Tuca mum on Mexico omissions, rules Chicharito out of first friendly
The interim Mexico manager wouldn't speak about major omissions and also said Chicharito won't play for Mexico on Friday.
Interim Mexico manager Ricardo "Tuca" Ferretti declined to elaborate about the group he has called for his first matches in charge of the national team.
"I'm not going to explain the motives why a player is or isn't selected to the national team," Ferretti said at a news conference Thursday. "There's no indiscipline, simply I have the right to selected the players who come in and [the media has the right] to criticize it."
The Mexican press hasn't waited for Ferretti's permission to voice displeasure or concern about the squad with the loudest criticisms coming about the omission of brothers Giovani and Jonathan dos Santos and Guillermo Ochoa, Mexico's No. 1 goalkeeper in the Gold Cup winning campaign.
Ferretti seemed to hint that those players could still appear in his squad for Mexico's Oct. 10 playoff against the United States
"In the future, there will be a new selection, and there will be some names there and others not and [the press] will again criticize the called players and the absences," he said.
One player who is included in the squad won't be playing Friday against Trinidad and Tobago, Ferretti said. Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, who just completed a transfer to Bayer Leverkusen, stayed in Germany to join his new club in a friendly match.
"Chicharito arrived [Thursday], he's not going to play [Friday] against Trinidad and Tobago because this would be a risk to his physical state and I won't do that," Ferretti said. "He had permission on my part to play in his team's friendly match."
Mexico faces the Caribbean nation at 10 p.m. ET on Friday in Sandy, Utah. El Tri face Argentina later this window in the final match before the match against the U.S.