Aguirre admits Mexico debut nerves, eyes Edson Álvarez for Korea match

Javier Aguirre did not hide the unease inside Mexico’s opening World Cup win. After the 2-0 victory over South Africa at Mexico City Stadium on June 11, the veteran coach said as many as 10 players were making their World Cup debut and that several of them felt the weight of the occasion, even though Mexico created enough chances to make the score far more comfortable.

That admission points to the central issue now facing the Selección Mexicana: whether the shaky first outing was simply nerves or evidence of deeper tactical problems. Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez scored the goals in the first match of the first 48-team World Cup, but Aguirre’s postgame assessment was blunt. He said Mexico “pudo golear,” yet the team relaxed and allowed pressure to creep into its play, a concern that will shape his decisions before the meeting with South Korea.

One of those decisions appears to involve the back line. César Montes was ruled out after his red card against South Africa, and the most prominent option to replace him is Edson Álvarez, with Israel Reyes also under consideration as a left-sided center back. For Aguirre, the move would be about more than filling a gap. It would show that the margin for errors has already narrowed, especially with Mexico trying to manage the jump from an opening-night celebration to a far more exacting second test.

The stakes around Aguirre’s warning are sharpened by the path that brought him here. He had worked 22 months with the national team and dealt with 12 player injuries along the way, yet he still arrived with a 26-man squad that he announced on May 31, 2026. FIFA noted that Guillermo Ochoa was named for his sixth World Cup, while Gilberto Mora entered as the youngest Mexican ever to play in a World Cup. Aguirre, meanwhile, came into the tournament with World Cup experience as a player, assistant and coach, making this his fifth involvement in the competition. That background gives his criticism added weight: in a tournament opening at home, with 13:00 local kickoff pressure and the eyes of a country on every touch, Aguirre is signaling that patience for mistakes is already wearing thin.