Photo by Bill Streicher/USA Today Sports

By RYAN TOLMICH

Selecting his squad for the first time, interim Mexico coach Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti left some notable names off his roster for upcoming friendlies.

Giovani Dos Santos, Jonathan Dos Santos and Guillermo Ochoa have all been omitted from Mexico’s roster for a pair of friendlies against Trinidad and Tobago and Argentina in the U.S. on September 4 and 8, respectively.

In Ochoa’s stead, Ferretti selected Club America’s Moises Munoz and Toluca’s Alfredo Talavera as the team’s goalkeepers.

The rest of Ferretti’s squad, though, is littered with regulars, including Rafa Marquez, Carlos Vela and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez.

Take a closer look at Mexico’s full roster below, as well as some more of Friday’s news and notes to kick off your day:

Goalkeepers: Moises Munoz (America), Alfredo Talavera (Toluca)

Defenders: Paul Aguilar (America), Diego Reyes (Real Sociedad), Francisco “Maza” Rodriguez (Cruz Azul), Rafa Marquez (Hellas Verona), Hector Moreno (PSV), Oswaldo Alanis (Chivas), Miguel Layun (Watford), Jorge Torres Nilo (Tigres)

Midfielders: Duenas (Tigres), Jose Juan “Gallito” Vazquez (Leon), Javier Guemez (America), Hector Herrera (Porto), Luis Montes (Leon), Javier Aquino (Tigres), Carlos Esquivel (Toluca), Andres Guardado (PSV)

Forwards: Jesus “Tecatito” Corona (Twente), Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez (Manchester United), Oribe Peralta (America), Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad), Raul Jimenez (Benfica).

EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW

Following Thursday’s Champions League draw, the teams that comprise the Europa League now know their fate as well.

Tottenham has been placed in one of the formidable groups, paired with Anderlecht, Monaco and Azerbaijani side Qarabag in Group J. Group A, meanwhile, presents matchups between historic powers in Ajax and Celtic, while Liverpool headlines Group B against Rubin Kazan, Bordeaux and FC Sion.

Borussia Dortmund will be among the teams doing the most traveling, taking on Azerbaijan’s Qabala, Russia’s FK Krasnodar and Greece’s PAOK.

The Europa League group stage is set to kick off on September 17.

Here’s a closer look at the groups:

Group A

Ajax
Celtic
Fenerbahce
Molde

Group B
Rubin
Liverpool
Bordeaux
Sion

Group C
Dortmund
PAOK
Krasnodar
Qabala

Group D
Napoli
Club Brugge
Legia Warsaw
Midtjylland

Group E
Villarreal
Viktoria Plzen
Rapid Vienna
Dinamo Minsk

Group F
Marseille
Braga
Slovan Liberec
FC Groningen

Group G
Dnipro
Lazio
St Etienne
Rosenborg

Group H
Sporting CP
Besiktas
Lokomotiv Moscow
KF Skenderbeu

Group I
Basel
Fiorentina
Lech Poznan
OS Belenenses

Group J
Tottenham
Anderlecht
Monaco
Qarabag

Group K
Schalke
APOEL
Sparta Prague
Asteras

Group L
Athletic Bilbao
AZ Alkmaar
Augsburg
Partizan

MAN CITY MAKES ‘ASTONISHING’ OFFER FOR DE BRUYNE

Manchester City’s pursuit of Kevin De Bruyne remains as relentless as ever.

Wolfsburg’s director of sport Klaus Allofs revealed Thursday that the Premier League powerhouse has made an ‘astonishing’ offer to acquire the Belgian midfielder for a fee believed to be around $83 million (£54 million). The deal, which isn’t yet completed, could be finalized as soon as this weekend.

“He’s had an astonishing, astonishing offer from City and we can’t compete with that,” Allofs said. “We had to take it seriously and that is the way we react with our players and finally we decided to start negotiations with City.

“I would prefer to keep him, not to get the money. But the money now is really the issue because Kevin was qualified with Wolfsburg for the Champions League and he was a key player and took the next step.”

Allofs went to state the difficulty of competing with the Premier League’s financial muscle when compared to that of the Bundesliga.

“Even the last team in the Premier League has much more money than Bayern Munich in TV money so this is already the situation,” Allofs said. “It’s a big task for our football league to get more money out of TV rights and we have to compete with that and hopefully we can.”

QUICK KICKS

Son Heung-Ming has completed a move to Tottenham from Bayer Leverkusen. (REPORT)

Diego Costa and David De Gea headline Spain’s roster to take on Slovakia and Macedonia in Euro 2016 qualifiers. (REPORT)

Liverpool are set to loan Lazar Markovic to Fenerbahce. (REPORT)

Bayer Leverkusen have agreed a fee to acquire Kevin Kampl from Borussia Dortmund. (REPORT)

Chelsea is reportedly nearing a deal to sign Chinese defender Zhang Linpeng from Guangzhou Evergrande. (REPORT)

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What do you think of Mexico’s roster? Who do you see as favorites in the Europa League? What type of message does Man City’s pursuit of De Bruyne send?

Share your thoughts below.