I need people over here! In the center!
Earlier this week, in the mad rush of teams posting their 30 man provisional squads, we somehow failed to make note of the fact that Mexico turned in a list with only 26 names. While that in and of itself is not a problem–only three cuts to make!–there is a looming problem in El Tri’s midfield. Namely that there are only five midfielders on the list.
Javier Aguirre seems to be setting his team up to use a 5-2-3 formation at the World Cup after naming 11 defenders and seven forwards to go along with the five middies. Aguirre seems to be banking on a number of defenders who can also be used in the midfield as cover. Given who he has named as midfielders, that cover will be necessary.
According to the Guardian, three defenders can competently be moved forward: Rafa Marquez, Juan Carlos Valenzuela and Adrian Aldrete. Considering that Gio dos Santos is one of the named guys in the center, I would bet heavily on one of those guys getting moved up.
Mexico’s provisional squad:
GK: Óscar Pérez (Chiapas), Guillermo Ochoa (América), Luis Ernesto Michel (Guadalajara)
Def: Rafael Márquez (Barcelona), Ricardo Osorio (Stuttgart), Francisco Rodríguez, Carlos Salcido (both PSV Eindhoven), Héctor Moreno (AZ Alkmaar), Paul Aguilar (Pachuca), Efraín Juárez (Pumas UNAM), Jonny Magallón (Guadalajara), Juan Carlos Valenzuela (América), Jorge Torres Nilo (Atlas), Adrian Aldrete (Morelia)
Mid: Andrés Guardado (Deportivo La Coruna), Jonathan dos Santos (Barcelona), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul), Israel Castro (Pumas UNAM), Giovani dos Santos (Galatasaray, on loan from Tottenham)
For: Pablo Barrera (Pumas UNAM), Adolfo Bautista, Alberto Medina (both Guadalajara), Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Veracruz), Carlos Vela (Arsenal), Javier Hernández (Manchester United), Guillermo Franco (West Ham)
That’s also a distressing amount of Dutch league defenders on the brink of going to South Africa. Looks like a three and out is a distinct possibility for this team. To which I say: ¡Ja ja ja ja ja ja ja ja!
That’s a whole lot of suck right there
It is. It surprised me. And I picked on Gio above, but going to my comment in the previous thread, Jonathan dos Santos may be this year’s Theo Walcott–just going for the experience. He spent most of the season playing for Barca’s B team.
Two dos Santos? The younger “plays” for Barcelona but only saw the pitch three times in the league this season. I’m pretty sure neither dos Santos is going to be setting the midfield ablaze.
South Africa may just yet advance to the knockout rounds.
I know. And the thought of the hunchback making the WC squad seems really silly to me.
Paul Aguilar is a midfielder not a defender and Efraín Juárez is a player who can cover the whole right wing (much like Guardado on the left).
Most likely Mexico will use Guardado and Juárez as classic wide midfielders. Torrado will play as a defensive midfielder and Giovanni is the link between midfield and offense.
@TFA: I read an article – and I’m looking for it now, I’ll post if I find – that suggests JdS is the future of the Mexican midfield.
Guardado can be a scary player when he’s on.
F**k Rafa Marquez in the pants.
That is all.
Just thinking about this but isn’t Giovanni the equivalent of John, and Giovanni’s little brother is Jonathan. That seems really weird.
I would really enjoy watching Rafa Marquez in midfield against France. Even if it is Domenech’s France.
As Phil said – f**k him in the pants, eye, and earhole. culero.
@TFA: Yeah, I thought of that too. There two of Johnny Two Saints. They should make a movie: Angels in the Midfield.
Hey, it’s been fun commenting here at UF for the past 2.5 years. Keep up the good fight!
I’m thinking someone mis-classified the squad when it was announced. This just can’t be right. France had 9 fwds and 8 mids in their 30, until everyone realized that a couple of the guys labeled up front were wingers.
@James T : the only winger in this list of forwards is Medina. Cuahtemoc and Bofo Bautista are both used as attacking midfielders.
@DSS
The wingers remark was in reference to France, not Mexico. Just curious if maybe a similar transcription error was done with Aguirre’s team, is all.
@James T: this list is a bit of a mess, just like france’s. And of course it’s not that easy to qualify players as just def/mid/for. Mexico is in a whole lot of trouble because they have a lot of players who don’t really excel in any one position. Their team is going to be build around the individual qualities of marquez, guardado and giovanni. Risky at best. They’ll have an incredibly tough time qualifiying for the next phase. France and Uruguay have stronger squads on paper and they’re unlucky to be playing South Africa in the opening match.
They probably have another younger brother named Juan.
And don’t forget about little Joao Dos Santos.
And everybody here is screaming for Bofo to get the axe
Mexico is in a whole lot of trouble because they have a lot of players who don’t really excel in any one position.
There’s a name for that. It’s called “sucking.”
And everybody here is screaming for Bofo to get the axe
Or the guillotine, depending on which way you swing.
personally, I swing whichever way doesnt get anybody decapitated, but whatever floats your boat
personally, I swing whichever way doesnt get anybody decapitated
There’s a name for that. It’s called “boring.”
And everybody here is screaming for Bofo to get the axe
And only now do I see that this doesn’t say “Bob.” I was thinking Bob Bradley. I can’t even see straight. And I’m about to write a 5000-word essay on why the Civil War amounted to a “revolution” in American law.
Cartoon characters may or may not play a prominent role in my thesis.
^^ Also, I fail at HTML tags.
pupsters: Don’t worry, you will soon have paralegals to do your html tags for you.
you think paralegals know how to do html?
hahahahah.
Isn’t that part of their correspondence course?
paralegals are good at many things, but html is not one of them.
I’m not good at html, can I be a paralegal?