Mexico announces U23 friendly against Japan

Mexico will start their preparations toward the Olympic Games qualifiers by playing a friendly on September 6th against Japan in Celaya, Guanajuato. Days after announcing that Mexico will be hosting the Olympic Games qualifying tournament in Guadalajara in March of 2020, Mexico also announced the first friendly to be played on September 6th in the Estadio Miguel Aleman in Celaya, Guanajuato. The team is coached by Jaime Lozano, and had just finished their participation in the Pan American Games where they won the bronze medal but disappointed many of the fans after losing out in the Semifinals against Honduras.

Mexico’s announcement that they will be hosting the Olympic Games qualifying tournament has meant that preparation for the tournament will have a bigger spotlight. The announcement of the friendly in Celaya also means that a Mexican city will be hosting a U23 match, something not very common in terms of the National Team. The fact that the game is on September 6th also should have an impact in terms of the Senior NT. Coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino had worked this week with a training camp filled with players eligible for this U23 team. A lot of speculation had been towards the possibility that those players might be called up for the senior team to play against the United States and Argentina, with the US game being on September 6th. The announcement of the friendly probably puts those beliefs to sleep, as the majority of those players should be playing under Coach Lozano against Japan in Celaya. The fact that it’s also in a FIFA date might mean that they might make a push for players outside of Mexico to get called up for this game, although that’s less probable. No word yet if a second friendly will happen during the FIFA September dates.