Mexico U16s start long road for 2021 U17 World Cup with training camp

Mexico announced the start of the process for the 2021 U17 World Cup by calling the U16 team for the first training camp of 2020. This group will be led by Alberto Rodriguez, although there is no word yet if he will be the coach of the U17 team that will play the U17 World Cup qualifiers or if he just doing the early part of the process. The team will be in training camp from Monday February 17 to Thursday February 20th in the Centro de Alto Rendimiento (CAR).

The call up list was the following:

Goalkeepers: Angel Campos (Toluca), Luis Ramirez (Leon), Bruno Salgado (Chivas)

Defenders: Julio Herrera (Morelia), Gael Delgado (Toluca), Fernando Luna (Santos), Paulo Romero (Leon), Edwin Avalos (Morelia), Ari Contreras (Pachuca)

Midfielders: Alejandro Alcala (Stockton LA), Klever Castillo (America), Duilio Marin (Morelia), Cristopher Benitez (Cruz Azul), Juan Palma (Pachuca), Karim Lopez (Tijuana), Carlos Mendoza (Toluca), Jesus Lara (Pachuca), Carlo Montes (Queretaro)

Forwards: Ricardo Peraza (Chivas), Alexei Dominguez (Pachuca), Salvador Velasquez (Leon), Rogelio Bermudez (Morelia), Juan Gonzalez (Atlas), Daniel Morales (Leon)

The team will be taking part in five training sessions and will conclude with a behind doors friendly, although the rival wasn’t announced. Unlike the U20 team, that will play their World Cup qualifiers this year during the summer, it’s expected that Concacaf will held the U17 World Cup qualifiers in 2021. Mexico is the current second place holders in the U17 category after a surprising run in the 2019 U17 World Cup that had the team get to the final and lose against the hosts Brazil by a 2-1 score.