On Sunday, it was announced by the Mexican Federation that brothers Jonathan and Giovani dos Santos of LA Galaxy will not be playing in the next two El Tri games. On March 11, Giovani suffered tightness in his right hamstring during the match against New York City FC. The Galaxy forward is expected to be out for one to three weeks.
Last Friday during a training session with the Galaxy, Jonathan acquired a similar hamstring injury. Now both brothers will miss the next two friendly games against Iceland and Croatia, which will occur on March 23rd and 27th, respectively. The timing of this is frustrating for the players as well as coach Juan Carlos Osorio who is looking to finalize his World Cup roster for the Mexican National Team. He faces not only the absence of both dos Santos brothers but also Tigres wingers Javier Aquino and Jurgen Damm. Aquino and Damm claimed adductor injuries during their match against Chivas this past Saturday. Aquino was taken out in the 57th minute while Damm came out the 78th.
With the removal of these four players from the games, comes a new addition, as center back Oswaldo Alanis of Chivas is now set to play against Iceland after not initially being included on the roster.
The friendly against Iceland will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California while the friendly against Croatia will be held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
