Salcido desperate for Olympics and no Castillo for friendlies

October 9th, 2007 | by: Kevin Zelaya | View Comments

Hugo Sanchez has three spots in his U-23 Olympic roster for over-age players and Carlos Salcido isn´t wasting any time campaigning for one of the spots. Salcido might need all the publicity if he wants to steal a spot on a defensive roster filled with captain Rafa Marquez, the juggernaut Gerardo Torrado and the defensive rock Jonny Magallon. It´s hard to see Sachez leaving any of his three favorite defenders home in exchange for Salcido except as a last minute injury replacement.

As pointless as it might be in the end, it´s smart of Salcido to try to rebuild his image in the media, which took a trashing last summer when he refused to play during the Gold Cup because of problems with the coaching staff. It´s also nice to know Guardado has made it public that he wants the gold at next summers Olympics, but what happened to the part about letting your performance on the field do the talking?

I´m also beginning to worry if Mexicans are putting too much value on the FIFA World Cup ranking, it´s concerning because shouldn´t Salcido be worrying about something more important than how a loss to Guatemala or Nigeria will lower Mexico´s ranking, like for instance how they´re gonna win?

It´s looking like Nery Castillo will be a no-show for the Nigeria and Guatemala friendlies according to a confession from Sanchez. Let´s hope the baby pops out before this sunday! I still haven´t given up hope on a Castillo-Giovani duo up front.

Here´s my guess as to the possible line-up for Nigeria…

Ochoa
Salcido-Magallon-Esparza-Pinto
Guardado-Torrado-Pineda-Acre
Castillo? or Cacho-Dos Santos

If anyone knows when Olympic pre-qualifying games start let me know, I couldn´t find a schedule.