Mexico names U23 squad for Olympic qualifiers

Coach Jaime Lozano has named the 20 man roster of players that will be taking part in the 2020 Olympic qualifiers. The U23 Concacaf Championship will give two spots for the Olympic games ,and it will be played in Guadalajara from March 20th to April 1st. The players will start the camp this Sunday March 15th in Guadalajara. Mexico will make their debut on March 20th in a game against the Dominican Republic.

The call up list was as follows:

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

Defenders: Cesar Montes (Monterrey), Alan Mozo (Pumas), Jorge Sanchez (America), Johan Vasquez (Pumas), Gerardo Arteaga (Santos), Gilberto Sepulveda (Chivas)

Midfielders: Roberto Alvarado (Cruz Azul), Uriel Antuna (Chivas), Sebastian Cordova (America), Erick Aguirre (Pachuca), Fernando Beltran (Chivas), Jose Esquivel (FC Juarez), Jesus Ricardo Angulo (Chivas)

Forwards: Jose Juan Macias (Chivas), Marcel Ruiz (Queretaro), Alexis Vega (Chivas), Jesus Godinez (Leon)

The main surprise of the call up list was the fact that Monterrey’s Carlos Rodriguez wasn’t called up. According to Lozano, some players were left so they can play the March friendlies against the Czech Republic and Greece with the senior team, but those games are not close to the importance of the qualification process for the Olympics. More understandable is the absence of Edson Alvarez and Diego Lainez, since both players play in Europe. Since it’s not a FIFA calendar event, teams aren’t forced to let players take part in it. Alvarez should be in the friendlies (which are FIFA calendar games) and there’s a good chance Lainez might miss both, as he’s just started training after having an operation because of a case of appendicitis.

Among the other surprises, the omission of Santos Laguna’s Eduardo Aguirre might be the most notable. Aguirre is a starter with Santos and has been scoring in both Liga MX and Copa MX before that. On the other hand, Jesus Godinez got a call up even when he’s on the bench in Leon and has recently fallen into third on the depth chart behind Armando Leon. Among the other absences are players like Jonathan Gonzalez, Cristian Calderon, Santiago Gimenez, Alejandro Mayorga and Adrian Mora. It’s still a strong team overall that should be favored to get one of the Olympic berths, although it won’t be an easy affair especially since there are only two spots. But Mexico has enough talent in the squad, plus it will be the host of the tournament which all places them in a prime situation for the important step towards the most important youth tournament of them all.