Is Giovani dos Santos in line for Mexico recall?
Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio met with Giovani dos Santos to discuss a potential return to the national team setup.
Osorio and dos Santos discussed dos Santos’ situation during a meeting in Southern California on Friday. The two men discussed several topics -- including dos Santos’ place in the pecking order and his potential inclusion for the World Cup qualifiers against Canada in Vancouver (March 25) and Mexico City (March 29, live coverage on FS1) next month -- in a bid to lay the groundwork for the future.
The encounter marked the latest in a series of meetings between Osorio and foreign-based Mexican players. Osorio visited Europe last year to meet with several of his projected regulars.
“Fortunately, we were able to find a way to speak personally with Giovani dos Santos,” Osorio said in a statement released by the Mexican federation. “It was a very positive chat. Giov was a receptive man who listened carefully to our arguments. We mainly discussed his position as we see it. The invitation is there for him if he gets into his top football shape to compete for a place in the next squad.”
Osorio did not commit to calling dos Santos into his squad for the first time since taking charge, but he noted dos Santos performed well in a training session he watched on Friday.
Those kind words opened the door to a return for a player who has not featured for El Tri since the CONCACAF Gold Cup last summer, but they did not remove the barriers still standing between dos Santos and a regular place in Osorio’s thoughts.
Part of the problem is down to philosophy. Dos Santos is a man without a natural position in an Osorio-led regime. Osorio’s penchant for playing out-and-out wingers makes him a difficult fit out wide, while dos Santos stands behind several other players -- including Vela, Javier Hernández, Raúl Jiménez and Oribe Peralta -- in the pecking order for playing time up front.
Dos Santos’ fitness presents another issue. After starting brightly with the Galaxy last summer, dos Santos struggled to obtain the necessary fitness levels as he fought a right adductor strain. The injury encumbered him as the Galaxy sputtered into the end of the campaign and tumbled out of the playoffs.
The clever playmaker is recovered from that knock now, but he faces the difficulty of trying to state his claims for a recall without the benefit of regular matches. Dos Santos grapples with the same problem ahead for several MLS players in this international window: The season doesn’t start until March 6. The prospect of playing only a handful of competitive matches -- including the CONCACAF Champions League ties against Santos Laguna -- before those qualifiers against Canada hinders the quest to compete with players featuring at a higher level.
In addition to those present concerns, dos Santos must also underscore his claims while competing in a league with comparatively modest technical demands.
There are ways to display the necessary levels of sharpness -- Sebastian Giovinco pried his way into the Italy squad by starring with Toronto FC, while several United States players reinforced their prominent roles in the setup with their domestic displays -- at the right time, but they further complicate his path to a regular place in the side. Osorio highlighted that potential hurdle -- the prospect of maintaining the sharpness required to compete in the upper reaches of the international game while playing at a good, but lower, standard than his teammates -- in comments last month.
All of those factors make dos Santos a rather unique case for Osorio to consider. Dos Santos’ talent and his potential utility is undeniable, but he is merely one option in a side teeming with in-form players capable of changing a game on short notice. The next set of qualifiers might arrive too soon for dos Santos for a host of reasons, but this meeting reinforces the possibility of a reunion somewhere down the line when the time is right for all parties.
