Mexican National Team interim manager Ricardo Ferretti has trimmed his roster down to the required 23-man squad today. The two omissions were Carlos Pena of Leon who’s had a great comeback season in his domestic play, and Miguel Herrera of Pachuca, who has been a consistent fringe player for Mexico over the last year or so.
Of course, because this is Mexico, things are never so cut and dry. Giovani Dos Santos, who missed a roster spot last month will be forced to miss the CONCACAF Cup tie because of a muscle injury. This means that for the time being, Ferretti will be working with 22 players. Under the rules put in place Mexico does have the chance to replace Dos Santos up to 24 hours before the game. It's possible that Pena gets the call over Herrera, because of both current form and because Herrera is a defender, who would most likely be an option if a defender was unable to go. Another option is that he calls one of the players he left off the original 35 man list, including his club players Jesus Duenas or Juergen Damm. Both have already suited up for Mexico in the past and both bring something different to offer Mexico.
With the omissions of Herrera and Pena, this means Ferretti saw enough from his captains to take a risk on bringing both Andres Guardado and Rafael Marquez. Neither were expected to recover in time to make the game just a few weeks ago. In reality we don’t know that they are 100% but Ferretti is taking the gamble anyways.
Fulll roster *Giovani Dos Santos has been removed from the roster because of injury.
GOALKEEPERS:
Moises Munoz (Club America)
Jonathan Orozco (Monterrey)
Alfredo Talavera (Toluca)
DEFENDERS:
Paul Aguilar (Club America)
Arturo Rivas (Tigres)
Rafael Marquez (Hellas Verona)
Diego Reyes (Real Sociedad)
Jorge Torres Nilo (Tigres)
Miguel Layun (Porto)
Hector Moreno (PSV Eindoven)
Isreal Jimenez (Tigres)
MIDFIELDERS:
Hector Herrera (Porto)
Jonathan Dos Santos (Villarreal)
Andres Guardado (PSV Eindhoven)
Javier Aquino (Tigres)
Jose Juan Vazquez (Leon)
Carlos Esquivel (Tolulca)
FORWARDS
Raul Jimenez (Benfica)
Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad)
Javier Hernandez (Bayer Leverkusen)
Jesus Corona (Porto)
Oribe Peralta (Club America)