Mexico names their squad for the Gold Cup

Mexico has named the official squad that will take part in the 2021 Gold Cup. Mexico is going with a very close to an A squad, as a combination of the best available in the senior national team in addition to the players that didn’t make the U24 squad that will be playing the Tokyo Olympic Games. Mexico is the defending champion, and will make their debut on July 10 against the winner of a preliminary series that will take play next week.

The call up list is the following:

Goalkeepers: Alfredo Talavera (Pumas), Rodolfo Cota (Leon), Jonathan Orozco (Tijuana)

Defenders: Nestor Araujo (Celta de Vigo), Hector Moreno (Monterrey), Luis Rodriguez (Tigres), Jesus Gallardo (Monterrey), Kevin Alvarez (Pachuca), Carlos Salcedo (Tigres), Osvaldo Rodriguez (Leon), Gilberto Sepulveda (Chivas)

Midfielders: Hector Herrera (Atletico Madrid), Edson Alvarez (Ajax), Erick Gutierrez (PSV Eindhoven), Jonathan Dos Santos (LA Galaxy), Orbelin Pineda (Cruz Azul), Erick Sanchez (Pachuca), Efrain Alvarez (LA Galaxy), Alan Cervantes (Santos),

Forwards: Hirving Lozano (Napoli), Jesus Corona (Porto), Rogelio Funes Mori (Monterrey), Alan Pulido (Sporting Kansas City)

The most notable thing is that Javier Hernandez didn’t get a call up to the tournament. With his past as the number one scorer in the Mexican National Team and as the leading scorer in MLS, it’s inconceivable that Chicharito didn’t get a call up while Alan Pulido did. Not only does Pulido have less goals and never came close to achieving what Hernandez did with the Mexican National Team, but he will be coming into the tournament with an injury from his last game in MLS. While there are rumors, nothing has been said but it looks to be clear that there are no football reasons for his absence in the national team. A couple of players were expected to be in the squad but injuries forced them out. Andres Guardado and Rodolfo Pizarro were expected to be in the tournament, but were dropped because of injuries. Efrain Alvarez and Erick Sanchez took their spots.

Mexico is in Group A along with Curaçao, El Salvador, and the winner of a preliminary series that will be played this week. Unlike other teams, Mexico will be close to their A squad, with only the players in the Olympic team as well as some injured players missing. It seems that the fact that Mexico wants to try to get a World Cup seed if they qualify to the World Cup and will need the points from a Gold Cup title to get it, played a large part of the decision to go with such a strong team as well as the fact that Mexico lost the Nations League Final in June. Mexico will play a friendly on Saturday against Nigeria before making their debut on July 10 in Arlington, Texas.