Aguirre’s First List

Javier Aguirre made his first list of potential potential call-ups for the National Team camp, and the release of the list didn’t come without surprises, reliefs, and shocks.

Excluded were players from Chivas, San Luis, Cruz Azul, and Atlante because of other competitions, and obviously no European players. Not many of these players will make the cut, but it at least gives some of them an incentive to up their game, and a chance to have a cheve with the gritty-grinned one himself, after he carefully monitors each and every one of them in training.

The players invited to “The Aguirre Meet And Greet” are:

Porteros:
Guillermo Ochoa
José de Jesús Corona

Defensores:
Óscar Rojas
Paul Aguilar
Hugo Ayala
Defensa
Juan Carlos Valenzuela
Edgar Dueñas
Ismael Rodríguez
José Arturo Rivas

Mediocampistas:
Edgar Castillo
Fernando Arce
Francisco Torres
Luis Miguel Noriega
Israel Castro
José María Cárdenas
Pablo Barrera
Carlos Esquivel
Edgar Iván Pacheco

Delanteros:
Néstor Calderón
Luis Alonso Sandoval
Miguel Sabah
Oribe Peralta

No worries, it’s not technically a call-up list, it’s more of a “rush week” list before the pledging commences, which has been done before. There’s still many more players from the beforementioned teams that have been excluded that will probably be within Aguirre’s plans, such as Magallon, Arellano, Galindo, Pardo… wait a second, Pardo isn’t on any of those teams! And where’s Vuoso? These were the two players that I was surprised to not have been called up. Both players were crucial during the first group stage and were trusted by Sven. But hey, Aguirre doesn’t see things like Sven did. Pardo was also excluded from the squad the last time Aguirre was in charge.

Seriously though, is that the América back line that I see? They haven’t been doing too hot this season, but at least Aguirre compensates by deservedly calling up players that get their first chance or another chance, such as Israel Castro (solid performer with Pumas, trusted by Hugo), Luis Miguel Noriega (underrated at Puebla), Pablo Barrera (decent with Pumas but wasn’t too hot in the Olympic qualifiers). Some recently called-up players also remain, such as Arce, Memo Ochoa, and Edgar Castillo.

No need to flip a sh*t, no need to come to conclusions, it’s just the first step into building a new team.