Mexico is regarded as one of the strongest football countries in the North American region. The country has participated in various international tournaments and regularly compete in the World Cup. The highest achievements ever achieved by Mexico national football team are reaching World Cup quarterfinals stage, becoming runner-up in three Copa America tournaments, and winning Confederations Cup in 1999.
In this article, I want to discuss 15 best Mexican footballers from time to time. The ranking was created based on the players' individual skills as well as the number of trophies that they won with their respective clubs and country.
15. Andrés Guardado
Andres Guardado is dubbed as "Little prince" and started his debut in the European League in 2007. At that time, Guardado was signed by Deportivo La Coruna from Atlas. He plays as a wingback, but can also be positioned as a winger due to his good attacking instincts. At Deportivo, Guardado won a Segunda Division title and an Intertoto Cup. He was also named the Best Midfielder of Segunda Division in the 2011-12 season.
14. Gerardo Torrado
Gerardo Torrado is a defensive midfielder who becomes one of the leading players of Cruz Azul. He joined the club in 2005 after playing in Europe for Sevilla and Racing Santander. After a year playing for Cruz Azul, Torrado was trusted to be the team captain. He was elected four times as the best midfielder of Mexican League. Torrado also regularly represents his country in various international tournaments. So far, he presented a Confederations Cup trophy and three CONCACAF Gold Cups for Mexico national team.
13. Carlos Hermosillo
Carlos Hermosillo is one of the best Mexican strikers ever who played in the period 1983-2001. Because of his tall stature, he was dubbed the "Giant of Cerro Azul." In addition to a career in Mexican League, Hermosillo briefly joined a Belgian club, Standard Liege. He also played for Los Angeles Galaxy in the 1998-99 season. In total, Hermosilo scored 35 goals in 90 appearances for Mexico national team.
12. Carlos Salcido
There aren't many Mexican players who have successful career in Europe, and Salcido is one of those few players. He became the first Mexican football player to win the Eredivisie with PSV Eindhoven. The achievement was made in the 2006-07 season and he repeated the same feat in the next season. Throughout his career, Salcido is known as a strong left-back who can also play as a central midfielder. He was instrumental in helping Mexico win the 2012 Olympic gold medal.
11. Pavel Pardo
With a record of 148 caps, Pavel Pardo is a Mexican player with the second highest number of appearances throughout the history. He played in the 1998 and 2006 World Cups and helped his country claim the 1999 Confederations Cup. At club level, Pavel Pardo's achievement was also quite brilliant, where he won the Bundesliga in the 2006-07 season with Stuttgart. Throughout his career, Pardo was known as a tireless midfielder who often scored important goals for his teams.
10. Horacio Casarín
Horacio Casarin is a legendary Mexican striker who played in the 1937-1956 period. He has amazing goal-appearances ratio, where he scored 15 goals in 16 appearances for Mexico national team. Not only at national team level, his career at the club level was also quite successful. Throughout his career, he scored more than 200 goals in the Mexican League and starred in a football-themed film in 1947. The movie became a box-office in Mexico and somehow it helped him gain recognition as one of the legendary figures in Mexican football.
9. Javier Hernández
Javier Hernandez's popularity increased dramatically when he joined Manchester United in 2010. In the club Chicarito mostly positioned as a reserve player. Whenever he was given a chance to play, he frequently scored important goals that helped his club win the game or save them from defeat. Due to his performances, Javier Hernandez is regarded as one of the best super-subs in the world of football.
8. Antonio Carbajal
Antonio Carbajal is a retired Mexican goalkeeper who played in the 1950-1966 period. He represented his country in five World Cup tournaments, a feat that can only be achieved for by a few footballers. Throughout his career, Carbajal was famous for never wearing gloves in a football match. His great goalkeeping ability made his position as the number one goalkeeper of Mexico national team was irreplaceable for almost 16 years.
7. Claudio Suárez
Claudio Suarez is the record holder for most number of appearances for Mexico national team. He recorded 178 caps in the 1992-2006 period. Playing as a defender, Suarez was dubbed as "The Emperor" because of his outstanding charisma and leadership skills. He led Mexico national team won three CONCACAF Gold Cups and a Confederations Cup. At club level, Suarez won two Mexican League titles with Pumas UNAM and Chivas Guadalajara.
6. Jared Borgetti
Jared Borgetti was famous as a target-man with perfect heading and finishing skills. He became a mainstay of Mexico national football team in the 2000s, scoring a total of 46 goals from 89 appearances for his country. This statistic makes Borgetti becomes the all-time top scorer of Mexico national football team. He was also twice elected as the Mexican League Footballer of the Year and had a brief career in the Premier League, joining Bolton Wanderers in the 2005-06 season.
5. Luis Hernández
Hernandez showed brilliant performances the 1998 World Cup. In the tournament, he formed a duet with Cuauhtemoc Blanco and scored four goals. This achievement made Hernandez become the first Mexican player who can score more than two goals in a World Cup tournament. Throughout his career, Hernandez was known as a fast, smart, and agile player. In total, he scored 35 goals in 85 matches for his country.
4. Jorge Campos
Jorge Campos is one of the most eccentric goalkeepers in football history. He always wore bright-colored jerseys and often left his post to help the team's offense, even sometimes scoring goals. Before being a goalkeeper, Campos was a striker. Sometimes, in a game Campos would change his position from a goalkeeper into a striker, and vice versa. Although he has short stature, Campos possessed outstanding jumping skill and often performed dazzling acrobatic saves.
3. Cuauhtémoc Blanco
Cuauhtemoc Blanco is the best target-man type striker ever to play for Mexico national team. He was very effective in converting opportunities into goals and possessed powerful shooting. Blanco represented his country in various international tournaments. He is also the top scorer of all time in Confederations Cup tournament (along with Ronaldinho). In the late period of his career, Blanco mostly played as an attacking midfielder instead of a pure striker.
2. Rafael Marquez
In terms of the numbers of achievements claimed, Rafael Marquez is the most successful Mexican player in European football. The defender underwent glorious career when he joined Barcelona from 2003 to 2010. He was signed by Barcelona from AS Monaco after helping the club win the Ligue 1. At Barcelona, Marquez won four La Liga titles, two Champions League trophies, one European Super Cup, and a FIFA Club World Cup. His duet with Carles Puyol at the core of Barcelona's defense once was regarded as the strongest defender duet in the world.
1. Hugo Sánchez
Hugo Sanchez is regarded as one of the best Real Madrid strikers of all time. He played for Madrid in the period 1985-1992, winning three La Liga titles, one UEFA Cup trophy, and became a five-time top scorer of La Liga. He was known as a striker who possesses outstanding pace, remarkable dribbling skills, and excellent finishing. He also helped Mexico national team reached the quarterfinals at the 1986 World Cup tournament. Considering his great accomplishments as a footballer, it's not surprising that Hugo Sanchez was named as the best Mexican sportsman of the 20th century.
