DENVER, March 10 - Underfire coach Sven-Goran
Eriksson can try out alternative strikers when Mexico meet
Bolivia in a friendly on Wednesday.
Top forwards Giovanni dos Santos, Nery Castillo and
Guillermo Franco have been denied regular first-team football
with their European clubs through injury and loss of form.
The trio are unavailable on Wednesday as it is not an
official date of world soccer's ruling body FIFA.
Eriksson has instead named locally-based Omar Bravo, Cesar
Villaluz, Argentine-born Matias Vuoso and Sergio Santana in his
squad.
Bravo was in the reserves at Deportivo Coruna before
returning home last month to play for Tigres UANL in a move he
hopes will boost his international career.
He had been a regular starter for Mexico before the transfer
to Spain, scoring 14 times in 54 appearances.
Villaluz and Vuoso have made a handful of international
appearances without claiming regular places and Santana is
uncapped.
COME BACK
Eriksson stirred up controversy by suggesting Mexico's other
foreign-based players follow Bravo's example.
"If they are not regulars in their teams it's better they
come back," he told reporters last week.
"There's no point in being in Europe for the sake of it."
Mexico, where the clubs pay the highest salaries in Latin
America, has only recently begun exporting players.
The match is a warmup for two World Cup qualifiers at the
end of the month, at home to Costa Rica and away to Honduras.
Last month Eriksson's side lost 2-0 to the United States in
their opening match of the CONCACAF region's final stage, a
six-team mini-league.
Although the Mexican federation said Eriksson's job was
safe, few believe he would survive a home defeat by Costa Rica.
Bolivia, ninth in the 10-team South American qualifying
group, have recalled Spanish-based defender Juan Manuel Pena
after an 18-month absence.
(Writing by Brian Homewood in Buenos Aires, Editing by Tony
Jimenez)