Mexico will kick off 2025 in unconventional fashion by traveling to South America to face two of the continent’s most notable club teams. Over the next week, El Tri will play Brazil’s Internacional and Argentina’s River Plate as the conclusion of a January camp that only features players from Liga MX. The youth-focused squad will experience some of the game’s most intense environments during their trip to South America, but the clash between the national team and club sides marks another unconventional step in Mexico’s preparations as a co-host of the 2026 World Cup.
Here’s what you need to know before tuning in.
How to watch Internacional vs. Mexico
- Date: Thursday, Jan. 16 | Time: 7 p.m. ET
- Location: Estadio Beira-Rio — Porto Alegre, Brazil
- Live stream: Fubo (Try for free)
Why are Mexico playing club teams (again)?
This January camp, much like the U.S. men’s national team’s, is taking place outside of a FIFA window, which makes scheduling friendlies difficult. Lining up games against other national teams is still more common – the USMNT, for example, will play Venezuela and Costa Rica this month, and Mexico previously scheduled a friendly against Colombia outside a FIFA window in Dec. 2023. El Tri seem willing to consider fixtures against club teams to fill up their calendar, though, as October’s friendly against Valencia demonstrates.
Why are Mexico experiencing scheduling conflicts?
In the years building up to a World Cup, the vast majority of FIFA international windows are reserved for qualifying matches, making it difficult to line up quality opponents for World Cup hosts since they are guaranteed a spot at the upcoming tournament. The issue becomes exacerbated ahead of the 2026 World Cup since the tournament will have three host nations for the first time.
For their part, fellow co-hosts USMNT and Canada have not played club teams in recent months and the trio have mitigated some scheduling issues by sharing opponents in the same FIFA window or playing against each other. Canada have not been immune to scheduling woes, though – they only played one game, rather than the usual two, in the October window.
What is the remaining schedule for the 2026 World Cup hosts?
- Jan. 16: Internacional vs. Mexico
- Jan. 18: USMNT vs. Venezuela
- Jan. 21: River Plate vs. Mexico
- Jan. 22: USMNT vs. Costa Rica
- March 20, 2025: Concacaf Nations League semifinals
- March 23, 2025: Concacaf Nations League final or third-place matchs
- June 2-10, 2025: International window
- June 14-July 6, 2025: Concacaf Gold Cup
- Sept. 1-9, 2025: International window
- Oct. 6-14, 2025: International window
- Nov. 10-18, 2025: International window
- March 21-31, 2026: International window
- June 1-9, 2026: International window
- June 11, 2026: World Cup kicks off
