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          Ochoa, Dos Santos and Vela out of Mexico squad for Canada matches

          • Tom Marshall, Mexico correspondentMar 17, 2016, 06:32 PM ET

          Guillermo Ochoa, Giovani Dos Santos and Carlos Vela were all left out of Juan Carlos Osorio's 24-player Mexico squad to face Canada on March 25 in Vancouver and March 29 in Mexico City in a pair of Russia 2018 World Cup qualification matches.

          The omission of the LA Galaxy's Dos Santos was expected due to injury problems and the MLS season only just starting, but Vela picked up form of late for Real Sociedad -- although he did have a well-documented disciplinary incident -- and Ochoa has only featured in Malaga's last two matches.

          There is a youthful feel to Osorio's squad, with Under-23 eligible players Orbelin Pineda, Hirving Lozano, Rodolfo Pizarro and Jesus "Tecatito" Corona in the full national team. Also released on Thursday was Mexico's Olympic preparation squad to play friendlies against Portugal and Japan in Europe during the upcoming international break.

          Canada is currently ranked 87th by FIFA and has four points from its first two games of qualifying. Mexico won its first two World Cup 2018 qualifying games against El Salvador and Honduras last November.

          Full Squad:

          Goalkeepers: Alfredo Talavera (Toluca), Alejandro Palacios (Pumas), Jesus Corona (Cruz Azul)

          Defenders: Paul Aguilar (Club America), Hector Moreno (PSV), Nestor Araujo (Santos Laguna), Diego Reyes (Real Sociedad), Miguel Layun (Porto), Yasser Corona (Queretaro), Rafa Marquez (Atlas)

          Midfielders: Hector Herrera (Porto), Orbelin Pineda (Chivas), Jesus "Tecatito" Corona (Porto), Isaac Brizuela (Chivas), Javier Aquino (Tigres), Jesus Molina (Santos Laguna), Candido Ramirez (Monterrey), Marco Fabian (Eintracht Frankfurt), Andres Guardado (PSV), Rodolfo Pizarro (Pachuca), Hirving Lozano (Pachuca)

          Forwards: Javier Hernandez (Bayer Leverkusen), Eduardo Herrera (Pumas), Raul Jimenez (Benfica)