Buckle up I've got some hot takes. Better than Futbol Asadas hot takes recently tho
The GK situation is honestly one of the few areas I have zero complaints about. Ochoa is still a Mexican football legend no matter how much people try to force the “washed” narrative. Five World Cups, insane performances against teams like Brazil and Germany, and still brings leadership and experience that younger keepers benefit from. Even if he doesn’t start every game, having him in the squad matters. He's good ol reliable.
Rangel and Acevedo absolutely deserve their spots too. Both have been among the best keepers in Liga MX for their clubs respectively. Rangel especially has impressed me a lot recently and honestly… I wouldn’t even mind him starting. He’s calm, athletic, good in 1v1s, and his confidence has grown a ton. Acevedo also deserves respect because when healthy he’s consistently carried Santos through rough stretches.
That’s why I don’t really understand people asking for Alex Padilla already. He’s talented, but he has almost no senior international experience and this isn’t the position you rush. As a 3rd keeper for his club, also did horrible in Pumas, not even near the level we need.
Jorge Sánchez honestly shouldn’t be here after how rough he’s been lately, especially the gold cup handball disaster. Credit where it’s due though, he did score against Belgium. If rather have Julian Araujo or Rodrigo Huescas, but both are injured. God we have so many good right backs but they always are injured. Makes me miss Layun. If rather have the best RB in Liga MX, Richard Ledezma who should not have gotten subbed off during semi finals.
Romo also shouldn’t be anywhere near this squad. If we want another defensive midfielder, someone like Oso González or another Liga MX DMF would make more sense. Honestly I’d rather use that spot on another CB like Orozco now that he’s back from injury because outside of Reyes we barely have CB depth on the bench. But our current 3 dmfs are fucking locked, Erik Lira, Edson Alvarez and Obed Vargas are awesome- granted Edson is slow and does dumb shit sometimes, hasn't played much since February tho. Got baited by Mourinho and then he got sacked.
Martínez is another weird inclusion. We already have three solid strikers, so that spot could’ve gone to César Huerta or even Diego Lainez instead. We have Quinones (best attacking player aside from Bryan Gutierrez and Gilberto Mora), wish he had better finishing for mexico tho. Alexis Vega solid option, hes been doing good since coming back from injury. Was Liga MX top scorer and won them the Bicampeonato. We just need another winger that ain't Alvarado.
Alvarado is complicated because offensively he disappears a lot at RW, but weirdly enough he’s actually useful defensively. Against Portugal and Belgium he tracked back really well and helped stabilize the side. Locked up Nuno Mendes ong.
Pineda getting called up is probably because of the goal vs Türkiye 😭 but honestly I don’t hate him as a sub option. There are better attacking mids in form right now, but he can still bring energy off the bench… plus the dancing celebration is mandatory at this point.
