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Mexico names strong squad to face Honduras and USMNT

Javier Hernandez, Andres Guardado

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By IVES GALARCEP

The Mexican National Team has called in as strong a squad as possible for its upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and the United States, with Javier Hernandez and Giovani Dos Santos leading the 22-player squad announced late on Wednesday.

With the exception of forward Carlos Vela, who remains an outcast for the national team despite playing well in Spain, and injured starlet Marco Fabian, the Mexican team has pretty much full-strength squad for March qualifiers.

Here is the team:

Goalkeepers: Guillermo Ochoa (Ajaccio), Jesus Corona (Cruz Azul), Alfredo Talavera (Toluca)

DefendersSevero Meza (Monterrey), Jonny Magallon (Leon), Francisco Javier Rodríguez (Club America), Hector Moreno (Espanyol), Hugo Ayala (Tigres), Diego Reyes (Club America), Jorge Torres Nilo (Tigres), Carlos Salcido (Tigres)

MidfieldersJesus Zavala (Monterrey), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul), Jesus Molina (Club America), Hector Herrera (Pachuca), Javier Aquino (Villarreal/Spain), Andres Guardado (Valencia/Spain), Ángel Reyna (Pachuca)

ForwardsGiovani dos Santos (Mallorca), Oribe Peralta (Santos Laguna), Javier Hernandez (Manchester United), Omar Bravo (Atlas), Raúl Jiménez (America)

Santos Laguna striker Oribe Peralta suffered an injury in his team’s CONCACAF Champions League victory against the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night and his status for the upcoming qualifiers is in doubt.

Mexico faces a tough trip to San Pedro Sula to take on Honduras on March 22nd before returning to Mexico City to host the United States at Estadio Azteca on March 26th.

Comments

  1. Lets not make the same mistake do you remember in South Africa 2010: El Bofo Bautista instead of Jonathan Dos Santos? And el conejo Perez instead of Ochoa? Ahhh! Have a solid team already- Spain worked from winning the Euro-Cup in 2008 and won the World Cup 2010 with most of their players in 08! Live and Learn : !si se puede!

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  2. I seriously believe that El Tri needs to have a solid team before the Gold Cup and Copa Confederaciones! It’s the same story every time “who will be the goalie or who other than chicharito will play” it’s time to make the team official I feel it’s too divided with the Olympic team and veterans. One TRI and 11 players to win a World Cup: !si se puede!

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  3. Mexico Oribe change the game plan.. He can’t play Dos Santos out of position again, hence the call up for Omar Bravo…

    Hector Moreno and Maza Rodriguez have accumulated Yellow cards … next one will miss the usa game.. chepo can decide to sit one of them or both..

    I expect Magallon to start…

    Mexico has the talent and game plan to play right however . the injuries and Vela not playing , mexico will lose…

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  4. Javier Aquino who recently trasferred to 2nd division Spanish side Villareal said that the Spain 2nd division is better than the Liga MX. So my question is why the Mexican National team can load up on domestic players and a few Europe based players on the National tean and be succesfull and the US team has double or even triple the amount of players in Europe and a few MLS players and yet were stinking up the joint?

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    • I was wondering about this too. Maybe the idea (generally held by US players and fans and pushed explicitly by Klinnsman) that we have to get more players at top Euro clubs to improve the national team is misguided. Mexico is a good bet to reach at least the 2nd round in Brazil with a mostly domestic squad. I looked up the US roster for 2002, and 11 of 23 were from MLS, including some of the key contributors (McBride, Donovan, Beasley, Pope, and Mathis). That clearly the most successful US team of the modern era.

      I don’t know quite what to make of it, but we have more guys playing in Europe (and playing for bigger clubs in Europe) than ever before, but the results aren’t necessarily any better. Maybe the better long term goal would be improving MLS to the level of the Mexican league and then drawing on more players playing domestically.

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      • considering that Diego Reyes and Hector Herrera are moving to Porto in the summer, that there are talks between Liverpool and Ajaccio for Guillermo Ochoa and that Manchester United and Valencia are bigger than teams like Schalke, Roma and Tottenham I’m not sure if the “we have more guys playing for bigger clubs in Europe” statement is truth.

      • You all are forgetting these guys have to play together.

        The US has played 23 games under JK. In that same time frame Mexico has played 27 games.

        The US team is clearly in transition while Mexico have had their identity, their style of play firmly established for some time now before JK came around.

        So even if the US has more “talent” or their talent is better, something I don’t believe, those differences are offset because that Mexican “core” has been together longer and know how to play together better.

        Believe it or not teamwork really does matter in soccer, though you might not believe it the way people write around here.

    • there are 23 national team players from south american teams playing in Liga MX, not as many as the big 4 european leagues but that gives you an idea about how strong the mexican league is.

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  5. Bedoya just posted this on facebook:

    “‎#TBT When dreams come true! Always a huge honor to represent your country! #USMNT #USA #hardwork”

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  6. In regards to our roster, Dempsey not in the squad again fro Spurs today…. He hasn’t seen action since feb 21st where he got 25 minutes of the bench.
    Really bad news considering how vital he is to our team. Costa Rica/Mexico must be licking their chops at the prospect of playing a Dempsey/Donovan-less US team. Even if Dempsey can play will he be rusty? Will he be in shape to go 90 at altitude in Denver and/or Mexico City?

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    • This I can agree with you on. A minor shock not to see Clint on the roster today after Klinsmann’s statements earlier this week. I hope Clint did not reinjure himself. Anyone have any news on this?

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      • FJ, Cherundolo, Castillo, Dempsey and Howard.These players are out injured or haven’t played a game since getting injured.

        We arent looking too good in terms of our fullback’s fitness.Hope FJ, Castillo and Dempsey can go by next week.

    • 9 starters from that game are on this roster. the only two that are not are Barrera and Viniegra (the guy who got the red vs. Seattle a few days ago). De Nigris played in that game but isnt on this roster too.

      On top of those 9 they have added Gio do Santos, Oribe Peralta, Javi Aquino, Carlos Salcido, Jonny Magollon, Reyes, Herrera, etc

      Mexico is stacked!

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  7. Mexico is dangerous in attack, but I think their defense has weaknesses. One way they are similar to Barcelona–not very good in the air and can be beaten with good crosses.

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  8. i wonder if Barrera comes in now that Peralta could be out. Barrera has had a rocky club career, but he always gives the US problems.

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  9. Would the world end in Mexico if they lost to Honduras away then tied the US? Just the thought of it makes me smile. Not an inconceivable set of results.

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    • Vela obviously has “issues” with El Tri.

      What they are who knows just be glad he won’t facing the US. He’s arguably better than Hernandez.

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  10. I’m very worried that we are going to get embarrassed in Me-hico. Our backline has no organization what so ever, and our offense is non existent. Let’s get Tab on this ASAP. He knows how to make Yanks play well in meaningful competition.

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    • Have to give our guys a chance to respond before hitting the panic button. We came out flat, and stayed that way, in Honduras. The Costa Rica match is our chance to respond, and I fully expect us to do so. One U-20 tournament hasn’t made Tab the savior of our national team. Many American soccer fans still haven’t realized the grass isn’t always greener with a new manager. We have made a massive commitment with Klinsmann and will live or die by that decision. He isn’t going anywhere.

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  11. whats the pay like in Mexico? what is Peralta, Bravo, Salcido, Torrado and Molina making? I know some are getting millions but is it so much better to play there than abroad?

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    • Not entirely sure about Liga MX pay– but Hercules Gomez mentioned in an interview last year that his salary was MLS-DP level. so that’s probably in the $300K range. so figure the Mex Nat players are significantly above that.

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    • I read Humberto Suazo signed a contract making 3 million per year making him the highest paid player in Mexico. Top players make anywhere between 1-2 million. Puebla which is at the low end of pay averages about 250k per player. Average teams spend 5-10 million on salaries. America and Chivas spend about 20-25 million each.

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  12. Didn’t Pablo Barrera embarrass us in the Gold Cup? Kind of odd he wasn’t included. Has his play diminished since then (or injured), or are the guys in the roster even better?

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  13. I had thought more of their regulars were playing abroad. This makes me sad that their league products are mostly betters than our entire national team.

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      • “Huh?” I’ll try to translate: “Their league pays a lot …” That means that, perhaps surprising to many in the US, their league pays the players pretty well … at least enough to make staying at home (vs. taking the 1st offer in the EU) palatable.

        “… the celebrity factor of being a football player in Mexico is ginormous” First, by ginormous, he meant really, really, huge. Next, if you’re a starter on a good Mexican Premier League squad, and especially if you feature on the MMNT, you are a big celebrity there … along the lines of our version of Kobe, LeBron, A-Rod, Sidney Crosby, Peyton Manning, Jimmie Johnson, or etc.

      • your condescension would’ve been more effective if you had realized who old school was actually replying to.

      • Haha.

        However, it was fun watching him chase his tail. As you highlighted, too bad it wasn’t directed at the comment he piggybacked.

      • and this is why Beasley needs to be on our team. we need wingers and Beasley is playing well in a strong league. he is a perfect stop-gap solution while we wait for Shea or Gatt to come along.

      • completely agree… he would help us big time. Huge upgrade over, for example, Eddie Johnson if we are using him on the left wing (not his natural position).

      • Beasley has been a terror in Liga MX… definitely deserves a call up. He’s been the best American in Liga MX IMO.

      • listen Dude…Logic is something that will not be tolerated here….or on the USMNT. Please keep it to a minimum bryan…..

      • beasley would be good vs mexico not costa rica

        The Denver cold is the EURO temperature

        We need to feature our Euro players

  14. Why is the USA the last team to always release the roster. All of these countries have players in multiple counties so that’s not an excuse.

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    • Its kind of impressive how we keep the roster under wraps for so long. You would think it would get leaked by now. Surely almost all the players who will be included know by now, and we are waiting to make sure everyone makes it through the weekend unscathed before releasing the names.

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      • Why is Klinsmann’s secretiveness impressive? Other national team coaches are competent enough to know well ahead of time which players they want on the team and then announce rosters. But Klinsmann and his sidekick Martin Vasquez cannot make up their minds and are still fretting up to the last minute about who to call. I can just see Klinsmann unable to make up his mind and drawing names from a hat.

        And if Klinsmann truly believes that keeping his rosters secret gives him a tactical advantage then that is truly worrisome–not to mention weird.

      • With the way information flows worldwide in minutes I think its very impressive his rosters don’t leak at all. I guarantee almost all he players know they’re coming and there may be a couple who have been made aware they’re likely on the way pending weekend events. Its not like Klinsy calls them on sunday night telling them the plane is waiting. You better hurry or I’m calling Bornstein….

      • Listen, Ronaldinho. I’ve caught you more than once being measured and reasonable in these discussion forums and I feel like you should know there’s no place for that here. Cut it out.

        Klinsmann is obviously throwing darts at a board as we speak because he’s just so stupid.

      • Gaucho,

        You can release the roster as early as Mexico did.
        Then what happens is players get hurt, and whatever else (DUI’s, arrests for assault, trips to Cambodia, etc.) crop up.

        So almost all the way up to game time the roster keeps getting altered. I’ve seen rosters for teams like England, for example, change by as much as 50% after such early announcements.

        Or I’ve seen it done JK’s way where you wait until everyone has played over the weekend and is healthy and then you announce it.

        I’m sure every prospective USMNT call up has already been informed and all necessary travel reservations made. After all it costs so much to book flights if you don’t give seven days advanced notice and, unless the USSF has some incredible travel arrangement, I’m sure they are as thrifty as anyone else in these times.

        It would not do for the USMNT to waste money just because JK and Vasquez were sitting crying in a puddle on the floor paralyzed by the fear of making the wrong decision on a roster that is so thin it practically picks itself anyway.

        Maybe they are scanning SBI to get as much consensus as possible on who should be the Goalkeeper.

        But hey, that’s why they pay them the big bucks

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