COLUMBUS -- Finally we are getting good news from the Mexican team camp: Giovani dos Santos is training, Nery Castillo will play in Ohio on Friday, and a source confirmed that Rafael Marquez will be in Columbus after Saturday afternoon.
The national team will be free on Wednesday afternoon and on Thursday. Surely, most of the players will attend the Monumental Plaza Mexico for the bullfight anniversary on February 5th.
Mexico will practice on Friday and on Saturday morning in the Mexican capital. Then, they´ll take a flight at 16:00 and arrive at 21:00, local time, in Columbus. They´ll have a hard time trying to find a place to practice, mostly because of the rain, on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, but they will have to get used to the circumstances.
It seems we are getting a slight idea of how the starting roster will look like and what might be the choice of Sven-Göran Eriksson:
Oswaldo Sanchez as the goalkeeper. The four defenders are confirmed: Osorio, Marquez, Galindo, and Salcido. In the contention will be Pavel and Leandro. After that, nothing is certain. On the right wing: maybe Luis Perez. On the left: Nery Castillo, Alberto Medina or Jagger Martinez, but that alternative would be a lot more offensive.
Luis Perez could play on the left and it is also a mystery if Giovani will open the game. Sinha´s situation also rests on a question mark; he could join Vuoso in the attack, which would be Ochoa´s option.
As far as I know, the Swedish coach is trying to blend the style. He wants to be the first to move forward.
DRESSED IN GREEN
American players were asked to wear red for the contest they´ll play on Feb. 11th, so I think it would be a good idea for the Mexicans to wear green for the occasion.
There are a lot of Mexican people in the Columbus, Ohio area, but the thing is, U.S. Soccer is playing in a small stadium in order to restrict the sale and do it directly to the American associates.
As things stand, we will cover Tricolor from here on Feb. 11th. This Thursday no access is allowed to the media, on Friday the conference with Eriksson will be held, and then we´ll go straight to Columbus, where there will also be an emission of Futbol Picante. We´ll have the company of Jose Ramon Fernandez, David Faitelson, and Daniel Ruso Brailovsky.
It is hard to see that in the last ten years, Mexico lost eight times in the United States and got two ties, with three goals scored and 17 made by their opponents.
Let's hope the rain, the cold weather and the wind favor the Tricolor and help the team end that streak. And maybe then, they will finally beat their neighbors from the north.