The Cuban Football Association this Sunday announced a call-up of 23 players for the senior team’s matches against Chile and Uruguay at an upcoming FIFA date ahead of the 2023 Gold Cup in the United States.
The squad, led by Pablo Elior Sánchez, includes 19 footballers hired from abroad and 4 players playing in the national championship, who will have a wonderful opportunity to debut against the two highest level and most traditional squads in South America.
official call#Let’s go Singh pic.twitter.com/GZZmHKdhUb
– Cuban Football Association (@AFCuba_Official) June 4, 2023
Sandy Sánchez (Atletico Pantoja/Dominican Republic), Rico Arrozarena (Tampa Bay Rowdies/USA) and Nelson Johnson (Jicral/Costa Rica) will be the team’s goalkeepers, who will return experienced left back George in defense. Luis Corrales (FC Tulsa / United States), absent from final call.
Corrales will be accompanied by fellow internationals Yossel Piedra (San Carlos/Costa Rica), Cavafé (FC Dornborn/Austria), Modesto Mendez (Inter Miami II/United States), Daryl Morejon (Santa Ana/Costa Rica), Mario. Penalvar (Deportivo Mixco/Guatemala) and Grebel Palma (Cienfuegos).
Midfielders Yunior Perez (Santa Lucia/Guatemala), William Pozo (KTP Kotka/Finland), Romario Torres (Nacional/Uruguay), Danielson Milanes (Consultantes/Costa Rica), Eduardo Hernandez (Santiago de Cuba), Niecer Sando (Cienfuegos), Roberty Caballero (Havana) and captain Erich Hernandez (Deportivo Mixco/Guatemala).
Cuban football: change in record time
This is one of the lines that creates the most uncertainty for Cuba towards the Gold Cup, as they have lost 2 important pillars due to injury, namely Deron Reyes and Karel Espino, who were regulars in Pablo Allier’s plans. Let’s start with form.
For the attack, the Cuban high command selected 5 men with experience in the professional circuit: Luis Paredella (Saprissa (Costa Rica), Yasnier Matos (Nagar/Guatemala), Maykel Reyes (Jalapa/Nicaragua), Daniel Diaz (San Carlos / Costa Rica) and rookie Eldair Ruiz (Lynx FC / Gibraltar).
In their South American mini-tour, Cuba will face Chile on June 11 at the Ester Roa Reboledo Stadium in Concepcion, and on the 20th they will clash with Uruguay at the Montevideo Centennial.
give #this red For matches against Cuba, Dominican Republic and Bolivia
This is the list of players who will work for Juan Pinto Duran under the command of the coaching staff led by Eduardo Berrijo, ahead of the preparatory matches in June.#VamosalaRoja pic.twitter.com/fR8jd8HHSd
– Chile National Team (@LaRoja) June 2, 2023
Chile, led by Argentine coach Eduardo Berrijo, has on its roster the highly experienced Arturo Vidal, Alexis Sánchez and Gary Medel, 3 of La Rosa’s pillars, two-time Copa America champions.
On their part, the Uruguayan team has a host of new faces in the first call-up of stellar coach Marcelo Bielsa, who will be making his debut with the sky-blue. However, the Argentina coach has called up some players from the Qatar 2022 World Cup such as goalkeeper Sergio Rochet, defenders Guillermo Varela, José Luis RodrÃguez and Matias Viña, midfielder MatÃas Vecino and forwards Facundo Torres and Facundo Pellistri.
