Mexico's National Soccer Team facing full schedule

2013 will be a big, busy year for the Mexican national soccer team.

El Tricolor ("The Three Colors;" green, white and red of the Mexican flag and the team's uniforms), as the team is affectionately nicknamed, will play at least 25 matches this year spread across four international competitions and events.

And Mexico's big, busy year will begin in the Valley.

The team will play Denmark in an international friendly on Jan. 30 at University of Phoenix Stadium, the first of five friendlies Mexico has scheduled on its 11th annual U.S. Tour.

The team will also play in the Confederations Cup in Brazil in June and the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the U.S. in July. But most importantly, Mexico will attempt to qualify for the 2014 World Cup during the fourth and last round of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament between between February and October.

Mexican national team coach Juan Manuel de la Torre, who held a press conference at University of Phoenix Stadium Monday to hype the Jan. 30 match, said despite all the competitions his team will play in this year, qualifying for the World Cup is the main goal.

"And this game against Denmark is part of the preparation," de la Torre said in Spanish. "It is also preparation for our game against Jamaica (on Feb. 6, the first match of the last World Cup qualifying round).

“I think the conditions for this game are very good to prepare us. It will be a very good trial for us before the Jamaica game. I want to see how the players are doing and getting along together.”

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Mexico historic giant of CONCACAF

There is no doubt that the area known as the Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF) has had one dominant superpower on the field,Mexico. While in recent times, a struggle has emerged between the United States and Mexico, El Tri holds a large historic advantage over its northern neighbor.

With the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualification game scheduled against Guyana this week it is a good gesture to review why Mexico has earned this title.

The first is that Mexico has appeared in more world cups than any other CONCACAF team, with 14 appearances after the 2010 South Africa event. While they have not won the world cup, they have won the FIFA Confederations Cup. In the region Mexico has won the CONCACAF championship on nine occasions.

Since their first world cup qualification game in 1930, Mexico has defeated their opponents with more than five goals scored on 25 occasions, by four on 13. Their most recent thrashing of a regional team took place on June 21, 2008 in Monterrey, Mexico. The victim was Belize, which fell 7-0.

The largest margin of victory was en route to USA 1994. On June 12, 1992 Mexico hosted Saint Vincent and the Grenadines at the mythical Azteca stadium. After 90 minutes of play El Tri walked away with an 11-0 victory.

Most of Mexico’s large margin wins have taken place on Mexican soil. However, there are a few exceptions. For Germany 2006, Mexico destroyed the tiny island nation of Dominica 10-0 in San Antonio, Texas. For Germany 1974, the Dutch Antilles fell 8-0 at Port-au-Prince, Haiti. When the U.S. was far from the form they are in now, the Americans fell to Mexico 7-2 in Long Beach, Calif.

There has been an improvement in regional competition beginning in the France 1998 qualification cycle. Jamaica qualified for the tournament, the first Caribbean team to do so since 1974. Since then Trinidad & Tobago has also qualified for the Caribbean region joining Mexico, U.S.A. and Costa Rica in Germany 2006.

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