Mexico opts for a very mixed roster as U.S. clash looms

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With the job he accepted only last year already beginning to show signs of hanging by an unraveling thread, Mexico Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has opted for a very mixed bag of players in selecting his 24-man roster to play the United States in a key World Cup 2010 qualifier next week.

Under Eriksson, Mexico has lost as many games as it has won, and the Swede’s 4-4-1 record has fans and the media questioning whether he was the right choice for ‘El Tri.’

A loss to the U.S. in Columbus, Ohio, on Feb. 11 could hasten Eriksson’s departure, so he has given himself all sorts of options when he eventually names his starting lineup. The Mexico roster includes veterans of past World Cups, youngsters who have yet to experience that level of competition, seven European-based players, and four foreign-born and now naturalized players.

Some of the players are in form, others are not. Some of the players are healthy, others are nursing injuries or just coming off the disabled list. All in all, the roster smacks of Eriksson casting about wildly in desperate hope of somehow stumbling upon the correct combination.

How else to explain the choice of so many forwards when surely only two will start?

The full Mexico roster, with club teams in parentheses:

Goalkeepers: Oswaldo Sanchez (Santos), Guillermo Ochoa (America), Jose de Jesus Corona (Tecos).

Defenders: Juan Carlos Valenzuela (America), Julio Cesar Dominguez (Cruz Azul), Carlos Salcido (PSV Eindhoven), Ricardo Osorio (Stuttgart), Rafael Marquez (Barcelona), Aaron Galindo (Guadalajara) and Leobardo Lopez (Pachuca).

Midfielders: Fausto Pinto (Cruz Azul), Pavel Pardo (America), Leandro Augusto (Pumas), Luis Ernesto Perez (Monterrey), Israel Martinez (San Luis) and Antonio ‘Sinha’ Naelson (Toluca).

Forwards: Alberto Medina (Guadalajara), Cesar Villaluz (Cruz Azul), Giovanni Dos Santos (Tottenham Hotspur), Matias Vuoso (Santos), Carlos Ochoa (Guadalajara), Nery Castillo (Shaktar Donetsk), Guillermo Franco (Villareal) and Omar Bravo (Deportivo La Coruna).

--Grahame L. Jones