Yesterday, Juan Carlos Osorio, the manager of Mexico’s national team, released his roster for the upcoming Copa America Centenario. It reads as follows:
Notice anything strange? The squad is pretty much what everyone was expecting, with two exceptions: The conspicuously missing faces of Giovani Dos Santos and Carlos Vela. Where are the stars of the Mexico U-17 team who won their age division in the 2005 World Cup?
Osorio announced that Giovani declined the invitation, but didn’t add much as to the reason why, stating that their conversation was private.
The last time that Gio featured with El Tri was during the Gold Cup. He failed to make the squad under Tuca Ferretti for the big 3-2 win over the U.S. last October, and was excluded from the team by JCO for the first games of the World Cup qualifiers (including the historic win over Honduras.) The LA Galaxy’s striker’s refusal to join his country’s Copa América Centenario roster raises big questions about his future with the national team.
As expected, the twitter conversation immediately began:
With regards to Vela, it was the same old story. According to Osorio, they both agreed the player wasn’t living his best life at Real Sociedad, so it was better for him to take a break.
https://twitter.com/dpm_7/status/732700749298196480
Without the Mexican U-17 stars on the team, some fans even decided to change colors.
Another notable absence is Gio’s brother Jonathan, who had a great season with Villareal this year by qualifying for the Champions league and making it the Europa League semifinals. Perhaps Jona is being considered for the Olympic squad, but who really knows.
As expected, there were both words of support and hate for Osorio.
https://twitter.com/jzlatlopez/status/732689684846026752
Mexico debuts in the Copa America Centenario on June 5 against Uruguay.