Official: Mexico to play Guatemala in a friendly in Mazatlán

What started out as just a rumor, fuelled by Ricardo Salinas Pliego, (owner and president of Grupo Salinas and Mazatlán FC) is now official. Mexico will make its debut in Mazatlán. Diego Cocca’s team will face Guatemala on Wednesday 7 at the Kraken, the new and modern venue inaugurated in 2020 to host the Cañoneros’ matches in the Liga MX.

The Mexican Football Federation (FMF) announced the friendly as part of a brief preparation tour before two Concacaf tournaments this summer - the Final Four of the Nations League, which will be held in Las Vegas on 15 June and the Gold Cup, which will start on 24 June. The national team lost both competitions in 2021, during the Tata Martino era, so will now be looking to reclaim both crowns as well as underline their status as the region’s top team.

Three days after facing Guatemala, Diego Cocca’s team have another friendly lined up - against Cameroon, at the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California. For the moment, these are the only two friendlies that have been officially confirmed.

Mexico play for the first time in the Sinaloan port - a state which has produced several senior internationals in recent years, including Héctor Moreno, Erick Gutiérrez, Jesús Angulo, as well as Francisco Javier “El Maza” Rodríguez, Jared Borgetti and Omar Bravo.

Mexico and Guatemala are two old rivals in the area. In fact, the historic first game of the Tri was, precisely, against their southern neighbors - in a series of friendlies in 1923. Their most recent meeting was in April last year, that game, also a friendly ended in a 0-0 draw.

The head-to-head balance is very favorable to Mexico - in the 31 previous meetings, they have registered 23 wins and nine draws with the Central Americans winning just four. As for goals, Mexico have scored a total of 72 goals in those games and conceded 32.