Road to debut
On July 30, the Mexican under 23 team will debut against Venezuela at the Cibao stadium in the Dominican Republic. This is how their participation in the Central American and Caribbean Games begins, where they will seek to defend the gold medal obtained three years ago in El Salvador.
Led by Eduardo Arce, the team will face Vinotinto, the hosts and Guatemala in the first phase. Mexico is the country with the most gold medals in men’s soccer in the history of the tournament. They know that they are obliged to repeat.
Voices from the squad
Necaxa’s central defender, Diego Ochoa, recognized the challenges: “It will be a complicated tournament, we are aware of that. We will enter the Dominican Republic where we do not know the conditions or what the field will be like. It is always difficult to play against rivals from Central America, they risk their lives. We have the demand, we are obliged to win. The pressure does not scare us, on the contrary, it motivates us and forces us to raise the level.”
Ochoa also spoke about the connection with the fans: “We continue with that nostalgia of pride that they made us all feel in the recent World Cup. We want to make people feel the same. We don’t have the same media impact as the majors, but we want to make everyone feel proud.”
Eduardo Arce analyzed the rivals: “We know Guatemala a little better. We had some friendly matches with Venezuela, we don’t know who they are going to take, but we already have some progress.” He concluded that “the obligation is always there, and even more so in these competitions where Mexico stands out. You always have to try to win.”
