When will the official Mexico squad for the Qatar 2022 World Cup be announced?
Mexico have two friendlies lined up to warm up for the World Cup. Tata Martino has pretty much settled on the squad he will take to Qatar.
With the Liga MX Apertura 2022 set to reach its conclusion on Sunday, and just two clubs, Toluca and Pachuca, remaining in competition until then, Mexico have been able to step up their preparations for the World Cup which gets underway next month.
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A number of international players have already reported for duty at the national team’s CAR training complex (Centro de Alto Rendimiento) in Mexico City, with more players expected to join them in the coming days.
Mexico will warm up for the World Cup with two friendly matches in Girona, Spain. El Tri will take on Iraq at the Montilivi on 9 November, then Sweden at the same venue on 16 November. On Thursday at Femexfut, coach Tata Martino will name a 31-man squad who will travel to northern Spain for those games - the majority of those players will be in his definitive list for the World Cup. However, at least five players will be excluded from the final list as each nation is allowed a maximum of 26 players at the tournament.
Martino’s preliminary list includes 15 players from Liga MX, two players based at Italian clubs - Johan Vásquez (Cremonese) and Chucky Lozano (Napoli), Héctor Herrera from MLS (Houston Dynamo), Gerardo Arteaga who is at Belgian outfit Genk, Andrés Guardado from LaLiga side Betis and four players who are playing in the Dutch Eredivisie: Jorge Sánchez (Ajax), Edson Alvarez (Ajax), Erick Gutiérrez (PSV) and Santiago Giménez (Feyenoord).
Mexico squad list for pre-World Cup friendlies in Girona
Goalkeepers: Guillermo Ochoa, Alfredo Talavera, Rodolfo Cota
Defenders: César Montes, Néstor Araujo, Jesús Angulo, Héctor Moreno, Johan Vásquez, Gerardo Arteaga, Jesús Gallardo, Jorge Sánchez, Kevin Álvarez
Midfielders: Edson Álvarez, Héctor Herrera, Andrés Guardado, Erick Sánchez, Carlos Rodríguez, Luis Gerardo Chávez, Luis Romo, Erick Gutiérrez, Orbelín Pineda
Forwards: Alexis Vega, Diego Lainez, Roberto Alvarado, Uriel Antuna, Rogelio Funes Morí, Raúl Jiménez, Henry Martín, Hirving Lozano, Jesús Manuel ‘Tecatito’ Corona and Santiago Giménez.
Two players in the list, Jesús Manuel ‘Tecatito’ Corona and Raúl Jiménez remain sidelined with their respective injuries - their progress will be closely monitored in the weeks running up to the World Cup and a decision on whether they will be included in the squad made at the last minute. Martino’s only other concern is who will form his attack in Qatar.
As of the moment, no date has been set for Martino to announce his definitive list but he will likely name his travelling squad after the second friendly on 16 November. Mexico will fly directly to Qatar from Spain - their first game at the World Cup will be against Poland on 22 November; they take on Lionel Messi’s Argentina four days later and bring the group stage to a close against Saudi Arabia on 30 November.