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With just one game remaining ahead of the 2017 Gold Cup, the Mexico national team travels to Seattle, Washington to take on Paraguay.
While one Mexico national team gets ready to play their third-place match against Portugal in the Conderations Cup, the other Mexico team puts their finishing touches ahead of their Gold Cup debut.
El Tri arrive on the back of a 1-0 win over Ghana on Wednesday in a game that more or less resulted in an insipid victory from the Mexicans. The only goal of the game came in the first half when Elias Hernandez fired in a penalty following a great play from Jesus Gallardo.
Since Wednesday, Luis Pompilio Páez, assistant coach to Juan Carlos Osorio, has released his 23-man squad for the tournament, with several notable players missing out like Erick “Cubo” Torres and Eduardo “La Chofis” Lopez.
For Paraguay, this game will serve as a simple friendly, no more. The South Americans will be fielding a majority reserve side, and with no summer tournament to look forward to, this is something of a glorified practice session or as Mexicans call it, a “Molero”.
This, however, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Alternative team or not, El Tri have a competitive squad, and the the hope is that against Paraguay, things start to mold, especially now where the pressure has amped up a bit following Mexico’s semifinal exit to Germany in the Confederations Cup. Mexico are after all the Gold Cup’s defending champions, and in that regard, they must compete and show that Mexico has enough talent to compete even with a second-string side.
Date: Saturday, July 1
Time: 5:30 PM Pacific, 7:30 PM Central, 8:30 PM Eastern
Venue: CenturyLink Field, Seattle, Washington
Television: Univision (US-Spanish), Univision Deportes Network (US-Spanish), Fox Sports 1 (US-English), TDN (Mexico), Univision TDN (Mexico), Azteca 13 (Mexico), Canal 5 (Mexico)
Streaming: fuboTV (Free trial + monthly subscription), Univision NOW, Fox Sports GO