Diego Lainez and Santiago Giménez to be left out of Mexico’s World Cup roster
According to multiple reports, the head coach of Mexico Gerardo Martino will not include Lainez or Giménez in the final 26-player squad.
The head coach of the Mexican national team Gerardo Martino will announce on Monday the 26-player roster that will be participating in the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup. According to multiple reports, Diego Lainez and Santiago Giménez will not receive a call up for the tournament that is scheduled to start on November 20.
Martino wants more experience players
Both players were expected to make the final roster, but Martino will leave them out and call up Raúl Jiménez and Roberto Alvarado instead. The Wolverhampton striker has been dealing with a groin injury since August and has yet to play for club and country, but it seems that he will be recovering in time to lead Mexico’s attack at Qatar.
This leaves Santiago Giménez out of contention even though he is having a breakout season with Feyenoord since arriving to the Eredivisie during the summer. The former Cruz Azul striker has scored six goals and provided two assists for Feyenoord in 18 appearances across all competitions, but Raúl Jiménez has been the striker of choice since Martino took over the managerial job in 2019.
While Diego Lainez has struggled to find minutes since leaving Club América in the summer of 2019. The 22-year-old was sent to Braga on loan this summer, but he has yet to make an impact with the Portuguese side. Lainez has scored two goals and provided two assists in 10 appearances across all competitions for his club.
The problem is that Lainez is used as a substitute and he has only seen 151 minutes with Braga in the Primeira Liga. While Roberto Alvarado is a regular starter for Chivas this season, he has scored two goals in 17 appearances for the Liga MX side. The 24-year-old has played a total of 1,250 minutes and started 13 games for the Guadalajara-based team.