Mexico coach to select World Cup squad from among 28 players

Mexico City, May 15: Atlas midfielder Rafael Marquez and 16 players from European and US clubs form the core of the 28-man preliminary roster announced by Mexican national coach Juan Carlos Osorio ahead of the 2018 World Cup.

Osorio will need to trim the list to 23 before the tournament gets underway a month from now in Russia, where Mexico will compete in Group F along with South Korea, Sweden and defending champions Germany, reports Efe.

If Marquez makes it onto Osorio's final list, he'll be playing in his fifth World Cup.

At the national team training centre outside Mexico City, Osorio expressed confidence that some injured players will recover and those chosen for the World Cup will be in their best form.

Mexico will play friendlies against Wales on May 28 in California; Scotland on June 2 at Aztec Stadium; and Denmark on June 9 in Copenhagen, after which the team will travel to Russia.

Mexico together with Germany and Brazil is one of the three teams that has classified in the knockout stage in each of the last six World Cups, though it was never able to make it past the round of 16.

Preliminary World Cup roster:

Goalkeepers: Guillermo Ochoa (Standard Liege), Jose de Jesus Corona (Cruz Azul) and Alfredo Talavera (Toluca).

Defenders: Carlos Salcedo (Eintracht Frankfurt), Nestor Araujo (Santos Laguna), Diego Reyes (Porto), Hector Moreno (Real Sociedad), Hugo Ayala (Tigres), Oswaldo Alanis (Getafe), Edson Alvarez (America), Jesus Gallardo (Pumas UNAM) and Miguel Layun (Sevilla).

Midfielders: Jesus Molina (Monterrey), Rafael Marquez (Atlas), Hector Herrera (Porto), Jonathan Dos Santos (LA Galaxy), Andres Guardado (Real Betis), Erick Gutierrez (Pachuca), Marco Fabian (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Giovanni Dos Santos (LA Galaxy).

Forwards: Javier Hernandez (West Ham United), Raul Jimenez (Benfica), Oribe Peralta (America), Jesus Manuel Corona (Porto), Carlos Vela (Los Angeles FC), Javier Aquino (Tigres UANL), Hirving Lozano (PSV Eindhoven) and Jurgen Damm (Tigres UANL).