SOCCER
Why aren’t Chucky Lozano and Raúl Jiménez playing for Mexico against Brazil?
Jaime Lozano has given youth a chance ahead of this summer’s Copa América, opting not to include a number of senior players in the squad.
The Mexican national team have struggled to build momentum ahead of this summer’s Copa América but head coach Jaime Lozano is looking to usher in a new era for El Tri.
Mexico begin their journey this summer with a pre-tournament friendly against Brazil, who boast some of the world’s finest attacking talents. However Mexico will be without a number of senior players for the game, including Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano, Raúl Jiménez and Guillermo Ochoa.
With a tough Copa América summer on the horizon, the Mexican head coach opted not to include any of those players in the 31-man preliminary squad for the tournament. None of that illustrious trio will feature against Brazil and they look extremely unlikely to be recalled for the final Copa América roster, barring late injuries. It is part of an effort to refresh the squad with younger players.
Why isn’t Chucky Lozano playing for Mexico?
Lozano, Jimenez and Ochoa all featured in El Tri’s run to the CONCACAF Nations League earlier this year, although they fell to a 2-0 defeat to the United States in the final. In the aftermath of that loss a concerted effort was made to help bring through the next generation of young players.
“We are two years away from our World Cup,” explained Duilo Davino, Mexico sporting director. “We have our spot secured and we want to take advantage of this great opportunity to not think about the immediacy of the result and project our path to 2026.”
Chucky Lozano is one of the most well-known members of his generation of Mexican players and played in Europe for much of his career. However the 28-year-old was in the starting XI for little over half of PSV Eindhoven’s games in 2023/24 and has struggled to live up to his incredible early promise. His international boss looks to give him the summer to rest and will give younger players the chance in his place.
For his part, Chucky Lozano issued a statement on social media to say that he would be supporting the team: “Whether I’m on the pitch or supporting from the sidelines, I have my national team jersey tattooed on me like a second skin ... Today, the honour falls to you. I’m sure we’ll see each other later, but in the meantime, tear it up and raise Mexico’s name high.”