Aguirre sees the positive side of trying young people on the South American tour of Mexico
Before playing two games for South America, coach Javier Aguirre said that the result in both games would be the least important. The essential thing was to see the performance of the young players who received the opportunity in the absence of the usual starters who were not loaned by their clubs. In the matches against Internacional de Porto Alegre from Brazil and River Plate from Argentina, “Vasco” Aguire made 14 players debut with El Tri. One of them was Gilberto Mora, who became the youngest player to debut with the national team. The Tijuana midfielder is 16 years and three months old. Mexico defeated Inter 2-0 and then lost by the same score against River. “I leave with the feeling that the tour was worth it,” Aguirre said the day before. “You have to keep balance and draw conclusions. It’s good for me for the future. The objective of the tour was met. There are three or four players who really deserve a chance on the next occasions.” The veteran coach did not want to go into detail about who those players are who could fight for a place in the Nations League, where Mexico will have its next official match on March 20 against Canada. Who took advantage? Although he has few spotlights, recovery midfielder Elías Montiel is the next jewel of the Pachuca quarry and in both matches he showed why. At just 19 years old, the player became a starter for the Tuzos in the previous tournament and was one of the most outstanding in the last edition of the Intercontinental Cup. Aguirre summoned him for both matches and he was one of the few who repeated his lineup in both matches. The problem for Montiel is that in that position there is tough competition for ownership. Edson Álvarez (Fulham) and Luis Chávez (Dinamo Moscow), both with World Cup experience, usually occupy those positions. Luis Romo (Chivas) also fights for minutes. A similar case is that of Jorge Ruvalcaba, who excelled with a goal and several dangerous attempts against the Brazilians. The Pumas winger, with experience in Europe with Standard de Lieja, moves along the left wing, a sector where Julián Quiñones, Alexis Vega, César Huerta and Hirving Lozano fight to be starters. Of the rest, goalkeeper Raúl Rangel, full-back Jesús Gallardo and forward Guillermo Martínez, the only ones previously mentioned by Aguirre, fulfilled what was expected and will surely continue to be regular in the calls. What’s next? In Aguirre’s original plan, in addition to playing games outside of friendly environments such as the fields of the United States, it was contemplated to carry out “mini-cycles” of training with players from the local league. That idea was presented and approved by then-high commissioner Juan Carlos Rodriguez, who resigned from his position in December. After the little support shown by the clubs to release players for the South American tour, it is unlikely that they will want to release them for training sessions originally scheduled from Monday to Wednesday. If nothing changes, Aguirre will have to wait until mid-March to have a full team again before facing Canada in the Nations League.
