U24 match preview: Mexico vs Saudi Arabia

Mexico will play their second game off their U24 tour in Marbella on Tuesday against Saudi Arabia. Mexico had a great debut with a 1-0 win over Romania, although the result was better than the performance. There should be a lot of changes from Jaime Lozano’s starting lineup from their Saturday match, as Lozano will try to see most of the players on the tour, which is the last audition for making the Olympic team. Mexico will close out their tour with match against Australia.

Mexico’s debut against Romania was lacking in level of play at times. Romania came out as the stronger team and had the better of the play in the first half, but Mexico improved as the match went on. In the second half they gained possession and unlike Romania, they were able to make it count with a goal by Jesus Ricardo Angulo. Some Mexican players that missed on the U23 CONCACAF Championship were kind of disappointing in one of the few opportunities to make the Olympic team. Fernando Beltran had been the best performer but some players like Jairo Torres and Marcel Ruiz didn’t show much to change the perspective that left them out of the CONCACAF Championship team. Once again the best player looked to be Alexis Vega, who also shined by winning the Golden Ball in the tournament. Mexico will now face the team expected to be the lesser of the three in the tour, but who will still be a tough matchup as they are also qualified to the Olympic games.

Mexico might look to make a couple of changes. Eduardo Aguirre and Santiago Gimenez should probably get the start instead of the duo of Alexis Vega and Jose Juan Macias. In defense, standout Johan Vasquez should start and probably might be joined by Victor Guzman. It also point to a probable start for Sebastian Jurado at goalkeeper instead of Luis Malagon. With things getting cleared and with the strong rumors that European based Edson Alvarez and Diego Lainez might not get permission for the team, these friendlies might gain importance as Lozano figures out who will take their place. With the games being 45 days away and the final squad list being even closer to happening, it will be a tough task for Lozano on and off the field.

Game: Mexico vs. Saudi Arabia

Date: Tuesday, June 8th

Time: 2:00 p.m. Eastern, 1:00 p.m. Central, 11:00 a.m. Pacific, 6:00 p.m. UTC

Venue: Estadio Municipal (Marbella, Málaga, Andalusia)

Television: United States - TUDN; Mexico - TUDN

Streaming: fuboTV (Subscription), TUDN En Vivo