Mexico name World Cup team: Veteran Carlos Salcido earns surprise place in World Cup squad

MEXICO CITY

(Reuters) Defender Carlos Salcido was a surprise inclusion in Mexico’s 23-man squad for next month’s World Cup named by coach Miguel Herrera on Friday.

The group will be captained by Leon defender Rafael Marquez who is going to his fourth successive finals after first leading the side at the age of 23 in South Korea and Japan in 2002. The squad also includes European-based forwards Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez (Manchester United) and Giovani Dos Santos (Villarreal).

Herrera, who took charge in October, has never before called up the 34-year-old Salcido and previously said it would be difficult for players outside the group to make it to the finals.

Former PSV Eindhoven and Fulham defender Salcido, who now represents UANL Tigres and was an over-age player in the team that won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, will be going to his third consecutive World Cup.

He last played for the ‘Tri’, as Mexico are known, when they lost 2-0 to the United States in a CONCACAF qualifier on Sept. 10, an away defeat that cost Olympic coach Luis Fernando Tena his job.

“We had the dream of drawing up a great list, we had a big debate but we finally arrived at a conclusion which we think is the best for all and with which we’re sure to get results,” Herrera told a news conference.

Group A teams

Mexico face hosts Brazil, Cameroon and Croatia in Group A. Before kicking off their campaign against Cameroon on June 13, Mexico will bid farewell to their fans in a warm-up against Israel at the Azteca Stadium on May 28. They will also play three friendlies in the United States against fellow finalists Ecuador on May 31, Bosnia on June 3 and Portugal on June 6.

Meanwhile, Work on an airport outside Sao Paulo was partially suspended on Friday because of unsafe working conditions in the rush to prepare for the World Cup, all but guaranteeing the private operator would miss a crucial deadline for a new terminal.

Viracopos airport, controlled by Brazilian concessionaries UTC and Triunfo and France’s Egis Airport Operation, risks a fine of up to 170 million reais ($77 million) for missing a Sunday deadline to deliver the terminal.

Federal prosecutors said work involving heights and heavy machinery overhead would be halted temporarily due to dangerous movement of heavy materials, reckless driving around elevated platforms and misuse of safety equipment.

“We can tell they are rushing against the clock and they are doing several different things at once in a disorderly way,” said prosecutor Mario Antonio Gomes, who accompanied a visit by workplace safety watchdog CEREST.