FMF
Which Mexico players went to the Qatar World Cup 2022 but are not in Diego Cocca’s squad?
There are six players who made the list that went to the World Cup in Qatar 2022 but have not made the cut for Diego Cocca’s squad.
Diego Cocca has announced his first squad list as head coach of the Mexican Soccer Team. 34 players will have the opportunity to play in two games of the second round of the Concacaf Nations League at the end of March: away to Suriname and then at home in the Azteca Stadium against Jamaica.
Of the 34 players, 20 were at the World Cup in Qatar 2022. However, six of those who attended the showpiece event are now not included in the squad at the start of the new process that is focussed on building a team for the 2026 World Cup.
- More detail: Diego Cocca’s first Mexico squad list revealed
The six players left out of the squad
Alfredo Talavera, Rodolfo Cota, Héctor Herrera, Andrés Guardado, Rogelio Funes Mori and Alexis Vega are the players in question. In the case of Guardado, he ruled himself out of continuing with the Mexican National Team after participating in Qatar 2022. Vega suffered a meniscus injury in his right knee in the first game of the Clausura 2023 between Chivas and Atlético San Luis, which will see him out of action for a couple more weeks. The two goalkeepers, Herrera and Funes Mori, were directly crossed off the list.
There is still a chance for the rejected players
However, Cocca emphasized that their absence does not mean that they will no longer be taken into account during their term. There will be no vetoes, but dialogue and permanent consideration. ”All players have an open door. We will decide in the moment.
Today we have decided on these 34, I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. The job of the coaching staff is to take into account all the players who can represent Mexico and be aware of their performances”, the Argentine coach said.
Cocca has time to convince the players of his ideas
Cocca will have a group of 15 players to carry out an integration program at the High Performance Centre at the Mexican Football Federation, which will begin next March 5: “We will talk, share time and transmit what I feel. We will train as a group so that they can experience the concepts that we have to know to be able to achieve our goals”.
On March 21, the Mexican National Team will travel to Suriname with a squad of 24 players: the rest will stay training at the FMF centre.