Mexico announce call ups for U-23 friendlies against Argentina

Mexico announced the list of players who will be taking part in the U-23 friendlies Mexico will be playing against Argentina on October 12 and 15th. The most notable call up was that of Chivas’ Alexis Vega, who will finally be able to play with the team after missing prior games because of action with the senior team. Vega is the rarity, however, as a lot of the members of the U-23 team were not called up because they will be taking part of the senior national team in their matches in the Nations League against Bermuda and Panama.

The list for the games was as followed:

Goalkeepers: Sebastian Jurado (Veracruz), Luis Malagon (Morelia), Carlos Higuera (Tijuana)

Defenders: Alejandro Mayorga (Chivas), Carlos Vargas (America), Francisco Venegas (Tigres), Kevin Alvarez (Pachuca), Ismael Govea (Atlas), Adrian Mora (Toluca), Brayton Vasquez (Atlas), Vladimir Loroña (Tijuana), Luis Hernandez (Toluca)

Midfielders: Jesus Ricardo Angulo (Necaxa), Joaquin Esquivel (FC Juarez), Fernando Beltran (Chivas), Adrian Lozano (Santos), Pablo Lopez (Pachuca), Marcel Ruiz (Queretaro), Jairo Torres (Atlas), Aldo Cruz ( Tijuana) , Alan Cervantes (Chivas), Hector Mascorro (Mineros)

Forwards: Alexis Vega (Chivas), Jesus Godinez (Leon), Paolo Yrizar (Queretaro), Eduardo Aguirre (Santos)

Coach Jaime Lozano will be coaching this team, and among the notable returns are players like Marcel Ruiz, Pablo Lopez and Eduardo Aguirre, all from the Pan American Games’ third-placed team (although Aguirre missed the tournament because of injury). Still, the squad looks relatively weak from past U-23 squads because of the players who will be missing the games due to the Nations League like Jose Juan Macias, Sebastian Cordova and Alan Mozo.

It begs to ask why others players like Vega, who are eligible for the U-23 and head coach Gerardo Martino already knows, were called up to the Nations League and not to this team. It would have been a lot of help to have seen Roberto Alvardo, Uriel Antuna and Carlos Rodriguez play in this team instead of the Nations League games, considering they haven’t played under coach Lozano and are eligible for the U-23 team. That said, it’s a great opportunity for the players who will play against Argentina, as they will pose a tough challenge for Lozano and company as they prepare for the U-23 Olympic qualifiers in March