Germán Berterame said being left out of Javier Aguirre's Mexico squad for the 2026 World Cup hit him hard, and the forward now says he is still chasing a place in the next cycle. He called the omission something that “le toco el corazón,” even as he kept backing Mexico from outside the group.
The reaction is drawing attention now because Berterame has been brought back into Mexico's national-team calls under Rafael Márquez, putting him back in the frame just as the team moves through a new World Cup process. He said he is “una persona positiva” and that he will do everything possible to reach the 2030 World Cup in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.
That matters because Berterame had already been part of Mexico's last friendly matches under Aguirre before the June cut, which made the exclusion feel sharper. He was not left out because the conversation around Mexico's attack had gone quiet. It was already active, with Guillermo Martínez and Santiago Giménez also in the mix and Raúl Jiménez now recovering from a knee injury and muscle workload.
The pressure point is that Berterame was pushed aside in June, yet he is being looked at again under Márquez. Some fans would have preferred him over Guillermo Martínez and Santiago Giménez after both came on in the second half against England in the round of 16 without making a difference, and that keeps the debate alive around who fits best if Jiménez is unavailable. For Berterame, the path is clear enough: keep himself in the conversation and wait for the next chance.
Mexico's next test comes on Tuesday, October 6, when it faces Chile in its fourth preparation match under Márquez. Chile did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup in North America, and Nicolás Córdova has started a new job with the team, giving Berterame another chance to press his case in a squad that is still taking shape.
