After Mexico narrowly missed making the round of 16, on goal differential, Tata Martino, their coach, acknowledged full responsibility for their World Cup group stage exit and said he would not extend his contract with the federation (FMF).
Mexico finished third in Group C, behind Poland, and was eliminated from the competition despite their 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia. Mexico paid the price for their lacklustre performance in their first two games by losing 2-0 to Argentina and drawing 0-0 with Poland.
Martino's team needed one more goal to prevent losing out on fair play points after Argentina defeated Poland 2-0 and Mexico led Saudi Arabia by the same margin.
However, Salem Al-late-game Dawsari's consolation made Mexico's World Cup exit from 1978 the earliest ever.
Martino took over as Mexico's manager in January 2019, and his team's mission was to reach the World Cup quarterfinals, which had eluded them for more than three decades.
When they hosted the tournament in 1986, they last made it to that point.