Mexico will play a pair of World Cup warmups in September but is likely to be missing its European-based players because the matches are not on FIFA international fixture dates.
No. 12 Mexico said Tuesday it will play 21st-ranked Peru on Sept. 24 at Pasadena, California, and No. 17 Colombia three days later at Santa Clara, California.
Mexico’s roster for its final World Cup qualifiers in March included Edson Álvarez of Ajax, Gerardo Arteaga of Genk, Jesús Corona of Sevilla, Érick Gutiérrez of PSV Eindhoven, Héctor Herrera of Atlético Madrid, Raúl Jiménez of Wolverhampton and Hirving Lozano of Napoli.
Mexico also announced a Nov. 16 exhibition against 20th-ranked Sweden at Girona, Spain, when the full player pool will be available.
Mexico is headed to its eighth straight World Cup and opens Group C in Qatar against 26th-ranked Poland on Nov. 22 El Tri plays No. 3 Argentina four days later and closes the group stage vs. 53rd-ranked Saudi Arabia on Nov 30. Mexico has been eliminated seven straight times in the round of 16.
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