England vs. Mexico: The History

England take on Mexico at Wembley on Monday night in their penultimate warm-up match for the World Cup and their last at home.

 

Fabio Capello will hope to find a balance between bedding down his first-choice XI and experimenting with newer players as he prepares to trim his provisional squad down to 23 names by the start of June.

 

Mexico are currently ranked 17th in the FIFA World Rankings and will be making their own World Cup preparations having been drawn in Group A alongside France, Uruguay, and the hosts South Africa.

 

The two nations have met each other on eight previous occasions with England having the best of it over the years with five wins to Mexico’s two, along with a solitary draw.

 

Half of those meetings have taken place in England and there the record is even more one-sided with the Three Lions winning each of the four matches, racking up 16 goals in the process.

 

In contrast, the Mexicans have yet to find the net on each of their four previous visits to England.

 

However, Mexico did win the first ever clash between the two nations back in 1959, triumphing 2-1 in a friendly in Mexico City.

 

England hosted a return fixture at Wembley in 1961 and gained revenge for that defeat with an emphatic 8-0 win, Bobby Charlton scoring a hat-trick.  

 

The scoreline remains Mexico’s biggest ever defeat in their 88-year international history.

 

The two met again five years later in the group stages of the 1966 World Cup. This time is was an altogether closer affair with England eventually winning 2-0 through goals from Bobby Charlton once more and Roger Hunt.

 

It was England’s first win of the tournament that would eventually bring them so much success, and is the only time the two sides have met in a World Cup game.

 

A 0-0 draw in the Azteca Stadium followed in a 1969 friendly and the countries did not meet again until 1985 when an England side under Bobby Robson went down 1-0 in the same stadium as part of the Azteca 2000 Tournament.

 

The sides met again the very next summer with England this time running out 3-0 winners in a Los Angeles friendly thanks to a brace from Mark Hateley and Peter Beardsley’s first goal for England.

 

Glenn Hoddle was the next England manager to lead his team out against Mexico as the teams met in a friendly at Wembley in 1997.

 

David James made his debut that day and kept a clean sheet as goals from Teddy Sheringham and Robbie Fowler saw the home side triumph 2-0.

 

England ’s most recent meeting with Mexico was nine years ago when they faced off at Derby County’s Pride Park in an end-of-season friendly.

 

Sven Goran Eriksson’s side were two up within 15 minutes with goals from Paul Scholes and Robbie Fowler and the score was eventually doubled to 4-0 after free-kick goals from David Beckham and Teddy Sheringham.

 

Eight of England’s current 30-man provisional squad featured in that 2001 meeting.

 

Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, and Emile Heskey all started the match, whilst Jamie Carragher and David James appeared as substitutes at half-time.

 

Also used as substitutes later on in the second half were Michael Carrick and Joe Cole, who both won their first senior caps for the Three Lions that day.

 

 

England ’s overall record vs. Mexico

 

P8        W5       D1        L2         F20       A3

 

England ’s home record vs. Mexico

 

P4        W4       D0        L0         F16       A0