Israel Reyes would be the only variant in the starting eleven of the Mexico team for the debut duel in the 2026 World Cup against South Africa, as was learned at the end of the national team's training this Tuesday held at the High Performance Center.

The novelty is that during practice, national coach “Vasco” Aguirre used young Diego Ochoa from Chivas del Guadalajara in the starting eleven, so speculation about a possible surprise on the Tricolor roster did not take long to arise.

But the reality is that the presence of the young man from the Guadalajara team was due to the fact that he is concentrated with the Sub 23 in the High Performance Center and Aguirre has not hesitated to use these young men to cover several absences in training, because several players carry out differentiated work in the national team's concentration.

The Chivas youth squad was used as a sparring partner to complete the tricolor's training. It should be noted that he does not have any type of possibility of being part of the team in case of an injury, since he is not part of the pre-list of 55 players that Javier Aguirre formed.

It is claimed that Aguirre has opted for Erik Lira for the midfield instead of Edson Álvarez because the player who played for Fenerbahçe in Turkey has not recovered his best physical condition, while Israel Reyes would play for Jorge Sánchez in the only movement of the last starting eleven that faced Serbia in the city of Toluca, State of Mexico.

The only way for Edson Álvarez to start the match against Bafana Bafana is for “Vasco” Aguirre to lean towards the experience of two World Cups, in Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, in order to have greater strength in this area where he can be key between victory and defeat.

Mexico's lineup would be with Raúl “Tala” Rangel, Israel Reyes, César Montes, Johan Vázquez, Jesús Gallardo, Erik Lira, Álvaro Fidalgo, Julián Quiñones, Brian Gutiérrez, Roberto Alvarado and Raúl Jiménez, with which they would have the responsibility of starting the duel in search of the first World Cup victory.

Javier “Vasco” Aguirre directed 25 games during his third stage at the helm of the Mexican National Team prior to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This figure corresponds to his management from his arrival in July 2024 until the preparation duels prior to the start of the tournament. Their balance in this cycle was highly positive, registering 12 victories, 7 draws and 5 losses, with which El Tri managed to stabilize and win the Gold Cup.