Mexico "worked hard and got the job done" to reach World Cup 2010 after a poor start to qualification.

Meet the gang: after ditching Sven-Goran Eriksson, Mexico toughened up to reach World Cup 2010 in impressive fashion

Mexico's World Cup record: 1930 1st rd, 1950 1st rd, 1954 1st rd, 1958 1st rd, 1962 1st rd, 1966 1st rd, 1970 QF, 1978 1st rd, 1986 QF, 1994 2nd rd, 1998 2nd rd, 2002 2nd rd, 2006 2nd rd.

How Mexico qualified for World Cup 2010: CONCACAF 4th place.

The Coach: Javier Aguirre (Mexican, 50). Appointed: April 2009. WC experience: Player: 1986. Coach: 2002.

Javier Aguirre Onaindía, aka 'El Vasco', played in the finals and now goes there for a second time as a boss.

The Country: Mexico was disqualified from the 1990 World Cup (and any other international competition) after using players over the age limit allowed by Fifa in the qualifying round for the Olympic Games in Seoul 1988.

The punishment originally was only going to be applied to the Olympic team and not the World Cup team, but the penalty later affected all Mexican national representatives of all sports for two years.

In the 1990s, after appointing coach César Luis Menotti, Mexican football began experiencing greater success. An important turning point was its participation in the 1993 Copa America, where they finished second in the tournament, losing to Argentina 2-1 in the final.

And Mexico made sure of their 14th appearance at the finals with a game to spare after a comprehensive 4-1 victory over El Salvador - despite a swarm of bees in the goalmouth halting play for 10 minutes. Aguirre's side won six of their nine games to seize the initiative in the group after the job had been started under previous coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Captain Rafa Marquez: "This is a great team and Javier Aguirre is a great coach. We worked hard and got the job done, the credit goes to all to my teammates and to the coach. They are all amazing."

Telegraph verdict: Having discarded Eriksson and employed the much tougher Aguirre as coach, the Mexicans rallied. With games at altitude in South Africa they could be very tricky opponents.