Mexico has long been able to point to Europe as the club-team home of its best attackers, but more and more it's now able to do so with its defenders as well. With the final round of World Cup qualification beginning this month with games at the United States and at Panama, El Tri's best center backs are coming off sterling months in Europe.
Hector Moreno, who will suit up for PSV along with countryman Andres Guardado in a Champions League match against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, is a key player for a side that has allowed just five goals in league play, the fewest in the Eredivisie. He'll face stiff competition Tuesday but has proven in both a club and country shirt that he's one of CONCACAF's finest defenders. Only injury has kept him from playing for one of the biggest teams in the world.
The good news for Mexico is that it's not only Moreno flying the red-white-and-green flag for defenders in Europe. There are a pair of other defenders who have made it clear that the balance of power in the center of Mexico's back line plays its club soccer on the old continent.
Diego Reyes is emerging at Espanyol, getting regular minutes as a center back in La Liga and even scoring the winning goal for the Catalan side this weekend in a 1-0 win over Real Betis. 
The question is whether the players can play together. It seemed under Miguel Herrera that the players might form the center-back partnership of the future, but Juan Carlos Osorio has been more likely to play Reyes as a defensive midfielder, where he's found varying levels of success. In the Copa America Centenario game against Venezuela, a match in which Mexico failed to win for the first time under the Colombian manager, the two paired together as center backs of a four-man back line (Reyes left his man on a set piece that Venezuela converted in a 1-1 draw). Other than that, they're yet to work together in tandem with Reyes back in the midfield against Honduras, a role he already played against the Catrachos early on in Osorio's first year.
But with Reyes starting to see minutes in defense at Espanyol, and making the most of them against opponents more difficult than the ones he'll see at the international level with El Tri, it may be worth taking a look at putting Mexico's European center-back standouts together. It isn't a perfect solution - Osorio obviously is comfortable enough playing Reyes farther up the field and since both players profile as left center backs, one has to perform a task they're not entirely used to. But it's not as much of a shift as Osorio has asked other players, Reyes included, to make, and the two may be Mexico's best center backs available.
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Hugo Ayala didn't look up to the task against New Zealand and while Mexico kept a clean sheet with him in a back four against Panama, the friendly window wasn't a good one for the Tigres man. Rafa Marquez has been admirable when he's suited up for El Tri but is going to have his 37 years catch up with him sooner than later. Nestor Araujo and Oswaldo Alanis are fighting injuries.
The one player who could have a claim at being better is also based in Europe with former Real Salt Lake and Chivas man Carlos Salcedo. Like Moreno, El Titan is seeing minutes in European play with Fiorentina in the Europa League, and his long passing skills may be valued by Osorio, who often asks defenders to play pinpoint balls to switch the point of attack after building numbers to one side of the field. Like Reyes, Salcedo is taking on more and more responsibility since arriving at the club and seems to be getting over a strange summer that saw him endure a difficult Olympics on the field and personal issues off it with a positive approach to life in Serie A. In fact, his 505 league minutes this campaign outpace Reyes' 369 minutes in La Liga.
Expect all three to be in Osorio's plans for November, and the manger could elect to put all three on the field at the same time. He hasn't had much time to work with the players in the national team fold, but make no mistake - the strength of the middle of Mexico's defense is in Europe.
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