When looking at the early days of Mexican international football we will find that Rafael Garza Gutiérrez (known popularly as Record) occupies centre stage.
Record was a founder of América (1916), the club which in 1922 became the first Mexican team to play abroad, taking part in a tournament in Guatemala.
América also figured large on the domestic front, being league champions 4 seasons in a row (1924-25 to 1927-28).
Garza Gutiérrez was a natural choice to lead Mexico.
Mexico's first 6 internationals were all played against Guatemala in 1923, 3 in Guatemala in January and 3 in Mexico City in December. Following this series of matches there was a 5 year hiatus -Mexico's next match being at the Amsterdam Olympics. In the meantime the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación had been formed (1927).
Here we will look at the first three internationals, all played on a tour of Guatemala in January 1923. The Mexican squad was made up entirely of América players:
Ignacio de la Garza
Pedro Legarreta
Rafael Garza Gutiérrez "Record"(c)
Enrique Esquivel
José Andrade
Pablo Sarré
Carlos Garcés
Horacio Ortíz
José Díaz Izquierdo
Adeodato López
Humberto Garza Ramos
Agustín Ojeda replaced Humberto Garza Ramos for the second game only.The team was managed by Adolfo Frías Beltrán.Guatemala had previous experience of international football, havingh played 2 matches in September 1921 in which they beat Honduras 9-0 and lost 6-0 to Costa Rica.
1. 01.01.23 Guatemala 2-3 México
(Campo Marte, Guatemala: 10,000)
José Díaz Izquierdo scored Mexico's first international goal to put them 1-0 up in the 26th minute. Horacio Ortíz added a second before half time.
Fernando Minondo scored for Guatemala on 65. Adeodato López extended Mexico's lead in the 70th minute and Constantino Kinhie got the hosts' second 2 minutes later.
2.04.01.23 Guatemala 3-1 México
(Campo Marte, Guatemala: 10,000)
Three days later Guatemala exacted some revenge on the visitors. José Minondo struck twice in the first half and completed his hattrick after Horacio Ortíz had pulled one back for Mexico.
3. 07.01.23 Guatemala 1-4 México
(Campo Marte, Guatemala: 6,000)
Mexico got off to a flying start in the third match, with José Díaz Izquierdo and Horacio Ortíz scoring in the opening 10 minutes. Adeodato López got the third in the 34th minute and completed the scoring 6 minutes from time. José Minondo had scored for the hosts in the 68th minute.
Garza Gutiérrez later led Mexico in the 1928 Olympics and the 1930 World Cup. On retiring as a player he became the manager of the national team.
