CHICAGO -- On the day it kicks off its Gold Cup campaign against Cuba, Mexico fell from 23rd to 40th in July's edition of the FIFA rankings. It is El Tri's worst position since the rankings began in 1993, surpassing the previous low of 33rd in June 2009.
In the last month, countries such as Iran, Northern Ireland, Albania and Tunisia overtook a Mexico side that is enduring a difficult summer so far -- a poor Copa America campaign in Chile has formed part of a run of seven games without a victory.
Many might shrug their shoulders and think: "So what? Why should a rankings table -- that is widely derided -- matter anyway?"
In many ways, it doesn't particularly and the ranking system is just another aspect of FIFA that needs reform. Mexico is a better side than some of the 39 countries above them, while the intricacies of the ranking system this month actually accentuated the drop way out of proportion.
Yet the rankings do have a shred of meaning because, overall, they show tendencies and it certainly doesn't look good to be so far down. If there was a World Cup tomorrow, the likes of Germany, Argentina, Chile, Spain, Brazil and even Belgium would be the favorites. All of those teams are in the top 12.
Mexico remains outside that group, in both the official rankings and any neutral appraisal of the status quo in international soccer. As much as it might be unfair that El Tri is in 40th place, it would be equally unjust for Mexico, for example, to be No. 10.
"The basic logic of these calculations is simple: any team that does well in world football wins points which enable it to climb the world ranking," reads FIFA's explanation of the rankings.
El Tri simply hasn't been that good over recent years and the worry has to be that Mexico is actually slipping the wrong way overall. CONCACAF nations may be catching Mexico up -- as El Tri coach Miguel Herrera states regularly -- but is Mexico closing the gap on the likes of Argentina and Germany?
With the Gold Cup now upon us, Mexico and Herrera have an opportunity to get the tide turning in the right direction.
The goal has to be to replicate what Chile has done over the last eight years. La Roja has just won the Copa America and can now genuinely be considered a world power, having never before been labeled as such. It would be a surprise if Chile isn't involved in the latter stages of Russia 2018, even this far out from the tournament.
The great hope for Mexico still lies in Liga MX clubs' youth systems and the youth national teams. There has been significant improvement and investment over the last decade and the fruits of that are only just starting to benefit the senior national team picture.
The over-riding question now has to be whether Herrera is the right person to carry the team forward. Just like Marcelo Bielsa put Chile on its path back in 2007 and his successor Jorge Sampaoli carried the job forward using a similar style of play, Mexico needs a clear overall vision and to give a coach the freedom to implement it.
Is "Piojo" the man to help El Tri make the transition from being a decent team on the world level that is well-respected but largely harmless to one that is set, like Chile, to compete at the top end of the game and instill fear into quality opponents?
Or was he simply the perfect choice to swoop in back in late 2013, qualify for the World Cup and inspire Mexico to a dignified display?
Those remain genuine questions for Mexico's federation. For right or wrong, better or worse, the Gold Cup will go a long way to answering them, at least for now.