The new year is almost upon us, and while a February trip to Las Vegas to face Iceland with a domestic squad doesn't exactly represent a nail-biting start to things for the Mexico national team, what follows from there is unlikely to be dull.
With World Cup qualifying, the Confederations Cup and the Gold Cup all packed into El Tri's busy schedule, there are plenty of opportunities to shine or potentially slip up in 2017. But let's not be negative before the year has even kicked off. Here we lay out what a perfect year would look like for coach Juan Carlos Osorio and the Mexican federation (FMF) bosses.
Smooth qualification for Russia 2018
The ghost of the abysmal 2013 qualifying campaign still haunts the Mexico national team, and the players, coach and FMF directors alike stress at every opportunity that the No. 1 priority in this current cycle is qualifying for Russia 2018 without the drama of four years ago.
The team is off to a good start. Four points from two difficult away games is a solid return, but this Hexagonal is shaping up to be tight, and one or two slipups would bring Mexico right down -- just ask the United States.
Mexico begins 2017 with Costa Rica at home and Trinidad and Tobago away in March, followed by Honduras and the United States in Mexico in June. Picking up eight points from those games would leave El Tri undefeated and likely only a win away from qualification. It would also provide the team with a significant boost ahead of a busy summer.
The icing on the cake for Osorio and Mexico in 2017 would be to make a statement in CONCACAF and win the Hexagonal group, something El Tri has surprisingly failed to do since qualifying for France 1998.
Dignified performance at the Confederations Cup
Mexico isn't "obligated" -- a word almost always used in El Tri news conferences -- to win the Confederations Cup, get to the final or even necessarily get out of a group that has Russia, Portugal and New Zealand. Obviously, if El Tri doesn't proceed to the knockout stage, questions will be asked. But that's just part of the nature of the Mexico national team and the intense scrutiny it lives under. In reality, few remember the final result of the Confederations Cup, while World Cup showings are etched into history. The top two teams in the 2013 edition were Brazil and Spain, and both ended the 2014 World Cup disastrously.
Osorio's side must peak a year later at the World Cup. The Colombian coach should be allowed to make mistakes, take risks and receive the appropriate feedback, regardless of whether the team does well or not this summer in Russia.
That said, the Confederations Cup offers Osorio the chance to see his team in a competitive environment -- in unfamiliar and hostile conditions against some very good opposition -- and that is exactly what he wants. The more matches Mexico can play in Russia this summer, the more conclusions Osorio will be able to make about where this side is at. And victories against European or South American opposition would build confidence.
More Mexican players in Europe
It was no coincidence that when the important World Cup qualifying games against the U.S. and Panama were played back in November, more than half the names in the squad belonged to European clubs. And for the historic 2-1 win over the Stars and Stripes, every single one of Mexico's outfield players had experience playing in Europe. Osorio has repeated on many occasions that he wants to see more Mexican players testing themselves in unfamiliar leagues and growing as footballers, thereby creating greater competition for places on the national team.
That means the number of Mexicans making the move to Europe has to increase over the next couple of transfer windows. The focus there will be on youngsters like Hirving Lozano, Rodolfo Pizarro, Cesar Montes, Jesus Gallardo, Orbelin Pineda and Raul Lopez. The recent shining example to follow is Carlos Salcedo, who left Chivas as a 22-year-old last summer and is already getting regular minutes for Fiorentina.
But there are older Mexican players who could also do with getting out of their comfort zone and experiencing a different type of football. They include Nestor Araujo, Jorge Torres Nilo, Isaac Brizuela, Jesus Molina and Hugo Ayala.
Europe-based players stepping up or moving on
There has been a worrying trend of late in which some of Mexico's players based in Europe have found themselves on the bench too often, as has been the case with Hector Herrera and Miguel Layun at Porto, Jonathan dos Santos at Villarreal and Raul Jimenez at Benfica.
It's not just playing time, however. The challenge is on for these players to become vital members of their teams and, ideally, to move on to bigger clubs, especially those not currently based in Italy, Germany or Spain. Herrera has the potential to play in a more important league, as does Jimenez, while Guillermo Ochoa (Granada), Jesus "Tecatito" Corona (Porto) and even Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad) should also be eyeing moves to bigger clubs, if possible, in 2017.
Reserves increasing competition for spots at Gold Cup
Next summer's Gold Cup has slipped down Mexico's list of priorities for 2017. There's simply too much going on. Everything points to Osorio taking a reserve squad, as it is unlikely European or even Liga MX sides will release their players for both June's Confederations Cup and July's Gold Cup.
Taking this into account, Osorio will want to see players on the fringe of the full squad. From there, it'll be up to them to impress in both training and games in order to make their case in the buildup to Russia 2018. Reaching the final and defeating a U.S. team for whom the tournament holds much more relevance would be a crowd-pleasing bonus.