Mexico announces roster for games against Honduras and USA

Flickr - Celso Flores

The ‘Federacion Mexicana de Futbol’ (FMF) announced the roster which the Mexican national soccer team will use in the next two CONCACAF Hexagonal games.  Mexico plays Honduras on September 6 in Mexico City, and the USA on September 10, in Columbus.  There were no major surprises in the roster; although Argentine born players, Christian Gimenez and Damian Alvarez were included once again, and Guillermo Ochoa refused the invitation.

The ‘tricolor’ has a pair of extremely important matches on their agenda on September 6 and 10.  The team coached by Jose Manuel ‘Chepo’ De La Torre has under performed throughout the year, and that has been visible on their performances in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers.  After 6 games played, and with only 4 left, Mexico sits in 3rd place of the standings, still in a World Cup qualifying position.  Nonetheless, they only have 8 points from 18 possible, and have a 1 point advantage over Honduras, who is in 4th place; the 4th place will play in a wild-card series against the winner from Oceania.

The list named by Chepo De La Torre is very similar to the players called for the last friendly played against the Ivory Coast.  That game which ended 4-1 in favor of ‘El Tri’, was a good demonstration of good things to come, as the formation was changed from a 4-4-2, to a 4-3-3.  Considering Christian Gimenez, and Fernando Arce were once again included, that means that Chepo will most likely use the same starting lineup, while leaving Andres Guardado and Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez on the bench.

Mexico National Team Roster against Honduras and USA:

Goalkeepers: Jesus Corona, Alfredo Talavera, Jonathan Orozco.

Defenders: Severo Meza, Ricardo Hiram Mier, Francisco Javier Rodríguez y Diego Reyes, Héctor Moreno, Carlos Salcido.

Midfielders: Héctor Herrera, Christian Giménez,Jorge Torres Nilo, Jesús Zavala, Gerardo Torrado, Fernando Arce, Javier Aquino, Andrés Guardado.

Forwards:  Damián Álvarez, Oribe Peralta, Giovani Dos Santos, Ángel Reyna, Javier Hernández,  Raúl Jiménez.

Projected Starting Lineup for the following matches:

Jesus Corona, Severo Meza, Diego Reyes (or Javier Rodriguez), Hector Moreno, Carlos Salcido, Gerardo Torrado, Christian Gimenez (or Andres Guardado), Fernado Arce, Giovani Dos Santos, Angel Reyna, Oribe Peralta (or Chicharito).