Mexico announces call up to Wales and Costa Rica friendlies

Mexico announced the call-up list for the March European tour where Mexico will play Wales and Costa Rica in friendlies. Coach Gerardo Martino decided to call up 26 players for the two games which will take place under a FIFA date. Mexico will be playing Wales in Cardiff on March 27 and Costa Rica in Wiener Neustadt, Austria on March 30.

The training camp will start on March 18 with players from Monterrey, whose game against Chivas will be postponed because of the large amount of Chivas players called up for the 2021 Concacaf Pre-Olympic Tournament.

The call-up list was the following:

Goalkeepers (4): Guillermo Ochoa (America), Alfredo Talavera (Pumas), Jonathan Orozco (Tijuana), Hugo Gonzalez (Monterrey)

Defenders (9): Nestor Araujo (Celta de Vigo), Carlos Salcedo (Tigres), Hector Moreno (Al-Gharafa), Gerardo Arteaga (KRC Genk), Jesus Gallardo (Monterrey), Luis Romo (Cruz Azul), Cesar Montes (Monterrey), Jorge Sanchez (America), Luis Rodriguez (Tigres)

Midfielders (9): Hector Herrera (Atletico Madrid) Edson Alvarez (Ajax), Diego Lainez (Real Betis), Erick Gutierrez (PSV Eindhoven), Andres Guardado (Real Betis), Efrain Alvarez (LA Galaxy), Orbelin Pineda (Cruz Azul), Jonathan Dos Santos (LA Galaxy), Rodolfo Pizarro (Inter Miami)

Forwards (4): Jesus Corona (Porto), Hirving Lozano (Napoli), Henry Martin (America), Alan Pulido (Sporting Kansas City)

Among the notable omissions was Puebla striker Santiago Ormeño, who has been one of the hottest strikers in Liga MX but apparently didn’t do enough to get a call-up. Midfielder Omar Govea has also been playing regularly well with Zulte Waregem in Belgium.

It must also be noted that a lot of players will be out because of the Pre-Olympic Tournament, which will feature players like Charly Rodriguez, Sebastian Cordova and Jose Juan Macias, who would all probably be on the call-up list under normal circumstances.

The biggest surprise is the call-up of Efrain Alvarez for the first time with the senior team. Alvarez was a stand-out for Mexico in the 2019 U17 World Cup where Mexico finished runners-up. He had been recently gone to training camps with the United States National Team and was said to be in the eyes of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for a possible switch.

Along with Alvarez, every MLS player called up is also surprising since the MLS season hasn’t started after being delayed because of labor talks. The most notable being Alan Pulido, who was picked over Ormeño even when he hasn’t played a game in 2021. The team will travel to Wales on March 20th where they will be joined by the Europe-based players and the MLS contingent.