At 09:05 Beijing time on March 31, the final round of the North American Region of the World Preliminary Tournament, Antana and Jimenez scored one goal each in the first half, mexico won 2-0 at home to El Salvador, and the whistle surpassed the United States to rise to the second place, and obtained a ticket to the World Cup in Qatar.
In the latest edition of the World Rankings, Mexico ranked 12th in the world and first among teams in the Central and North American region. During the World Preliminary Round, Mexico did not win 1 of its 4 matches against Canada and the United States, and the two-legged record against these two opponents was 1 draw and 1 loss, which made Mexico fight for a ticket to the World Cup in the final round.
After a 1-0 away win over Honduras in the last round, Mexico have held the initiative in their hands as they not only lead Costa Rica by three points behind them, but also lead the opponent by four goals. More importantly, Costa Rica faced the United States in the same round as Mexico, which means that as long as Mexico does not lose miserably in the last round, it can lock in the top three of the World Preliminary Tournament in Central and North America and get a direct qualifying place.
In the final round of home games against the weak team Salvador, did not disappoint the home team fans, easily passed a 2-0 game, while overtaking the United States, ending the World Preliminary Tournament as the second place in Central and North America.
Since the 1994 World Cup, Mexico has not missed a World Cup in the past 28 years, and it has been 8 consecutive world cup successes. In their last seven World Cup appearances, Mexico have reached the round of 16. They were in the same group as defending champions Germany in the last World Cup, and as a result, they defeated their opponents 1-0 in the first round and finally qualified as the second in the group.
The United States lost 2-0 away to Costa Rica in the final round, but finally won the 3rd place in the Central and North American Region with the advantage of 6 goals difference, and together with Canada and Mexico, they won the ticket to the Qatar World Cup.
Costa Rica qualified for the play-offs in 4th place, and their opponent will be Oceania side New Zealand.
With the last two straight-through spots in the North and Central America region, qatar has 29 teams in the round of 32 of the World Cup, with only the last three places left, which will be created between costa Rica, New Zealand, Wales, Scotland, Ukraine, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Peru.