SARATOGA, Calif. – The Mexican Under-20 national team will represent the stiffest test a MLS Homegrown team has faced to date, but a few of El Tri’s players could have just as easily been representing the MLS side in the 2016 Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game on Wednesday evening (9 pm ET; watch FREE on MLSsoccer.com).
The Mexico side that traveled to the Bay Area contains three players that have experience in MLS academies, including goalkeeper Christian Herrera (pictured above), a 19-year-old Real Salt Lake academy product that turned pro with their USL team, Real Monarchs SLC, before moving to Liga MX outfit Pachuca on a one-year loan in February 2016. Herrera’s fellow goalkeeper, Abraham Romero, and defender Edwin Lara spent time in MLS academies, with the LA Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes, before also moving to Pachuca.
The trio’s presence on this edition of the Mexican U-20 team is hardly out of the ordinary. A number of other MLS academy products have made the move to Mexico – and El Tri’s national teams.
RSL alone have seen defender Carlos Salcedo and midfielder Sebastian Saucedo move to Mexico and enjoy continued success in their careers. Salcedo, who spent time with Tigres and Chivas Guadalajara before moving north to RSL's Arizona academy, moved back to Chivas after turning pro with the Claret-and-Cobalt and has earned five senior caps for Mexico. Saucedo, a California native raised in Utah, is currently on loan from RSL to Veracruz and is a centerpiece of the US squad that will try to qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup, although he has also played with Mexico’s U-20s in 2015.
Even more recently, FC Dallas transferred academy product Alejandro Zendejas to Chivas after a promising first pro season in 2015.
For Mario Arteaga, the coach of the Mexico U-20 team that will face the Homegrowns and a former Mexican youth international himself, it is clear that MLS academies have become a reliable source of talent not just for the US and Canadian national teams, but Mexico’s as well.
“They’re players that have the chance to put on the Mexican shirt and right now are fighting for a position in this U-20 team,” he told reporters after the Mexico’s U-20s practiced outside San Jose on Monday evening. “I believe there’s a lot of capacity in the US academies and they offer a very good alternative for these players to have a place in the Mexican national team.”
In Herrera’s case, the Homegrown Game represents a chance to reconnect with some old friends from the RSL academy. Defenders Justen Glad and Danny Acosta, as well as midfielder Jordan Allen, were in the RSL-Arizona academy with Herrera and will be representing MLS on Wednesday night.
Herrera told MLSsoccer.com after Mexico’s practice on Monday evening that he’s been exchanging a little bit of friendly banter with his former RSL teammates in the lead-up to their showdown. But he was also quick to praise the work that RSL’s academy is doing in developing these players, five of whom – including 23-year-old Homegrown Phanuel Kavita – could see the field on Wednesday night, plus Saucedo and Salcedo.
“I think RSL has the best coaching staff, has people that truly care and they have a really good setup where anyone can go there and their success is up to them,” he enthused. “They have everything there to succeed.”
When asked about the difference between developing in Mexico as opposed to the United States, Herrera replied that development in Mexico focuses more on the technical side of the game as opposed to the physical side of the game. He also noted, though, that players who’ve had experience in both countries are uniquely equipped as soccer players, saying that, “if you have both [sides of the game] you can be a special player.”
As far as his club future is concerned, Herrera has not had any discussions about his future with Pachuca, who hold an option to purchase him outright at the end of the loan, though he says he has happy and learning a lot there.
In the international arena, Herrera – a native of Las Cruces, New Mexico who spent his entire life in the US before moving to Pachuca – says his allegiance lies to the country of his ancestry right now.
“Right now, I’m pretty much committed to Mexico,” he said. “I really enjoy it over there and it’s going well for me.”
