State Of Mexican Soccer w/Eduardo Saracho - Ep. 11 First Touch Weekly

About this episode

David Gass discusses the state of Mexican soccer and the outlook for the 2026 World Cup with guests John Duerden and Eduardo Saracho.

On this week's episode, host David Gass explores the ambition, growth, and the state of the game through the lens of several teams heading to the 2026 World Cup. This episode opens with news on updated yellow and red card rules for the World Cup, a German national team fighting for fitness, and an Iranian official being denied entry into Canada for a FIFA Conference. Gass is then joined by John Duerden—a Guardian and BBC contributor and author of How Soccer Explains Asia—to break down World Cup outlook for countries from the Asian Football Confederation. Then Gass and fellow Kickback contributor Tom Bogart are joined by former Pumas and Pueblo sporting director, Edward Saracho to discuss the current state of the Mexico national football team and the broader landscape of soccer in Mexico. 0:30 News On German & Mexican World Cup Rosters 3:15 John Durden "How Soccer Explains Asia" On Korea, Japan & Saudi Arabia 14:50 Eduardo Saracho (former Pumas & Puebla Sporting Director) On All Things El Tri & Mexican Soccer

People in this episode

Host: David Gass

Guests: John Duerden, Eduardo Saracho

Topics covered

• Mexican soccer
• 2026 World Cup
• Asian Football Confederation
• soccer news
• national teams

Keywords

• Mexican national team
• soccer
• World Cup
• Eduardo Saracho
• John Duerden
• soccer news
• Asian teams

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Kickback Soccer Media, FIFA, Guardian, BBC

Books & works: How Soccer Explains Asia

Places: Germany, Canada, Mexico, Iran

More episodes of Kickback '26

• First Touch ’26 World Cup Daily Show: USA & Canada Kick Off · June 12, 2026 · 1h 7m
• First Touch ’26 World Cup Daily Show Opening Day · June 11, 2026 · 1h 4m
• First Touch Dispatch Presented by Soccer.com | Ep. 6 · June 10, 2026 · 16 min
• 2026 World Cup Golden Boot Draft presented by Soccer.com · June 8, 2026 · 40 min
• World Cup Storylines We Can't Wait to Watch - Ep. 16 First Touch Weekly Presented by Soccer.com · June 4, 2026 · 34 min
• First Touch Dispatch Presented by Soccer.com | Ep. 5 · June 3, 2026 · 14 min