Overview
The Czech Republic will face co-host Mexico at Estadio Azteca in the last match of Group A of the 2026 World Cup. The two teams enter the match with completely opposite goals.
In the previous match, Mexico defeated South Korea 1-0 to soon take the top spot in Group A. This result helps El Tri to definitely finish the group stage in first place and will face one of the third-placed teams in Groups C, E, F, H or I in the round of 32. Therefore, the top priority of coach Javier Aguirre's team at this time is to avoid unnecessary injuries or suspensions.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic is in a difficult position after a disappointing draw against South Africa. According to Opta supercomputer, the Czech Republic's chances of advancing are quite slim. They only have 5% chance of winning a ticket as second in the group and 30.2% chance of reaching the knockout round if including the scenario of becoming one of the 8 third-placed teams with the best results.
Mexico's home record is also a big challenge for the European representative. El Tri has never lost a home match at the World Cup, with 6 wins and 2 draws. Notably, they have won all 3 recent matches at Azteca without conceding a goal, respectively against Iraq (1-0) and Bulgaria (2-0) at the 1986 World Cup, and won 2-0 against South Africa at this year's tournament.
Meanwhile, the biggest problem of the Czech Republic is the inability to maximize Patrik Schick's ability. The striker from Bayer Leverkusen entered the league with high form when scoring 9 goals in the last 12 matches in the Bundesliga and 6 goals in 7 matches in major national team-level tournaments.
However, at the 2026 World Cup, Schick has not left much of an impression. He has only taken 2 shots, has not scored and only has xG 0.2 after two matches.
In contrast to the deadlock of the Czech Republic's attack, Mexico possesses many effective spearheads. Raul Jimenez still maintains his familiar stability, while Julian Quinones is the most prominent name.
The Al-Qadsiah striker scored a goal, and also led Mexico in the number of times he participated in finishing touches (10 times, including 6 shots and 4 chances created), the number of successful dribbles (6), the number of times he earned penalties (5) and the number of high-intensity pressures (60).
These contributions have helped Mexico extend their winning streak to 3 consecutive matches at the World Cup - the best achievement in the history of this team at the tournament. El Tri also won both matches at the 2026 World Cup without conceding a goal. The last time they kept a clean sheet in 3 consecutive matches at the biggest football festival on the planet was at the 1986 World Cup, also held at home.
Head-to-head record
The last confrontation between the two teams took place in a friendly match in February 2000, when the Czech Republic won 2-1.
Score prediction: Czech Republic 1-1 Mexico
The match between the Czech Republic and Mexico takes place at 8:00 AM on June 25 (Vietnam time).
