Mexico announce call ups and friendly tour for U21 team

Mexico has announced a friendly tour for their U21 team to take place in Marbella, Spain. The team under Coach Raul Chabrand will be playing against Romania and Sweden during the tour in which they also named the squad that will be playing. The team has already traveled to Spain where they will first face Romania on October 9th and then finish their tour by facing Sweden on October 11th.

The call up list is the following:

Goalkeepers: David Ochoa (Real Salt Lake), Hector Holguin (Tampico Madero)

Defenders: Leonardo Sepulveda (Granada), Victor Guzman (Tijuana), Jesus Rivas (Pumas), Emilio Lara (America), Jorge Rodriguez (Toluca), Ramon Juarez (Puebla), Salvador Rodriguez (Mazatlan)

Midfielders: Benjamin Galdames (Union Española), Jordan Carrillo (Santos), Jonathan Herrera (Atlas), Edgar Games (Santos), Amaury Garcia (Pumas), Zahid Muñoz (Atletico San Luis), Angel Zapata (Monterrey), Diego Medina (Tampico Madero)

Forwards: Luca Martinez Dupuy (Rosario Central), Sagir Arce (Mazatlan), Ettson Ayon (Tijuana)

The most notable call up is that it will be the first cap of David Ochoa with a Mexican National Team. Ochoa had been playing for the United States National Team and was the US starting goalkeeper during the U23 CONCACAF Championship, where a mistake he made ended up costing a key goal in the 2-1 semifinal loss against Honduras that eliminated the team from the Olympic Games. Ochoa was a top US prospect, but filled the one time switch to Mexico in what was the most notable type of moment in a while.

The other notable call up is the return of Luca Martinez Dupuy to the National Team. Dupuy, who was born in Mexico but raised in Argentina, had been part of past Mexican youth teams but hadn’t been called up in a while because of the COVID-19 emergency. Dupuy had been getting first team minutes and scoring with Rosario Central, and there were even fans wanting for him to be capped to the senior team. His return however is good news for this team that is planning to be the Mexican team that plays in the 2024 Olympic games if the U20 Team qualifies them.

With the news that the U20 CONCACAF Championship would not only be the qualifiers for the 2023 U20 World Cup but also the 2024 Olympic games, it means that the U21 team will have to not only wait for another team to try to book their ticket to the games but that they have no meaningful competition for the time being. Still the team seems to be working regardless with a very good tour in Marbella, the same place they held a camp prior to the Olympic Games. If Mexico plans to repeat or even improve on their bronze medal win in the summer tournament, they are on the right path as the Road to Paris 2024 officially starts this FIFA Date.