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Conditions at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena may be literally perfect. It is dry, still, and temperatures are around 22C and sliding.
The Rose Bowl hosted the 1994 men’s and 1999 women’s World Cup finals. The 90,000-capacity stadium is also slated to host the men’s and women’s gold medal matches at the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
Pasadena is a handy location for the Socceroos. Their three Group D matches are all along the Pacific coast, from Vancouver in the north, to Santa Clara in the south, with a visit to Seattle along the way.
Australia will be based at the Oakland Roots Sports Club from now until the end of their World Cup journey after acclimatising for the past three weeks in Florida.
Mexico form guide:
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In 2026 Mexico have played six matches, winning four times and drawing twice.
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Incredibly they have only conceded once all year.
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Goals have been hard to come by with four of the six matches featuring one goal or fewer.
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Since the start of 2024 Mexico have only scored more than twice on five occasions in 38 outings.
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El Tri are ranked 15th in the world by FIFA. Since the last World Cup their range has encompassed 12th to 19th.
Australia form guide:
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By contrast to Mexico who enjoy a packed international calendar, Australia are rarely sighted. They have appeared only twice this year, winning home friendlies against Curaçao and Cameroon in March.
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At the end of 2025 the Socceroos lost a pair of friendlies in the US to Venezuela and Colombia without finding the back of the net.
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Australia are 27th on FIFA’s standings, which is pretty much where they’ve been for the past three-and-a-half years.
Head-to-head:
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The teams have met six times before with Australia winning twice, Mexico once, and three draws.
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Australia’s victories both came in the Confederations Cup, including in 1997, during their unexpected run to the final.
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The most recent clash was a 2-2 draw in 2023 on an absolute stinker of a pitch at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.
“This game is a good opportunity for Popovic to show what he’s learned (if anything),” emails James Paraskevas. “The honeymoon period is over. Our last game at home against a Japan C Team playing for nothing in qualifying left a lot to be desired. We need to be better than that. We’ve got good enough players to be playing some sort of football, whilst still remaining responsible at the back. Popovic hasn’t found that balance yet, and is probably underestimating us and overestimating the opposition at the same time. Because of this, I see a 2-0 victory for Mexico. We could maybe get one goal, but the players need to be allowed some freedom.”
Jack Snape has the latest on the permutations facing Socceroos coach Tony Popovic as he whittles his squad down to 26. His decision making has been complicated significantly by an untimely hamstring injury to key midfielder Riley McGree.
Popovic was poised to deploy McGree in one of the hybrid midfielder/winger roles in his 3-4-2-1 system. One of Mabil, Leckie, Ajdin Hrustic, Martin Boyle and Nestory Irankunda is likely to be the beneficiary of McGree’s absence.
Thai Tran has offered his thoughts on Australia’s matchday squad.
“Very surprised to see Yengi not on the substitute list. Given the fact that he has never played under Popovic I would assume that the best way to integrate a player is to get them minutes in a high pressure game with 70,000 + fans. I think Borrello and Gauci not being there may be a sign they will not be in the final squad tomorrow.
I think Metcalfe and Leckie are being given an opportunity. They haven’t played much this season and playing in a high pressure game will give a clearer indication of their ability and where they’re at. Irankunda and Boyle are already proven. I believe Tony has made his mind up on them much more given they have been playing much more games at a very good level. I think this sort of logic is why Herrington is playing, to build some more depth in the squad.”
Australia XI
Mathew Leckie makes his first appearance in two years and Harry Souttar returns after 18 months out of the reckoning. Major opportunity for MLS-based 18 year old Lucas Herrington to stake his claim for a World Cup starting spot in defence. Herrington is representative of a comparatively inexperienced team with only Leckie, Jackson Irvine, and Mat Ryan accumulating more than 37 international caps.
1. Mat Ryan (c), 23. Jacob Italiano, 3. Alesandro Circati, 19. Harry Souttar, 26. Lucas Herrington, 5. Jordy Bos, 13. Aiden O’Neill, 22. Jackson Irvine, 8. Connor Metcalfe, 7. Mathew Leckie, 9. Mo Toure.
Subs: Everyone else in the squad, apart from Cristian Volpato, Tete Yengi, Brandon Borrello, and Joe Gauci.
Mexico XI
1. Raúl Rangel, 2. Jorge Sánchez, 7. Luis Romo, 5. Johan Vasquez, 4. Edson Alvarez (c), 20. Mateo Chavez, 8. Alvaro Fidalgo, 24. Luis Chávez, 26. Guillermo Martínez, 10. Alexis Vega, 17. Orbelín Pineda.
It is fitting the Socceroos are in the US for their pre-tournament friendlies because MLS has become a proving ground for Australian internationals. Jack Snape has more.
Lucas Herrington was once dubbed a “baby giraffe” for his gangly frame, but he has emerged as a genuine bolter for the Socceroos’ World Cup squad. While the 18-year-old’s rapid growth has been a shock, his increasing favour with coach Tony Popovic is more than a reflection of his quality as a footballer.
Now proving his potential against the likes of Lionel Messi and Thomas Müller in MLS, Herrington is proof of how Australian football has become reliant on the United States, in terms of both talent development and financial survival.
Today’s venue is one of the great stadiums of the world.
Raúl Vilchis explains how Mexico are looking inward to rekindle the spirit of 1986 as they prefer for their third World Cup hosting experience.
Mexico have played six times this year, but only half of those have come with their full-strength squad. Their Europe-based players were missing for their most recent match, last week’s 2-0 win over Ghana. But Ghana fielded a weakened team too, and their coach, Carlos Queiroz, didn’t even attend the game.
Fernández and others also believe there are deeper problems that can’t be fixed with a month of extra training sessions. The roots of these deficiencies lie in top-level decisions made since the team’s failure at Qatar 2022, when El Tri crashed out in the group stage, their worst finish at a World Cup in four decades. The insularity of Mexican soccer means young players often stay at home rather than gain valuable experience in the top European leagues. The decision to end promotion and relegation in Liga MX also means a lack of jeopardy that can sharpen players’ edges.
Jack Snape sets the scene from an Australian perspective, with Tony Popovic 90 minutes of action away from determining his World Cup 26.
The World Cup might have snuck up on many Australians, but the reality of the men’s football showpiece will leap out on Sunday, take hold of the nation and not let go for a month. The Socceroos play co-hosts Mexico in Los Angeles’ historic Rose Bowl in one of the marquee warm-up matches ahead of a tournament shared across North America that is now bursting with 48 teams.
The Mexico showdown serves as a challenge for Australia against elite, motivated opposition. But for a handful of Socceroos, this weekend is also a test to see whether or not they will be allowed to stay in the US. It won’t be visa issues that send them home, rather it will be coach Tony Popovic telling them they haven’t made his final cut.
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of this World Cup warm-up match between Mexico and Australia. Kick-off at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena is 7pm Saturday local time (12pm Sunday AEST).
Today’s fixture is the penultimate pre-World Cup friendly for both countries and the final opportunity for the two head coaches to run the rule over their charges before announcing their official 26-man squads.
El Tri open the 2026 World Cup in under a fortnight at the refurbished Azteca Stadium against South Africa. After today they have a further friendly against Serbia to fine tune their preparations.
The Socceroos have a midweek assignment against Switzerland, by which time Tony Popovic will have cut four members of his 30-strong tour party.
Until the eve of today’s contest that party was 29-strong but stocks have been bolstered by the decision of Sydney-born Italy-U21 representative Cristian Volpato to nominate for Australia. Unable to play today, his presence at the World Cup seems all-but assured.
There is plenty to get through before kick-off so I will be back shortly. In the meantime, please send me your emails on any thoughts around squad selections, this contest, or the World Cup in general. The address is [email protected].
