Mexico announce squad for U22 training camp

Mexico has announced the call up list for a U22 Training camp that will be taking place during the FIFA break. The big news is the addition of two players that hadn’t been called up during coach Jaime Lozano’s recent tenure: Diego Lainez and Carlos Rodriguez. Lainez would be arriving from Spain where he plays with Betis while Rodriguez would take part after being part of the senior team where he played the Gold Cup and the CONCACAF Nations League. After the camp Mexico will play a closed door friendly in the Centro de Alto Rendimiento (CAR) against Universidad Premier on Tuesday November 19th.

The call up list is the following:

Goalkeepers: Jose Hernandez (Atlas), Carlos Higuera (Tijuana), Luis Malagon (Morelia)

Defenders: Alan Mozo (UNAM), Brayton Vasquez (Atlas), Gilberto Sepulveda (Chivas). Aldo Cruz (Tijuana), Ismael Govea (Atlas), Gerardo Arteaga (Santos), Jesus Angulo (Atlas), Adrian Mora (Toluca), Vladimir Loroña (Tijuana),

Midfielders: Diego Lainez (Real Betis), Carlos Rodriguez (Monterrey), Ricardo Angulo (Necaxa), Jonathan Gonzalez (Monterrey), Jose Esquivel (Juarez), Fernando Beltran (Chivas), Francisco Venegas (Tigres), Ian Torres (Atlas), Alan Cervantes (Chivas), Marcel Ruiz (Queretaro)

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

There are many important things with this call up, mostly being that senior team players that are eligible for the U22 are getting called up to gel with the team coached by Lozano. Jorge Sanchez, Cesar Montes, and Uriel Antuna are playing with the senior team with the CONCACAF Nations League, but like Vega last month Lainez and Rodriguez are in the mix for the Olympic qualifier team. Still it’s kind of a disappointment that after playing against Argentina the past two friendlies that they are not going to have a similar friendly for these FIFA dates, the last ones of 2019. Playing a closed door friendly against Universidad Premier seems like a step backward from playing Japan and Argentina, as they did the last two months. It’s still a good thing that the U22 eligible players are meshing with the team, as they soon will have to start real preparations for the U22 Olympic qualifiers that are going to be held early 2020 in Guadalajara.