As Mexico begins preparing for the Rio 2016 Olympics head coach Raul ‘Potro’ Gutierrez believes that the Tricolor can repeat as medalist. “Mexico is favorite to win Gold along with Brazil and Argentina simply because they are defending champions,” Gutierrez told reporters before boarding a flight to Portugal where the Tricolor will play preparation matches against the host country and Japan.
“We have been preparing for five years so that the level of Mexican football can be taken into account and now I believe that possibility (of winning Gold) is considered,” added a confident Gutierrez. “Ever since we began this process we have talked about defending the gold medal and we continue to have the same idea.
To achieve the feat Gutierrez will be hoping to count on the experience of PSV midfielder Andres Guardado. “Guardado wants to go to the Olympics, but before that he must win the league championship therefore we must cheer for PSV,” joked the Mexico boss. Still, Gutierrez is aware that in order to count on Mexico’s veteran European based players he will depend on how they end their season.
“It all depends on the clubs. If we are talking about the European based players then we must see in what place they finish in their respective leagues in August and then we can begin to take players into account, we will see how they finish their tourneys before making decisions.” In the meanwhile the U-23’s European tour will serve as excellent preparation.
“These are preparation games where we will continue to evaluate international competition, games against teams of high quality against squads that qualified for the Olympic games, and with the idea of continuing to mature as a team,” finalized Gutierrez.