stankovic for Adem Avdic, Njegos Petrovic and Veljko Ilic. Off a corner kick, Vega got off a great low cross that Adem Avdic would try to clear but instead he would send it past Ilic and into the net in another own goal that increased Mexico’s lead to a 4-1 score. Mexico subbed out Jesus Gallardo, Johan Vasquez and Roberto Alvarado for Mateo Chavez, Luis Romo and Orbelin Pineda. Serbia subbed out Nikola Simic, Vukasin Durdevic and Aleksandar Stankovic for Petar Petrovic, Vasilijei Kostov and Ognjen Mimovic. Vega got time and space to get off a great right footed shot that hit the post. A cross into the area would be headed wide by Martinez. Serbia subbed out Strahinja Erakovic and Vladimir Lucic for Mirko Milikic and Kosta Nedeljkovic. Luis Chavez got off a left footed shot from outside the area that went just wide. A cross into the area was cleared but fell to Luis Chavez, who got off an incredible left footed shot from outside the area that went past Ilic to score and give Mexico the 5-1 lead. It was the last play of the match as the ref blew the whistle and gave Mexico a great victory in the send off before the World Cup.
Mexico closed out in great fashion their last series of friendly prior to the World Cup. While it’s was true that Serbia came in with an alternate squad and had been a disappointing team in this match as well as their previous one against Cape Verde ( They lost by a 3-0 score), it was still a great performance for Mexico who dominated the game. Mexico will still need to workout some things especially on the offense as they missed a number of chances. Coach Javier Aguirre was wise to say in the press conference that a match like this could be dangerous because it can make you overconfident. Still it is much better for Mexico to have won big prior to the World Cup as well as to come in undefeated in 2026 after their lackluster closing of 2025. Mexico has improved with the number of additions to the midfield (Fidalgo, Gutierrez, Mora and Obed Vargas) and if they improve on defense, they should be ready to have a good participation as they host the World Cup for a third time.
