Gold Cup 2015 Profile: Mexico

Manager: Miguel 'Piojo' Herrera

An experienced player and manager in Mexico, Miguel Herrera took the reigns of the Mexican national team in October 2013. As well as leading Mexico to the World Cup in Brazil last year, he almost took them to the quarter finals. Herrera also got a league title with Club América in 2013.

Despite a relatively successful World Cup, Herrera is under pressure to deliver after a poor showing at the Copa America last month. A seven game winless run means the Gold Cup holds even greater importance for Herrera.

Forgetting all that, he's a lively one on the touchline.

Squad Members:

From the looks of things, Mexico are taking a strong squad to the Gold Cup. Two of the twenty-three squad, including former Bolton Wanderers target Andres Guardado, have over 100 caps. Despite this, injuries have played their part and two staples of their team, Hector Moreno and Javier Hernandez, have had to withdraw. Hernandez especially will be a great loss for a struggling team. His 40 international goals stand leaps and bounds above anyone else left to lead the line for El Tricolor. The departures of Moreno and Hernandez mean there are nine foreign based players, with the other fourteen plying their trade in their homeland.

The full squad is as follows -

Goalkeepers - Guillermo Ochoa (Malaga), Moises Munoz (Club América), Jonathon Orozco (Monterrey)

Defenders - Francisco Javier Rodríguez (Cruz Azul), Paul Aguilar (Club América), Jorge Torres Nilo (UANL), Miguel Layún (Watford FC), Diego Reyes (FC Porto), Oswaldo Alanís (Guadalajara), Miguel Ángel Herrera (Pachuca), Yasser Corona (Querétaro)

Midfielders - Andrés Guardado (PSV), Héctor Herrera (FC Porto), José Juan Vázquez (León), Jonathan dos Santos (Villarreal), Carlos Esquivel (Toluca), Jesús Manuel Corona (FC Twente), Antonio Ríos (Toluca), Jesús Dueñas (UANL)

Strikers - Giovani dos Santos (Villarreal), Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad), Oribe Peralta (Club América), Javier Orozco (Santos Laguna)

Key Man: Jesús Manuel Corona

It's easy to look at players such as Guardado, Vela or Dos Santos for key player. I'm going for a relatively new player for Mexico, Jesús Manuel Corona. Corona, 22, can play on both wings but is predominantly a right winger. Corona made his debut with the Mexico national team on 12 November 2014 in the friendly against the Netherlands, coming on in the 61st minute and providing the assist for Carlos Vela in scoring Mexico's second goal in the 3–2 win over Netherlands.

Corona plays for FC Twente of the Eredivisie in the Netherlands. In 42 appearances, Corona has scored 11 goals. His speed and dribbling skills make of him a very elusive footballer who provides depth to the team, which results in goal opportunities.

Corona has attracted attention from some of the biggest teams in Europe and rightly so. As a member of the Mexican Copa America team before the Gold Cup, Herrera may opt to bring the 22-year-old off the bench during the Gold Cup.

Regardless, it's worth keeping an eye out for "El Tecatito".

Chances of Winning:

Mexico go into the Gold Cup as favourites, along with the USA. Despite a horrid run of form and the high amount of pressure on Miguel Herrera, Mexico should still be confident that the Gold Cup is attainable. El Tricolor will be hungry to regain the Gold Cup title, not least to bring the national team back into a positive light, but also because a place in the 2017 Confederations Cup playoff against the United States, 2013 Gold Cup winners, is at stake.

Even without Javier Hernandez, Mexico should breeze through their group, made up of Cuba, Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago.