Javier Aguirre has had crucial matches in his career as a manager. He almost miraculously led Osasuna in 2005 and Mallorca in 2014 to the Copa del Rey finals. He turned two mid-table clubs into surprise winners in Spain. He built Atlético de Madrid, which returned to the Champions League, and has rescued the Mexican national team from crisis three times.
Now it’s time to take the crown, to take that extra step to secure one of the best victories of his career and for his country. The opponent is England. “The pressure of being in charge of the national team is real. It helps you be better. Tomorrow we have a very tough match; we will try to win, to dictate the terms,” he said this Saturday at the Azteca Stadium.
“You’re facing the number four team in the world, according to FIFA. World champions in 1966, a team that has a great league feeding its players. We’re talking about a top team in the world. We have to play a near-perfect game. Play even better than we have been, and have the bit of luck that you need in these very evenly matched games,” Aguirre commented in a press conference.
Something that has been a setback for teams like South Africa, Czech Republic, and England is the altitude in a city like Mexico City, which is 2,224 meters above sea level. Added to that is the summer heat and the ever-present pollution. Aguirre has downplayed that factor: “These are things that, personally, I put aside. It’s eleven against eleven. I don’t dwell on those things.”
He also downplayed the fuss surrounding the change in the match’s schedule, which had indeed been discussed to play at midday due to weather, security, and even television scheduling issues in England. “They told me about the change of schedule and I said I didn’t agree. That’s all I did,” he said, referring to the interview he gave when there were rumors of the match being rescheduled.
“The English, historically, are very fast. It’s true they have some very important players. A very physically powerful team, but they also play very good football,” Aguirre remarked. The coach focused on the danger posed, above all, by Harry Kane, the striker, whom he will pressure: “Kane is a world-class player, a 1.88-meter tall lad. Despite his height, he has great skill with his feet, he has everything, he’s very hard-working. We’ll try to neutralize him. We’ll try to make sure he’s not comfortable, that he always has someone on him so he can’t create plays.”
Aguirre cited Raúl Jiménez, the top scorer in English football for the last eight years, as an example of his players. He highlighted Jiménez’s “enormous humility; despite having spent so many years in the best league in the world, he’s still the same. He acts like everyone else, without any airs of a star or a diva. That’s what keeps me grounded; they’re all like that. Everyone is very dedicated to the team,” he noted.
The keys to a historic World Cup for Mexico, like the one in 2026, lie largely in the selection of the players. “We had good preparation, enough time to choose players who didn’t prioritize their individual talent, who put their egos aside, who were humble. In that sense, I think we got it right on a human level. We’ve found a great desire to excel in everyone,” he analyzed. As a result, they have won all four of their matches without conceding a goal.
Aguirre has avoided categorizing the Mexico-England match as the most important in history because, for him, those decisive matches against Italy in the 1970 World Cup and against Germany in 1986 remain relevant, even though both were defeats. “The best is yet to come,” commented the Basque coach. This Sunday he has the opportunity to make the masterstroke of his entire coaching career.
