COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- On Friday afternoon, Mexico fans were talking about the possible inclusion of Diego Reyes and starts for a key duo, Andres Guardado and Hector Moreno. Those are the essential issues for Mexico against Denmark in Brondby Stadium on Saturday in El Tri's final preparation game ahead of the World Cup. A positive performance, result and the accompanying boost of confidence before their Russia 2018 opener against Germany on June 17 would obviously not hurt, either.
Guardado and Moreno -- usually two guaranteed starters for El Tri -- have been training without complications in Copenhagen this week following injuries and need the game time against Denmark to find rhythm. Reyes, on the other hand, has completed just two sessions with the rest of his teammates. The Porto player hasn't played since May 6 due to a right hamstring injury and has played only 70 minutes in total since featuring for Mexico on March 28.
Coach Juan Carlos Osorio has a dilemma. He said Friday that he's still debating whether to risk the versatile Reyes against Denmark so he can get a more definitive answer about his fitness ahead of the Germany game. The other option would be to give Reyes more days to recover, which would surely rule him out of El Tri's World Cup opener at a minimum.
However, the experimentation and rotations by Osorio that have so inflamed fans are almost certainly over. The 0-0 draw against Wales and the 1-0 win over Scotland -- after which a group of Mexico players embarked on a party that garnered tabloid attention -- were final chances for Osorio to look over his players and make certain conclusions.
"We are going to look for performances [against Denmark] that will give us a strong chance of starting the upcoming tournament well," Osorio said Friday in the pregame news conference.
Osorio will be present in Leverkusen for Germany's final preparation game against Saudi Arabia on Friday night and the team he starts to face Denmark surely won't be too different from the one that takes on the current world champions a week on Sunday.
There have been some clues in training in Copenhagen this week. In goal, its no secret that Guillermo Ochoa will be starting for Mexico but in front of him, youngsters Edson Alvarez and Jesus Gallardo have given Osorio plenty of food for thought in the full-back positions.
El Tri has lined up with a back four of Alvarez, Carlos Salcedo, Moreno and Gallardo in training. While Miguel Layun could slide in at left-back and Hugo Ayala is an option at center-back, with Salcedo sliding out to replace Alvarez at right-back, Mexico's defense against Denmark could well include the two youngsters. The knock-on effect would see Hector Herrera in the holding midfield role of the 4-3-3 formation, with the versatile Layun and Guardado either side, although Marco Fabian and Jonathan dos Santos could also be pushing Layun for that more advanced role on the right.
Up front, Carlos Vela, Hirving Lozano and Javier Hernandez look set to be the trio with Jesus "Tecatito" Corona the most likely substitute if El Tri needs to chase the game.
Not much of the buildup to the Denmark game this week has been based around football. The party incident has dominated headlines in Mexico, diverting attention away from on-field concerns.
Meanwhile, the major issue in training has been work on the squad's finishing. Converting good opportunities has been a consistent problem for El Tri, although it won't be easy against a home side with the crowd behind it. Denmark is ranked three places above Mexico (12th) in the FIFA rankings and has its own lofty ambitions in Russia.
Aside from fitness issues, Osorio's objective will be for Mexico to put on a similar performance as they did in the 3-3 draw against Belgium in Brussels last November. A display like that would send El Tri to Russia with belief that that 2018 can finally be the year in which Osorio & Co. finally reaches the World Cup quarterfinals outside of a home tournament.