Mexico opened the Rafa Márquez era with a 1-1 draw against Colombia on Saturday, September 26, 2026, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Luis Suárez gave Colombia a ninth-minute lead with a header, and 17-year-old Gilberto Mora answered in the 62nd minute with a stunning solo goal, his first for El Tri, to secure the draw in Márquez’s first match as head coach.
The friendly was Mexico’s first match of the 2030 World Cup cycle and its first since the round-of-16 exit to England ended the 2026 World Cup campaign. It was also the first time El Tri played a match in Baltimore.
Mexico vs Colombia result
Colombia struck first in the ninth minute. Richard Ríos delivered a cross from the right flank and Luis Suárez met it with a header that beat Raúl Rangel. It was Colombia’s only shot of the entire first half. Mexico owned the chances but not the scoreboard: El Tri hit the woodwork three times before the break, the crossbar twice and the post once, including Luis Chávez’s strike off the bar in the 32nd minute.
The 0-1 halftime deficit held into the second half, when Mexico’s pressure finally told. Jorge Sánchez was booked in the 59th minute for a tackle on Suárez. Three minutes later, El Tri leveled. Jesús Gallardo found Mora in space inside the left side of the penalty area. The 17-year-old faced up Jhon Lucumí, cut back inside to send the defender to the ground, feinted to his right and fired past the sliding Lucumí and Davinson Sánchez, beating Álvaro Montero at the near post. It was Mora’s first goal for the senior national team, arriving in his 14th appearance while wearing the No. 10 shirt.
Márquez acted decisively with a quadruple substitution in the 63rd and 64th minutes: Luis Chávez, Hirving Lozano, Jesús Gallardo and Mora came off, with Obed Vargas, Orbelín Pineda, Mateo Chávez and Álvaro Fidalgo entering. Germán Berterame also came on later for El Tri, while Colombia introduced Jáminton Campaz, Samuel Velásquez and Kevin Viveros. Lozano was also booked; there were no red cards, and the 1-1 scoreline held to full time.
Mexico’s 4-3-3: Raúl Rangel; Jorge Sánchez, Johan Vásquez (captain), Israel Reyes, Jesús Gallardo; Erik Lira, Gilberto Mora, Luis Chávez; Hirving Lozano, Armando González, Roberto Alvarado. Colombia’s 4-3-3: Álvaro Montero; Daniel Muñoz, Davinson Sánchez, Jhon Lucumí, Álvaro Angulo; Gustavo Puerta, Kevin Castaño, Richard Ríos; Jhon Arias, Luis Suárez, Carlos Andrés Gómez. A minute-by-minute account of the match is available on Claro Sports’ live blog.
Three takeaways
Mora delivered the statement of the new era. The first goal of the Márquez era was scored by the youngest star of the new cycle. At 17, in the No. 10 shirt, Mora opened his El Tri account in his 14th senior appearance: a cutback that dropped Lucumí, then a finish threaded between two defenders and the goalkeeper. If Márquez intends to build around young talent, the project’s signature moment arrived 62 minutes into his first match.
Mexico created enough to win, but needed a wondergoal. Three strikes of the woodwork in the first half against a Colombia side whose only first-half shot was the goal. Mexico also held a slight possession edge in the opening 20 minutes, testing Álvaro Montero twice and winning two corners. The chance creation was there; the finishing edge was not. A wondergoal covered the gap on this night; turning chances into a victory is the task ahead.
Márquez blended the old guard with the new. Gallardo and Lozano, his teammates on Mexico’s 2018 World Cup squad, started, and Gallardo provided the assist for the equalizer. Mora, Obed Vargas and Mateo Chávez, the next wave, all saw minutes. When the match called for a push, Márquez changed four players at once in the 63rd and 64th minutes, a decisive first statement from the dugout in his head-coaching debut.
What the result means
A draw keeps Márquez unbeaten at the start of the 2030 World Cup cycle. This was El Tri’s first match since the round-of-16 exit to England at the 2026 World Cup, and the first Mexico match ever played in Baltimore. The result also steadied a difficult head-to-head: Colombia had won the most recent meeting 4-0 on October 11, 2025, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, and this draw ended a four-match losing streak to Los Cafeteros, avoiding a fifth consecutive defeat.
The longer history still favors Colombia. Mexico has not beaten its South American rival since September 7, 2010, a 1-0 win at the Estadio Universitario, and in the last 23 years El Tri has just one win against Colombia, with seven defeats and four draws. Both Márquez and Andrés Guardado started that 2010 victory; Guardado now serves as one of Márquez’s assistants, alongside Juan Manuel Lillo.
What comes next
Mexico’s September window continues on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, against Peru, with kickoff at 9:00 PM ET / 8:00 PM CT at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey. U.S. TV and streaming details are in FutnSoccer’s Mexico vs Peru where-to-watch guide. El Tri then travels to face the United States on October 3 in Glendale, Arizona, before hosting Chile on October 6 in Los Angeles. U.S. viewing details for El Tri’s upcoming friendlies will be listed in FutnSoccer’s Mexico soccer viewing guide. Colombia continues its window against Paraguay on Friday, October 2, 2026, at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, before facing Peru on Tuesday, October 6, at Nu Stadium in Miami. Between internationals, El Tri’s Liga MX-based players return to club duty; the Liga MX viewing hub tracks where to watch every matchday in the U.S.
Watch the highlights
Watch full highlights of Mexico’s 1-1 draw with Colombia in Rafa Márquez’s El Tri debut, featuring Luis Suárez’s ninth-minute opener and Gilberto Mora’s stunning 62nd-minute equalizer, via TUDN USA.
