2022 FIFA World Cup: Who will be left out of Mexico's final roster?

We are still a couple of months out from the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but many of the qualified nations already know how the majority of their roster will be comprised, and Mexico is no different. A little over 60 days after beating El Salvador 2-0 at the Estadio Azteca and securing their spot in Qatar, El Tri has embarked on a friendly tour in the United States with a 38-man squad, some of who will later face the Concacaf Nations League.

That’s where the problems for manager Gerardo Martino start. When Mexico qualified to the international tournament at the end of March, they did so without even a hitch, finishing in second place with eight wins, four draws, and only two losses. El Tri even finished higher than the United States, which seemed highly unlikely entering the final window. But, the time to select the final 23-man roster will come sooner than later and Martino has his work cut out for him.

Will the controversial figure of Javier Hernández sneak his way into the final list? Will Marcelo Flores, who recently declared that he will be playing on a senior level for Mexico, convince Tata to the point of getting a ticket to Qatar? What of players like Rodolfo Pizarro, Diego Lainez and Sebastián Córdova, who either don’t play for their teams or haven’t shown an important level of consistency? Coming up, we’ll break down the players on Mexico’s roster that are most likely to miss out on soccer’s most important tournament.

Remember Euro 2020, the tournament that was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and played in 2021? Back then, UEFA allowed an increase in roster size from 23 players to 26, in order to cope with the effects of the pandemic. Despite the increase, teams could still only call up 23 players to