Mexico announce call up list for U-23 friendly against Japan

With Jose Juan Macias leading the way, Mexico announced the call up list for their U-23 friendly against Japan on September 6th in Celaya, Guanajuato. The team is preparing to face the Olympic games qualifiers to be held in Guadalajara in March 2020.

It was also announced that this team will play a friendly in the Centro de Alto Rendimiento (CAR) on September 10th against Ascenso MX team Cimarrones de Sonora. The team is coached by Jaime Lozano, although a lot of these player took part of a NT camp under Gerardo Martino a week ago.

The call up list was the following.

Goalkeepers: Sebastian Jurado (Veracruz), Jose Hernandez (Atlas), Luis Malagon (Morelia)

Defenders: Alan Mozo (UNAM Pumas), Ismael Govea (Atlas), Kevin Alvarez (Pachuca), Johan Vasquez (Monterrey), Adrian Mora (Toluca), Vladimir Loroña (Tijuana), Luis Hernandez (Toluca), Gerardo Arteaga (Santos), Brayton Vasquez (Atlas), Joaquin Esquivel (FC Juarez)

Midfielders: Jonathan Gonzalez (Monterrey), Erick Aguirre (Pachuca), Eric Cantu (Monterrey), Adrian Lozano (Santos), Alan Cervantes (Chivas), Francisco Figueroa (Pachuca), Sebastian Cordova (America), Jesus Angulo (Necaxa), Jairo Torres (Atlas)

Forwards: Jose Juan Macias (Leon), Paolo Yrizar (Queretaro), Jesus Godinez (Leon), Roberto de la Rosa (Pachuca)

While there was criticism because Macias wasn’t called up to the senior team, the U-23 team needs to start playing together as qualification to the Olympics is a must for 2020. If anything, more U-23 eligible players should have followed Macias’ path and been called up for this game, including players like Carlos Rodriguez and Alexis Vega. As a host nation, Japan is already qualified to the Olympic games so it’s an excellent test and a potential future rival should Mexico qualify to the Olympic games. The CONCACAF U-23 tournament will be held in Guadalajara and the top 2 teams get the confederation’s spots for the Olympic games.