Rafael Márquez begins his tenure as Mexico’s head coach on Saturday, September 26, when El Tri faces Colombia at 9:00 PM ET at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The match airs live in the United States on Univision, TUDN and ViX, and it opens the four-game September and October window that launches Mexico’s road to the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
Márquez, presented on September 10 after succeeding Javier Aguirre, inherits a squad he knows intimately from his time as an assistant. Aguirre has since taken over at Valencia, and his replacement now gets his first real audition on the touchline. Here are five storylines to watch.
1. A new era built on the old foundation
Márquez has been clear that he is not tearing anything down. At his presentation he said, “The advantage is that we’re not starting from scratch. We already have that identity; we showed it at the World Cup,” adding that his mission is to strengthen that identity rather than rebuild it. He led El Tri to their first knockout win since 1986 at the home World Cup this summer as Aguirre’s assistant, so the players already know his voice. Saturday shows what that continuity looks like when the decisions are finally his.
2. The Liga MX call-up puzzle
This window comes with a wrinkle. Under an agreement with Liga MX clubs, Márquez could call up only two players per club for the Colombia match, so his roughly 30-man roster will join in waves across the four friendlies, with some players in the stands on a given night to respect the deal. Chivas reportedly have up to six players on the radar, with goalkeeper Miguel “Tala” Jiménez and forward Roberto “Piojo” Alvarado the favorites to feature against Colombia, according to TUDN. Managing rotation while keeping every club relationship intact is its own test.
3. The missing stars
Two of Mexico’s most important players are absent. Edson Álvarez and Julián Quiñones headline the omissions, with Quiñones sidelined by muscle discomfort picked up playing in Saudi Arabia. That shifts the scoring burden onto a thinner attack and makes this window an audition for depth pieces. Club América winger Isaías Violante is one to watch after earning his place with regular starts, and World Cup holdovers like Gilberto Mora, Luis Romo and Ángel Fidalgo offer continuity in the spine.
4. New faces and a heavyweight staff
Márquez’s backroom team is as interesting as the roster. Juan Manuel Lillo, one of the most respected tacticians in the Spanish-speaking game, and Andrés Guardado, the retired El Tri legend now on the coaching side, are part of the project. Among the players, León goalkeeper Óscar García earned his first call-up and has already spoken about feeling Márquez’s leadership up close. This camp is where the next cycle’s hierarchy starts forming.
5. No soft landing
Colombia is a genuine test for a debut. Néstor Lorenzo’s side reached the Round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup, where they fell to Switzerland 4-3 on penalties after 120 scoreless minutes, and they finished third in CONMEBOL qualifying, closing with a 6-3 win at Venezuela. They are starting their own 2030 cycle with friendlies against Mexico, Paraguay and Peru. If Márquez wants an honest read on his team, this opponent will give him one.
After Colombia, Mexico stays on U.S. soil to face Peru on September 29, the United States on October 3 and Chile on October 6. But the story everyone will remember starts Saturday night in Baltimore, when one of Mexico’s greatest players finally takes the bench as its coach.
