Gerardo Martino announces youthful call up list for Training Camp

Mexico National Team coach Gerardo Martino announced a call up list for a Training Camp to be held from Sunday August 18 to Wednesday August 21. The call up list consists of only young players, with the oldest being 24 and the youngest being aged 17. It hasn’t been announced if the list will be for anything more than a training camp, although the majority of the players are eligible for the U-23 team that should be playing the Olympic Games qualifiers under Coach Jaime Lozano. It also hasn’t been announced if Lozano will be taking part of the training camp to be held in the Centro de Alto Rendimiento (CAR) in Mexico City.

The players called up are as followed:

Goalkeepers: Raul Gudiño (Chivas), Sebastian Jurado (Veracruz), Jose Hernandez (Atlas)

Defenders: Ismael Govea (Atlas), Kevin Alvarez (Pachuca), Adrian Mora (Toluca), Alan Mozo (UNAM Pumas), Luis Romo (Queretaro), Vladimir Loroña (Tijuana), Gerardo Arteaga (Santos), Johan Vasquez (Monterrey)

Midfielders: Jonathan Gonzalez (Monterrey), Ian Jairo Torres (Atlas), Erick Aguirre (Pachuca), Adrian Lozano (Santos), Eugenio Pizzuto (Pachuca), Joaquin Esquivel (Juarez), Francisco Figueroa (Pachuca), Alan Medina (Toluca)

Forwards: Jose Juan Macias (Leon), Paolo Yrizar (Queretaro), Jesus Godinez (Leon), Ulises Cardona (Atlas)

Many fans and journalists are a little confused about the list and the Training Camp. Among them are notable cases like 17 year old Pizzuto, who has never played a club senior game. Many of the players are from recent U-23 tournaments like the Toloun Tournament and the just finished Pan American games, in which Mexico finished third place in both. This gives fuel to the rumor that the list is set to be in preparation for the U-23 Olympic Qualifiers team. Only Raul Gudiño and Luis Romo aren’t eligible for that team, as they are over the age limit. Whatever the purpose of it is, it shows that coach Martino has a clear plan to be working with the youth for an eventual phasing out of many of the veterans that played in the 2018 World Cup. Only time will tell what the Training Camp is for but hopefully it will be a boost to the potential U-23 team that Jaime Lozano might need after the criticism for their loss against Honduras in the Pan American Semifinal.