The roster for the upcoming friendlies for Mexico’s Women’s National Team has been announced. Pedro Lopez finalized his list of 23 players who will go up against New Zealand at the end of October. This will be the last friendlies Mexico will play before they start their journey on the 2025-2026 Concacaf W Qualifiers.
Here is the roster:
Goalkeepers: Esthefanny Barreras (Pachuca), Celeste Espino (Chivas), Itzel Velasco (Club América)
Defenders: Kimberly Rodriguez (Club América), Ivonne Gutierrez (Cruz
Azul), Kenti Robles (Pachuca), Greta Espinoza (Tigres), Reyna Reyes (Portland Thorns), Anika Rodriguez (Tigres), Ana Mendoza (Pumas), Rebeca Bernal (Washington Spirit)
Midfielders: Alice Soto (Rayadas), Karla Nieto (Pachuca), Alexia Delgado (Tigres), Fatima Servin (Rayadas), Aallyah Farmer (Tigres)
Forwards: Jacqueline Ovalle (Orlando), Charlyn Corral (Pachuca), Diana Ordoñez (Tigres), Myra Delgadillo (Pachuca), Kiana Palacios (Club América), Maria Sanchez (Tigres), Montserrat Saldivar (Club América)
One of the most notable absences is goalkeeper Blanca Felix. The Chivas keeper has been a consistent call-up for the national team as of late but will be missing this upcoming friendlies and possibly the rest of the year after suffering an injury in practice. In a medical report last Wednesday, Chivas announced that their veteran goalkeeper had suffered a hand injury that required surgery. Felix had said surgery the following day and updated fans through social media that the surgery was a success and thanked everyone for their well wishes.
Called-up in her place was teammate Celeste Espino who had been called-up in the past. At least with Espino there will be a Chivas presence as she is the only player from the Rojiblancas club on the roster. Teammates Alicia ‘Licha’ Cervantes and Carolina Jaramillo used to be regular call-ups but Pedro Lopez has not called either of them up for a while, to the confusion of many.
There are some inclusions that are deserved based on their current form. Saldivar, Palacios, Ovalle, Bernal are just some of the players who have been playing crucial roles for their clubs so it isn’t a surprise they were called-up. Meanwhile there’s other players that are in the list that leave people scratching their heads. Whether it’s because of experience or because of the specific league they play in, those players will need to prove they earned their call-up. While these two games are only friendlies, this is the last international window before the real competition starts so Lopez and the team will need to end the window on a positive note before the Concacaf W Qualifiers begin in November.
