Mexico announce squad for 2022 CONCACAF U20 Championship

Mexico announced the 20 player call up list for the 2022 CONCACAF U20 Championship that will give four tickets to the 2023 U20 World Cup and two tickets to the 2024 Olympic Games. Coach Luis Perez had some surprises for the tournament that will be held in Honduras from June 18th to July 3rd. Mexico is in Group F along with Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, and Haiti.

The call ups list is the following:

Goalkeepers: Jose Eulogio (Pachuca), Emiliano Perez (Necaxa)

Defenders: Jesus Alcantar (Necaxa), Antonio Leone (LAFC), Abraham Freyfeld (UNAM Pumas), Rafael Palma (Pachuca), Everardo Lopez (Toluca), Diego Gomez (Necaxa), Emilio Martinez (Puebla)

Midfielders: Fidel Ambriz (Leon), Heriberto Jurado (Necaxa), Isaias Violante (Toluca), Karel Campos (America), Salvador Mariscal (Santos), Saul Zamora (Leon)

Forwards: Bryan Gonzalez (Pachuca), Jesus Hernandez (Queretaro), Christian Torres (LAFC), Jonathan Perez (LA Galaxy), Esteban Lozano (America)

The two most notable absences are European based players Marcelo Flores and Jonathan Gomez. Flores was already expected to miss the tournament as Arsenal had asked for him to be part of the preseason, and thus didn’t give him permission to play the tournament. Flores is part of the team that will be playing in the CONCACAF Nations League with the senior team. Coach Perez said that Gomez was set to be part of the team, but had to be dropped because of an injury. Another surprising absence was Sebastian Perez Bouquet, who had been part of Chivas’ starting lineup during the season but didn’t make the cut. No reason has been given for his absence.

Mexico is still favored to be one of the top teams in the U20 CONCACAF Tournament. Mexico will make their debut in the Tournament on June 19th against Suriname. Later they will play against Trinidad and Tobago on June 21st and close out their group stage against Haiti on June 23rd. Incredibly the tournament will only have a day rest between group stages matches. If Mexico wins the group, they will be playing against Puerto Rico in the Round of 16 on June 26th. Any other finish would mean they will have to await results.