Miguel Herrera’s Mexico squad that will face Korea on Jan. 29 is likely to have a similar spine to that which breezed past New Zealand in the World Cup playoff last year.
El Tri’s new permanent coach – speaking in a press conference in San Antonio on Friday – stated that Rafa Marquez, Francisco “Maza” Rodriguez, Miguel Layun, Paul Aguilar, Oribe Peralta, Jesus Corona, Moises Munoz, Jesus Medina, Carlos Pena and Luis Montes will be in his first squad of 2014.
The full squad will be announced on Jan. 23 for a game that will begin the build-up to Brazil 2014 for El Tri.
The Mexican federation also confirmed this week that El Tri will play on March 5 against Nigeria in Atlanta and on May 31 against Ecuador in Arlington, Texas in preparation for a World Cup group that includes Brazil, Cameroon and Croatia.
“Nigeria we are comparing with Cameroon because of the region and because they have similar attributes,” said Herrera on Friday. “Ecuador is because it is in South America and it is a national team that faces Brazil and Argentina.”
Herrera also confirmed that Mexico is looking to set up a preparation game against a European national that plays in the same style as Croatia.