Friday, April 11, 2008

Tri roster for China

Jesus Ramirez's first national roster for Mexico's first game without Hugo Sanchez pacing the sidelines since the 2006 World Cup. Mexico will play China on Wednesday in Seattle.

---
Goalkeepers: Oswaldo Sanchez (Santos), Jesus Corona (Tecos).

Defenders: Leobardo Lopez (Pachuca), Patricio Araujo (Chivas), Fausto Pinto (Pachuca), Adrian Aldrete (Morelia), Omar Trujillo (Morelia), Omar Esparza (Chivas), Alejandro Castro (Cruz Azul).

Midfielders: Sergio Amaury Ponce (Toluca), Luis Ernesto Perez (Monterrey), Jorge Hernandez (Atlas), Antonio Naelson "Zinha" (Toluca), Carlos Gerardo Martinez (Pachuca), Jose Joel Gonzalez (Monterrey).

Forwards: Sergio Santana (Chivas), Juan Carlos Cacho (Pachuca), Cesar Villaluz (Cruz Azul), Pablo Barrera (Pumas), Christian Bermudez (Atlante).

---

Random initial observations:

- Luis Perez returns. He was a part of Ricardo Lavolpe's teams and was a decent attacking midfielder. Nothing outstanding but a decent player. Somewhat surprising that he hasn't gotten a sniff of the national team given his club form. Perez has played in many big games before and has been with El Tri for some time before his exclusion by Sanchez. Might be more of a move made out of necessity, though, to kind of help bring some experience to an otherwise young squad.

- Experienced guys (at the senior level): Oswaldo Sanchez, Fausto Pinto, Luis Perez, Zinha, Juan Carlos Cacho.

- Patricio Araujo, Jorge Hernandez, Cesar Villaluz, Adrian Aldrete and Omar Esparza played for Ramirez in the 2005 U-17 WC, which Mexico won.

- Some roster restrictions for Ramirez included Chivas/Atlas/America Libertadores games next week as well as lack of international fixture date (no European-based players) but Ramirez was able to get some players from Chivas nonetheless, probably guys who weren't going to play much in Bolivia anyway.

- Ramirez is smart for bringing in some of the young players. If they do well, he can point to the youth as proof that he can translate the success over at the senior level; if not, he could say they still need seasoning but with time he could provide that.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chucho also brought in Alejandro Castro from Cruz Azul that plays in Primera "A"

MICHOACANO

The Hammer said...

Leo Lopez!!!! That guy has been SCREAMING for a call-up since his debut.

I don't mean to sound like I have a man-crush but... Leo Lopez in 2 years as a professional has won 2 domestic cups, 1 Copa Sudamericana, 1 CONCACAF Champions Cup, and 1 Superliga. Not to mention that he's held the backline up, babysitting Julio Manzur's 1.5 f-up per game average.

What has Jonny Magallon won?

Just sayin'

That was always one of my disagreements with Hugo Sanchez

eliaslozano2003 said...

The hammer you do not have to play for a good team or a team that does not win silver wear for your talent to be noticed, Johny Magallon is a player with great skill and talent and has showed it at International level, I want to see how much better or worse Lopez lives up to the undisputable Johny Magallon. I don’t like many of the players Chucho selected but the STRANGE thing is that I feel comfortable with it because I know Chucho knows what he is doing. If it would have been Hugo with this list I would probably be having a fit.