Juan Carlos Osorio left for Europe this weekend, where he'll be meeting with his national team players based there, but before leaving he took time to address rumors he's set to call-up Aviles Hurtado.
While the Colombian coach said he's familiar with Hurtado, having coached him at Atletico Nacional, the coach said he's not planning to call in his countryman after the Tijuana attacker goes through the Mexican naturalization process.
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"I know Aviles very well. We're not opposed to the ability Aviles has, but I reiterate that in this position there are Mexican players as skilled as him," Osorio told reporters.
While some Mexico coaches, like Sven-Goran Eriksson, have used a number of players born in South America and naturalized as Mexican after five years playing in Liga MX, Osorio said he's more likely to continue calling up players born and developed in Mexico.
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"As I've said, in some opportunities, we don't discount anyone, but I think that right now there are enough Mexican players to have two very competitive groups, both for the Confederations Cup as for the Gold Cup," the 55-year-old said. "However, as it should be, naturalized players have their rights and some are being considered, but I also reiterate that there has to be a very big difference between this naturalized player and the Mexican player because if there isn't we're always going to be inclined to go for the Mexican player."
Osorio and Santiago Banos, the sporting director for national teams, will be in Europe for more than a week, and while the duo will check in on most of the Europe-based national team players, Osorio said the priority is on visiting with players like Carlos Salcedo and Marco Fabian who are not seeing regular game action for their clubs.
