Mexico coach Miguel Herrera's team has one more friendly to play in Europe on Tuesday, but he has been so inspired by the cool weather that he has vowed to make an annual trip to Europe to play friendlies.
"These are very useful matches," Herrera said of last week's 3-2 friendly win vs. Netherlands and Tuesday's match vs. Belarus. "Even our players active in Europe can benefit, as was the case with Diego Reyes, who had a great second half against the Dutch and showed his coach [Porto] that he is in form."
Herrera said he would formally request of the Mexico Football Federation to schedule a trip to Europe either in October or November each year, citing the challenges of the colder weather and the tough European squads as being "necessary" motivating factors for El Tri.
Against Netherlands, Carlos Vela scored twice to hand Guus Hiddink's team their fourth defeat in five matches since he took over.
Herrera said he would experiment with a new lineup for Tuesday's match, including: Alfredo Talavera, Luis Venegas, Hugo Rodríguez, Cata Domínguez, Paul Aguilar, Miguel Ponce, Jonathan dos Santos, Tecatito Corona, Poncho González, Giovani dos Santos and Raúl Jiménez. Herrera confirmed the players via Twitter.
La alineación vs Bielorussia será: Tala, Paul, Rodriguez, Dominguez, Venegas, Ponce, Jonathan, Corona, Poncho, Gio y Raul #OperaciónEuropa
- Miguel Herrera (@MiguelHerreraDT) November 16, 2014
Herrera said he would also request a special training period for the Mexico squad next February to prepare for a March 8 friendly vs. United States that is still pending confirmation.
"We have a group of great players, with Jonathan [dos Santos] who is playing well, with Ponchito Gonzalez and Tecatito Corona, with [these] two lateral defenders who will give the team depth and with two talented forwards [dos Santos and Jimenez]. We are working to put it all together so the team plays well."