Barely six months later, doubts have emerged about whether he can can even get them to South Africa in 2010.
World Cup qualifying defeats away to Honduras and Jamaica have given ammunition to critics who warned Eriksson was not prepared for the idiosyncrasies of Mexican football and the coach's headache grew worse on Wednesday with a 1-0 defeat to his native Sweden in Oakland.
"I think we have to try and score goals when he have the opportunity and create more chances," said Eriksson on the Mexican federation's website.
"We also made mistakes in defence."
The game kicks off the CONCACAF qualifying competition's final stage which is played as a six-team mini-league.
Eriksson, the former England boss, is facing serious selection problems with Mexico's European-based players either injured or struggling to get first-team football.
The country's younger players, including the members of the team which won the under-17 World Cup, have still to live up to their potential and his decision to call up naturalised players to fill the gaps has sparked controversy, much to Eriksson's bemusement.
"For me, this game wasn't entirely negative," he said. "There were a lot of positive things, I liked the attitude, it was a good game and it cleared up some doubts.
"We had some chances to score a goal, we fought hard and we have two weeks to improve before we face and try to beat the United States.
"Of course, we have a chance to win the first game of (final stage of) the qualifying tournament," he added.
"It will be difficult, we know it will be a tough game, as history suggests, but we are going to work with optimism."
