Juan Carlos Osorio is hoping to learn from his mistakes. After leaving attacker Carlos Vela on the bench against Germany in last year's 4-1 Confederations Cup defeat, he's handing a start to the LAFC forward in Sunday's World Cup match against the reigning champion.
Vela is joined in attack by Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, Mexico's all-time leading scorer, and Hirving Lozano, who enjoyed a breakout season with PSV this year.
Miguel Layun is set to start in the middle. The Veracruz native traditionally lines up as a fullback, but both his club and Osorio have tried him out in midfield in the past few months and enjoyed the results. Sevilla has played Layun in a more attacking role than Osorio did with Layun playing as one of the two 'interior midfielders' in the 4-3-3.
With Layun in the midfield, Jesus Gallardo is set to make his World Cup debut at left back. Gallardo, who moved from Pumas to Monterrey after the season, is himself a converted winger.
Andres Guardado and Hector Herrera start with Layun in the midfield, as two of the most frequent players in Osorio's lineups. The job of central midfielder likely will fall to Herrera, who has played the spot several times even with Osorio expressing a wish to have him freed up to attack more often.
Gallardo is joined in defense Hector Moreno at left center back, Hugo Ayala to his right and Carlos Salcedo starting at right back.
Germany begins with Manuel Neuer in goal after concerns about whether the goalkeeper would be fit for the tournament. Mesut Ozil is fit to start as well and starts over Marco Reus in midfield. Julian Draxler, Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira make up the rest of the unit.
Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng anchor the defense with Joshua Kimmich on the right and Marvin Plattenhardt on the left. Plattenhardt has just six caps but comes in for Jonas Hector, who's reportedly ill with flu.
Up top, Timo Werner gets the nod with Thomas Muller starting on the right and looking to add to his impressive World Cup goal tally.
After Sunday's opener, Mexico takes on South Korea and Sweden to close out group play. Those two countries meet Monday in the other Group F match.
Mexico XI: Ochoa; Salcedo, Ayala, Moreno, Gallardo; Layun, Herrera, Guardado; Vela, Chicharito, Lozano
Germany XI: Neuer; Kimmich, Boateng, Hummels, Plattenhardt; Khedira, Kroos; Muller, Draxler, Ozil; Werner
