Rafael “Rafa” Márquez is barely a month into his tenure as Mexico’s head coach, and the seat already feels like the hottest in town. The former national team captain, who spent the best years of his playing career at Barcelona, inherited a squad still glowing from its best World Cup in decades. Four friendly matches later, that glow has gone.
Márquez was part of Javier Aguirre’s coaching staff that took Mexico to the 2026 World Cup, where El Tri finally overcame a psychological barrier dating back to 1986 — the last time the country had won a knockout-stage game. They beat Ecuador in the last 32 before a brave loss to England, a run that raised hopes across the nation that a long-running curse of underperformance had at last been lifted.
The four matches that followed told a very different story. A 1-1 draw with Colombia was followed by another 1-1 draw with Peru. Then came a 3-0 defeat to the United States in Arizona, and on Tuesday a 2-0 loss to Chile. Colombia brought optimism, Peru brought unease, the US brought despair — and Chile, nightmare.
The Mexican press has responded with think-pieces questioning whether Márquez’s appointment was the right call, and headlines that leave little room for doubt. TV Azteca analyst Álvaro López Sordo said in a telephone interview that it is “difficult to recognize this team from the one that played just a few months ago,” adding that one might think the World Cup was an illusion, that playing at home favoured Mexico through the altitude and the support of the fans.
These were only friendlies, yet López Sordo described them as a cold “dose of reality” — a neat summary of the bewilderment of Mexican fans flooding social media to complain. It is not merely the heavy defeat to their arch-rival, the United States. It is that the triumphant World Cup side appeared to have found something special that this team is now desperately trying to rediscover.
The first temptation in Mexican football is to read the results as a referendum on Márquez, and there is plenty of scrutiny to go around. His appointment made obvious sense: he knew the players, had been part of the World Cup leadership group, captained the national team and excelled on some of the biggest stages in European football. But his experience as a top-level coach is limited, and his former national team manager, the Argentinian Ricardo La Volpe, told Claro Sports that “not all good players are good coaches”, citing the cases of Diego Maradona and Pelé.
For López Sordo, the early results are less an evaluation of Márquez than an X-ray of the problems he has inherited. “Mexico’s problem is not that they don’t have good players, it’s that they don’t have enough of them,” he said. “I think Pep Guardiola or José Mourinho could come to Mexico, and it wouldn’t change much. Because, ultimately, the game belongs to the players.”
The supply of elite Mexican talent has thinned. There are now 16 Mexicans in the major European leagues, none of them playing for a top team in their respective division. The national team’s bench is shallow, meaning an injury, a suspension or a dip in form for one or two players can significantly alter the side’s level. “That reduces Rafa’s margin for error,” López Sordo said, arguing the coach will have to scout players more closely and be more assertive even though options are scarce. The defeat to the United States, he added, is a burden Márquez must carry — and burdens accumulate.
Márquez has been careful not to overpromise. “I adapt to what I have,” he said at a press conference in late September before the friendlies. “It’s not that I’m going to impose a style of play, because obviously, who wouldn’t want that? I was a Barça player, I want to play like Barça. But you don’t have the raw material, so you have to adapt to that.”
There were positive signs amid the gloom. Against Colombia, Mexico played with a different style, building out from the back and creating attacking chances; Colombia scored first, but teenage forward Gilberto Mora, who became the youngest goalscorer in the national team’s history, equalised in a 1-1 draw.
Against Peru, the staff changed the entire starting XI to spread playing time and keep the best players fresh for the United States match — a decision that made sense given these friendlies are meant to offer a controlled glimpse of the squad rather than simply chase wins. Mexico drew 1-1. Against the US, with Raúl Jiménez, Julián Quiñones and Mora all missing, the team lacked striking power.
Mexico know this script. Defeats become doubts, doubts become crises, and a crisis demands someone to blame. The coach carries it, and the questions are already swirling — why persist with Márquez, and should someone new be tried if the losing run continues? Mexican football then starts its cycle all over again. The real test will be whether, for once, it can tell the difference between a coach who is just starting out and a system that has been searching for answers for years.