MEXICO CITY -- Two-time defending champion Mexico on Wednesday announced its 23-player roster for next month's CONCACAF Gold Cup. The team is composed of domestic players with international experience, those who were part of last year's Olympic gold-medal winning squad or others trying to break into the side.
Striker Omar Bravo, a Cruz Azul player who has been on loan to Atlas, is one of the selection's more experienced members. He has scored 15 goals in 66 international appearances for El Tri, playing in March World Cup qualifiers against the United States and Honduras.
Gold-medalists midfielder Jorge Enriquez and forward Marco Fabian, both of Guadalajara, also were named. Fabian has made three appearances for Mexico in World Cup Qualifying for Brazil 2014.
The team also includes three players from three-time defending CONCACAF Champions League champion Monterrey -- goalkeeper Jonathan Orozco, defenders Darvin Chávez and Leobardo López. Defenders Moisés Muñoz and Miguel Layun, members of current Liga MX champion Club America, earned call-ups.
Striker Javier Orozco, who is the CONCACAF Champions League's all-time leading scorer with 24 goals, is included after making a recent move from Cruz Azul to Santos.
Mexican head coach Jose Manuel de la Torre will guide the team after he directs El Tri in the FIFA Confederations Cup this month. In his place, Salvador Reyes and Raul Gutierrez will coach the team. Training begins in Mexico City on Monday.
The Mexicans, record six-time Gold Cup champions, will compete in Group A. They will face Panama at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. on July 7, Canada at CenturyLink Field in Seattle on July 11 and Martinique at Sports Authority Field in Denver on July 14.
The Gold Cup will run from July 7-28, with the final at Soldier Field in Chicago
The champion of the 2013 Gold Cup will qualify for a playoff match to decide which CONCACAF national team will represent the region in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup™. The champion of the 2015 Gold Cup will become the second team to qualify for the single-game playoff, scheduled to take place in the second semester of that same year at a site to be determined. In the case that the same nation emerges victorious at both the 2013 and 2015 editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, that team will qualify directly to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.
MEXICO ROSTER
2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup
Goalkeepers: Moisés Muñoz (Club America), Jonathan Orozco (Monterrey), Cirilo Saucedo (Club Tijuana)
Defenders: Adrián Aldrete (America), Hugo Ayala (Tigres), Darvin Chávez (Monterrey), Joel Huiqui (Morelia), Israel Jiménez (Tigres), Miguel Layun (America), Leobardo López (Monterrey), Jair Pereira (Cruz Azul), Efraín Velarde (Pumas)
Midfielders: Fernando Arce (Tijuana), David Cabrera (Pumas), Javier Cortés (Pumas), Jorge Enríquez (Chivas de Guadalajara), Carlos Peña (Leon), Miguel Ponce (Chivas)
Forwards: Omar Bravo (Atlas), Isaac Brizuela (Toluca), Marco Fabián (Chivas), Rafael Márquez Lugo (Chivas), Javier Orozco (Santos Laguna)
