page_title: Andrés Guardado
section_title: International career
hierarchical_section_title: Andrés Guardado / International career
caption_attribution_description: English: Andrés Guardado
context_page_description: José Andrés Guardado Hernández is a Mexican professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Betis and captains the Mexico national team. Mainly a midfielder, he can also operate as a left winger or left back.
  Popularly known as Principito, he came through the youth ranks at Atlas, then signed with Spain's Deportivo, where he spent five seasons. In 2012 he joined another team in the country, Valencia, with brief loan stints at Bayer Leverkusen and PSV, permanently joining the latter club in 2015 and winning two Eredivisie titles.
  A Mexican international since 2005, Guardado represented the country in four World Cups, four Gold Cups – winning the 2011, 2015 and 2019 tournaments – two Copa Américas and two Confederations Cups, winning over 150 caps.
context_section_description: Guardado made his first appearance for Mexico in a friendly match against Hungary on 14 December 2005, four months after his first-team debut with Atlas. He was then called up to represent his country at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, where he appeared in the round of 16 1–2 loss to Argentina, starting as a shifting attacking midfielder/wing-back alongside Ramón Morales but was replaced by Gonzalo Pineda after picking up an injury in the second half; after the departure of manager Ricardo La Volpe, his replacement Hugo Sánchez kept the player in his squad.
  Guardado's first game under the new manager was an exhibition game against the United States, where he came on as a bench in a 0–2 defeat. On 28 February 2007, in a friendly with Venezuela, he scored his first international goal (3–1 win).
  In the final of the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Guardado scored the opening goal against the United States. During the second half he collided head-on with Jonathan Spector while both attempted to head the ball, but recovered to play the rest of the match, which ended in a 1–2 loss. He also participated in that year's Copa América, scoring the third goal against Uruguay in the third-place match.
  Javier Aguirre included Guardado in the roster for the 2010 World Cup. He assisted Rafael Márquez in the opening game of the World Cup against hosts South Africa, in a 1–1 draw. An expected starter, he lacked playing time and appeared in three out of four games, in another last-16 exit at the hands of Argentina.
  In May 2011, Guardado was called up by José Manuel de la Torre for the 2011 Gold Cup. He scored his first brace with the national team during that tournament, in a 4–1 win over Costa Rica on 12 June. He found the net again in the final in a 4–2 victory over the United States, as Mexico retained the trophy.
  Guardado made the squad for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil. As El Tri failed to progress from the group stage, he played all three matches.
  On 5 March 2014, Guardado made his 100th appearance for Mexico in a friendly with Nigeria. Selected by Miguel Herrera for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he started all the games as a left midfielder, and scored in the last group phase fixture against Croatia, a 3–1 win; following the end of the tournament, the manager declared the player would captain the following September friendlies with Chile and Bolivia, captaining for instances when actual captain Rafael Márquez was absent.
  Guardado scored six times at the 2015 Gold Cup, the first being a first-half effort in a 6–0 demolition of Cuba in the group stage and the third a penalty kick in the last minute of extra time in the quarter-final against Costa Rica (1–0). In the semi-finals against Panama, he scored twice from the penalty spot to help his country come from behind and win 2–1 and, in the decisive match against Jamaica, scored the opener in an eventual 3–1 victory. Subsequently, he won the Golden Ball Award as most outstanding player.
  Picked for the Copa América Centenario squad by Juan Carlos Osorio, Guardado provided a cross in the opening fixture against Uruguay that led to an own goal but was also sent off for two bookable offences, winning 3–1 at University of Phoenix Stadium on 5 June 2016. He took part in a further two games, in a quarter-final exit.
  Guardado also made the final list for the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia, where he appeared as captain in the group stage fixtures against Portugal and Russia, picking up a yellow card on both occasions and thus missing out in the semi-finals against Germany. He returned to the lineup in the third-place playoff, lost 2–1 to Portugal.
  Guardado was selected in the final 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup, his first as captain. In the first match, he played 74 minutes in a 1–0 defeat of Germany, going on to take part in all the fixtures including the round of 16 loss with Brazil. Following their elimination, it was reported by Mexican sports newspaper Récord that he had played through the tournament with a muscle injury he sustained in his right leg while playing with Bet
caption: Guardado as captain for Mexico at the 2018 World Cup
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