Hugo makes his roster official for Gold Cup

By: John | May 29th, 2007

Hugo Sanchez turned in his list for the Gold Cup last week, but none of us were privy to the names until this evening when CONCACAF released the lisy of rosters on its official Gold Cup site. Hugo had called a pool of 28 players, from which he would decide both the Gold Cup roster, and the Copa America roster which starts 2 days after the Gold Cup final (thanks, CONCACAF).

The 23 players are
Goalkeepers
Oswaldo Sánchez–Santos
Guillermo Ochoa–América
José de Jesús Corona–UAG

Defenders
Rafael Márquez–Barcelona
Ricardo Osorio–Stuttgart
Carlos Salcido–PSV
Johnny Magallón–Guadalajara
Francisco Javier (Maza) Rodríguez–Guadalajara
José Antonio (Gringo)Castro–América
Fausto Pinto–Pachuca
Jaime Lozano–Tigres

Midfielders
Andrés Guardado–Atlas
Pavel Pardo–Stuttgart
Ramón Morales–Guadalajara
Gerardo Torrado–Cruz Azul
Alberto Medina–Guadalajara
Fernando Arce–Morelia

Forwards
Francisco Fonseca–Tigres
Nery Castillo–Olympiakos
Cuauhtémoc Blanco–América
Adolfo Bautista–Chivas
Jared Borgetti–Cruz Azul
Omar Bravo–Guadalajara

The 5 players who will not see any participation in the tournament but will still travel with the team are

Luis Michel -GK- Guadalajara
Israel Castro -D- UNAM
Gonzalo Pineda -DM- Guadalajara
Jaime Correa -DM- Pachuca
Juan Carlos Cacho -ST- Pachuca

People are going to think that not having Cacho is a real surprise, considering his performance in the recent Gran Final, but remember that Hugo turned in the list last week, before the games took place. To me, the more surprsing absence is Jaime Correa, who, much like offensive linemen, did all the dirty work so that his more famous teammates used their skills to get Pachuca all those goals they scored. He will be national team fixture from Copa America through 2010.

I think most of us are keen to see what Nery Castillo will bring to the team. I know I am going out on a limb, but he may just be the guy who can cure Mexico’s amnesia when it comes to scoring goals.

I am also happy for Jaime Lozano. He was screwed out of going to the world cup when Ricardo La Volpe included his son-in-law on the roster. Surprisingly, the yerno logged exactly 0 minutes while Lozano, a proven offensive force and goal scorer was sitting at home watching Mexico not score goals.

Rafa Marquez will not join the team until the La Liga is over.

I expect Mexico to line-up like this for the first match vs. Cuba
GK-Sanchez
DEF-Osorio, Magallon, Salcido, Lozano
DM-Pardo
MF-Medina, Guardado
FW - Bautista
ST - Castillo, Bravo.

It feels weird typing it, but Mexico is going to field its speediest team ever. It’s weird because I have never used Mexico and speed in the same sentence, unless I was describing the other team. Looks to be a fun summer.