I never stopped looking for a place in El Tri, says Ángel Sepúlveda

In previous processes leading up to the World Cup, Ángel Sepúlveda was left out of the squad list that Mexico submitted to FIFA. The most recurrent players in their position – Raúl Jiménez, Javier Hernández, Henry Martín and, recently, Santiago Giménez – conditioned the choice of new attackers in decisive matches for seven years. Everyone seemed to be before him, including those who received their naturalization letter after arriving from abroad like the Colombian Julián Quiñones and the Argentines Rogelio Funes Mori and Germán Berterame.

It’s the story of my entire careersays the 33-year-old forward on his second day of work with the national team, at the High Performance Center. Having to find a place, generate more competition among my teammates and play. It seemed very far away, but I never stopped trying.. Since his arrival two seasons ago at Cruz Azul, Sepúlveda has scored 18 goals in the League, nine of them in the regular phase of this Apertura 2024. In the 2017 edition of the Gold Cup, Colombian Juan Carlos Osorio, then in charge of the representative, called the Michoacan to play the matches against El Salvador, Curacao, Honduras and Jamaica.

Although Sepúlveda did one of the many to reach the semifinals, the 2018 World Cup in Russia was far away with Jiménez’s calls, Chicharito Hernández and Hirving Lozano, figures in European soccer. Now I have more experiencehe emphasizes; I feel that commitment and responsibility, but it is not going to be easy. We know that we are going to play a war against Honduras. They are going to try everything to make us uncomfortable. We have to be focused, not get too caught up. We know how to play those games, I am one of those who think that this sport sooner or later gives rewards.

The Tricolor will visit the Honduran team on Friday at the General Francisco Morazán stadium, in San Pedro Sula, in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Nations League. On Tuesday the 19th, they will receive the return match at Toluca’s home, because Azteca is undergoing renovations for the 2026 Cup in which Mexico will be co-host along with the United States and Canada.

Everyone who confronts us sees it that way (as a sports war), so do we. We break our hearts, because it is, it has another flavorrecognizes Tigres midfielder, Jesús Angulo, starter on the last FIFA date.

In Honduras the game against Mexico is the classic that everyone wants to see. Last year, when both representatives faced each other in the same stage of the tournament, hundreds of Catracho fans questioned the performance of whistler Iván Barton, who added almost 15 minutes before they fell 4-2 (2-2 on aggregate) in the penalty shootout. “I had never seen a robbery like that in my life, with that brazenness. For a referee to come and decide to give nine minutes is fine, but it’s 11, 12, 13… Why is the game still being played?” questioned the vice president of the Honduras Football Federation, Juan Francisco Saybe, on November 21.

In addition to Ángel Sepúlveda, national coach Javier Aguirre cited five more players from Cruz Azul, a team that on Saturday broke the record for points in the Liga Mx – 42, in a tournament of 17 dates – and is qualified for the league direct.

Fear of Mexico? No. We are going to play a good game in both stadiums, on Friday we will be with our people and what happens outside is not in our handssays Honduran midfielder Luis Palma, a member of Scotland’s Celtic. We will give everything to win and have a clean result. I don’t know if strange things happen in Mexico, this is football.

After the arrival of Rodrigo Huescas on Monday from Denmark, Aguirre and his coaching staff directed the practice with the 27 summoned elements. This Wednesday the work will continue and they will travel in the afternoon to San Pedro Sula, where they will carry out the field recognition at the Francisco Morazán stadium before the start of the quarterfinals.