The News Dairy

Mexico has been a mainstay nation at the World Cup appearing at the finals 16 times out of a possible 21 tournaments.

In addition, Mexico has hosted the tournament twice, with a third on the way as they will co-host the 2026 World Cup with Canada and the United States.

However, Mexico are yet to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, as Gerardo Martino’s side have one game left in the group phase in which to book their trip to Qatar.

What results do Mexico need to qualify for the World Cup 2022?

With one game remaining, Mexico is in a favourable position, with several options for automatic qualification available to them. One of the routes to the World Cup for Mexico’s national football team is a win or a draw in their final match against El Salvador on March 30.

Mexico can also rely on results elsewhere, as they already sit in the third and final qualification spot; a loss or draw for fourth-placed Costa Rica against the United States national team would suffice for Mexico.

In the case of a loss for Mexico against El Salvador and a win for Costa Rica against the United States, both countries would have 25 points. However, even then, the Mexicans could still snatch qualification because they have a goal difference of seven compared to Costa Rica’s three.

As a result, even if Mexico loses by a single-goal margin and Costa Rica wins by a single-goal margin, then Mexico will still advance to the World Cup. However, a goal differential swing of three or more would send Mexico into the inter-continental play-off.

Mexico’s CONCACAF qualification table

Mexico play their qualification games through the Octagonal system, consisting of eight CONCACAF teams ranked from one to five based on their FIFA rankings as of July 2020, plus the three winners of the second round qualifying stage.

The teams play against each other in a home-and-away round-robin format, with each side playing 14 matches. The top three teams in the table will qualify for the 2022 World Cup, while the team that finishes fourth will progress to the inter-confederation play-off fixture.

You can view the CONCACAF qualification table below.