Mexico announce tour and call up list for U-17 team

The preparations for the 2023 U-17 World Cup are under way as Mexico have announced they’ll be taking a tour in the Middle East during the FIFA break. El Tri will travel to the United Arab Emirates where they will play three matches; first on Thursday, March 23 against the host country; they will next play on March 25 against Saudi Arabia; finally, they close out their tour with a match against the Netherlands on March 28.

The squad named was the following:

Goalkeepers: Norberto Bedolla (America), Fernando Delgado (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders: Javen Romero (LAFC), Luis Navarrete (Chivas), Kevin Garcia (Santos), Jose Suarez (Cruz Azul), Jonathan Flores (UNAM), Emilio Garcia (FC Juarez).

Midfielders: Gael Alvarez (Pachuca), Jose Urias (Monterrey), Brandon Lomeli (Necaxa), Isaac Martinez (Chivas), Yerar Azcarate (Pachuca), Juan Lopez (Toluca), William Arredondo (Necaxa), Jose Arroyo (Toluca), Daniel Vazquez (Necaxa), Adrian Fernandez (America).

Forwards: Stephano Carrillo (Santos), Joaquin Moxica (Monterrey).

Mexico qualified to the U-17 2023 World Cup after winning the CONCACAF championship last month. The win also placed Mexico in Pot 1, thus a seeded team for when the draw occurs in August. There is still a long way to go as only CONCACAF and the OFC have their teams qualified to the tournament at this point, but Mexico will begin their preparation by playing teams that are getting ready for their qualification process to the tournament. Europe is set to have their qualifiers in May, while Asia will have them in June. Mexico finished 2nd place in the last U-17 World Cup played in 2019 after the 2021 edition was cancelled because of the COVID 19 pandemic.