Javier Aguirre’s run as manager of Mexico’s World Cup team ended with the 3-2 loss to England on Sunday night, he confirmed after the round of 16 match in Mexico City.

Aguirre, 67, said he was resigning after his third stint as national team coach. He had guided El Tri to the round of 16 in 2002 and 2010, and was hired in July 2024 to bring success as Mexico serves as one of three host countries in 2026 with the United States and Canada.

The path for succession already was in place for Aguirre’s assistant coach, Mexico legend Rafa Marquez, Mexican soccer officials had confirmed earlier this year. Aguirre’s contract runs through the end of this month, according to Transfermarkt.com.

Aguirre, a native of Mexico City, played midfielder for the national team at the 1986 home World Cup — when Mexico last reached the quarterfinals — before continuing in the sport as an accomplished coach.

Mexico impressed at this World Cup by winning Group A with a 3-0-0 record (9 points) and a six-goal differential. They posted three shutouts in the group stage, beating South Africa (2-0), South Korea (1-0) and the Czech Republic (3-0) before blanking Ecuador 2-0 in the round of 32 on Tuesday.

With Mexico eliminated on Sunday, the focus will turn to the 2030 World Cup and the vision of Marquez, 47, who scored 17 goals in 147 games for his national team. He was captain of five World Cup teams (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018).

The former center back and midfielder went from star player to a front office position in Mexico before turning to coaching in Spain. He was coaching Barcelona Athletic’s B team when he was offered a spot on Aguirre’s staff on the national team.

–Field Level Media

England defender Reece James has a lingering hamstring injury and is doubtful to play in the Three Lions’ round of 16 match against Mexico on Sunday in Mexico City.

Manager Thomas Tuchel said on Saturday that James would have to get medical clearance to possibly be a substitute for the match after not training fully with the team since the injury in the scoreless draw with Ghana on June 23.

The Chelsea defender, 26, missed the 2-0 group-stage win over Panama on June 27 and the 2-1 victory over the Democratic Republic of the Congo last Wednesday in the round of 32. James was the only player absent from Saturday’s training session in Mexico City, according to a BBC report.

England’s Jarell Quansah, 23, played right-back against Panama before exiting with an ankle injury. The Bayer Leverkusen defender missed the last match against DR Congo but is available to play Sunday, Tuchel said.

“You saw that Jarell trained, Jarell trained fully, is fully available,” Tuchel said. “Reece can maybe make it onto the bench. He needs a last assessment from the doctors and medical opinion if this makes sense.”

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice, 27, has been dealing with a hamstring issue but is expected to start for England against Mexico, per reports.

–Field Level Media

Veteran Atlanta Braves left-hander Martin Perez will try to maintain his perfect record against the visiting New York Mets on Sunday afternoon when the teams play the third game of their wraparound four-game series.

The Braves have rediscovered their offense. Atlanta hit four homers in Friday’s 5-3 series opener and launched five home runs in Saturday’s 14-3 win.

Perez is 5-0 with a 2.94 ERA in 11 career appearances (seven starts) against the Mets. He beat them in New York on June 13, allowing one run in 5 1/3 innings.

New York right-hander Nolan McLean (5-5, 3.78 ERA) will be matched against Perez (6-5, 3.27).

Perez took a loss in his last start, a 5-3 home setback to St. Louis on Tuesday. He allowed four runs in five innings, all of them coming in one inning when he surrendered a pair of home runs, one of them a three-run shot.

“It was one pitch, really one pitch was three runs,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said. “Other that, like he always does, he kept us in the game and worked around some things.”

Since rejoining the starting rotation on May 19, Perez had made eight starts and gone 4-3 with a 4.17 ERA. He has allowed three or fewer runs in six of those appearances.

“It’s obviously a long season and there’s going to be highs and lows,” Perez said. “One of the things this team can focus on is trying to get that momentum swung back this way.”

McLean is coming off a six-inning scoreless effort at Toronto on Tuesday, when he allowed five hits and two walks while striking out seven. It was a nice rebound from his previous start against the Chicago Cubs, when he was tagged for six runs in six innings.

“That’s who he is,” interim Mets manager Andy Green said on Tuesday. “It’s been fun seeing him kind of bounce back from a tougher stretch. I know last game, a little bit was made out of like a couple of home runs that skewed the line, but (today) he was just mixing his pitches incredibly well.”

McLean has made two career starts against Atlanta, going 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA. He started against the Braves on June 12 in New York and did not receive a decision, allowing two runs in four innings.

“He’s got different ways to end at-bats,” Green said. “He was competitive the whole day, he was in the zone the whole day and that was, start to finish, as just clean and dominant as he’s been all year, so it was awesome.”

The Atlanta offense has come to life and scored at least five runs in each of the last four games, three of them wins. Austin Riley hit a three-run homer on Saturday to end a 36-game homerless streak; his last homer had been May 20 at Miami.

A bright spot for the Mets continues to be Carson Benge. He singled on Saturday and has hit safely in nine straight and reached base safely in 16 consecutive games. Shortstop Francisco Lindor was back in the leadoff spot and had two hits.

–Field Level Media