The reason why Gerardo Martino won’t call Marcelo Flores and Carlos Acevedo

Mexico National Team will face the last World Cup Qualifiers match window next week, playing against USMNT, Honduras and El Salvador in three games that will define if El Tri earns their direct ticket to Qatar 2022 or will have to wait until June.

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Gerardo “Tata” Martino announced yesterday the 29-man roster that will partake in the upcoming FIFA match window, where he finally left out players like Rogelio Funes Mori or Luis “Chaka” Rodríguez, who have been a liability on recent games.

But one of the things that stood up the most was the absence of players like Carlos Acevedo or Marcelo Flores, especially after Martino called four different goalkeepers, although Acevedo is at least better than two of them.

Marcelo Flores absence became a surprise after knowing that Andrés Guardado wasn’t’ going to be able to play the upcoming FIFA match window as he’s dealing with an injury the has kept him out of the pitches for the past two weeks.

Why did Martino decide to not call them?

Even if they’re some of the best Mexican players nowadays despite their young age, their absence has little to do with their performances or the known fact that Martino doesn’t like to call young players as he prefers to have more experienced ones.

The reason has more to do with the strict discipline he imposed in Mexico National Team camp, as according to sports journalist Felipe Morales, part of his discipline rules are targeted towards the players look, as he doesn’t like to have players with long hair.

Reports suggest that when he was coaching Paraguay National Team for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where La Albiceleste reached the quarterfinals of the tournament, he made Salvador Cabañas cut his hair if he wanted to play on his team.

Is there other reason why he doesn’t call the best players?

According to reports by W Deportes, Martino knows he has to call certain players given the requests of El Tri’s sponsors, as some players like Guillermo Ochoa or Rodolfo Pizarro are fan-favorites, which means they need to be part of the squad as they’ll be on the TV spots and advertising.

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