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| Saturday, June 23, 2001 03:40 EST |
Campos, Hernandez left out as Aguirre makes changes
[Associated Press]
MEXICO CITY -- Newly appointed Mexico coach Javier Aguirre made sweeping changes on Friday when he announced his squad for the World Cup qualifier against the CONCACAF group-leading United States on July 1.
Aguirre, appointed on Thursday with the job of rescuing Mexico's World Cup qualifying campaign, recalled veteran midfielder Alberto Garcia Aspe and named six uncapped players.
The players dropped included flamboyant goalkeeper Jorge Campos and veteran striker Luis Hernandez.
Aguirre's squad included six players from Cruz Azul, which this month became the first Mexican club to reach the final of the South American Libertadores Cup.
The six were not available for Wednesday's humiliating 3-1 qualifying loss to Honduras because it clashed with the first leg of the Libertadores final, which Cruz lost 1-0 to Boca Juniors.
Aspe, 34, played with Aguirre for Mexico in the early 1990s and was recalled following an excellent national championships campaign in the first half of this year.
The newcomers named by Aguirre were defender Alberto Rodriguez, midfielders Tomas Campos, Victor Gutierrez, Johan Rodriguez and Jose Alberto Hernandez and striker Joaquin Reyes.
Mexico is a surpringly bad fifth in the final stage of the CONCACAF World
Cup qualifying group, which has reached the halfway mark, with
just four points from five games.
The top three qualify for next year's World Cup finals and the Mexicans are four points adrift of third-placed Honduras.
Former coach Enrique Meza resigned on Wednesday immediately after the loss to Honduras, Mexico's sixth defeat in a row and its second in five days in the qualifiers.
Meza was in charge for less than a year, during which time Mexico played 19 matches and won only five.
Earlier on Friday, the Mexican Football Confederation announced they had invited businessman Alejandre Burillo to take charge of the national team's department.
Burillo is president of the Grupo Pegaso, which has
investments in banking, football and telecommunications. If he
accepts the invitation, he will replace Paraguayan Hugo Kiese,
who like Meza lost his job after the Honduras debacle.
The team:
Goalkeepers: Oscar Perez (Cruz Azul), Oswaldo Sanchez
(Guadalajara)
Defenders: Claudio Suarez (Tigres UANL), Manuel Vidrio
(Pachuca), Rafael Marquez (Monaco France), Octavio Valdez
(America), Alberto Rodriguez (Pachuca), Sergio Almaguer
(Necaxa)
Midfielders: Tomas Campos (Cruz Azul), Victor Gutierrez
(Cruz Azul), Gerardo Torrado (Tenerife Spain), Alberto Garcia
Aspe (Puebla), Cesareo Victorino (Cruz Azul), Juan Pablo
Rodriguez (Atlas), Johan Rodriguez (Santos Laguna), Jose Alberto
Hernandez (Cruz Azul)
Forwards: Francisco Palencia (Cruz Azul), Jared Borgetti
(Santos Laguna), Jesus Arellano (Monterrey), Daniel Osorno
(Atlas), Joaquin Reyes (Santos Laguna), Miguel Zepeda (Atlas)
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