Mexican coach Luis Fernando Tena will debut Thursday as coach of the Guatemalan senior team in a friendly against Cuba, in the colonial city of Antigua Guatemala.
The match will serve both teams as preparation for the 2026 World Cup to be held in Mexico, the United States and Canada, as the two countries were eliminated from the road to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Tena has led several cycles of training since his appointment on December 9, 2021 to replace his compatriot Rafael Loredo, who took over the Guatemalan national team on an interim basis for several months following the removal of Guatemalan Amarini Villatoro from office last July.
The Mexican technical director originally planned to make his debut against Bolivia in La Paz on January 19, but the clash was suspended, as was another clash on January 22 in Miami against Canada, due to Covid-19.
This Thursday's match will be held at the Pensativo Stadium in Antigua Guatemala, some 50 kilometers west of Guatemala City, with Cuba as the rival.
Tena called for the match against Cuba six Guatemalan players who are active abroad: Nicholas Hagen (Hamkam, from Norway), José Carlos Pinto (Tacuary, from Paraguay), Gerardo Gordillo (Gualaceo, from Ecuador), Marco Domínguez (Al Yarmouk, from Kuwait), Jesús López (Necaxa, from Mexico) and Marvin Ceballos (Black Lions UDG, from Mexico).
Hagen serves as goalkeeper and Pinto and Gordillo serve as central defenders, while the rest of the Guatemalan legionnaires are midfielders.
The last time Guatemala faced Cuba was on March 24, 2021 for the Concacaf qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with a 1-0 victory for the Central Americans.
On March 27, the Guatemalan national team will face Haiti at DRV PNK Stadium, in Fort Lauderdale, in Florida, United States, in another friendly match.
The Cuban national team, for its part, will arrive this Wednesday in Guatemala, although two of its players are already in the Central American country as they are part of local clubs. They are Karel Espino, midfielder of Comunicaciones, and Yasnier Matos, striker for Municipal.
Espino was a key player for Comunicaciones to be crowned champion last December of the Concacaf League, which brings together the best clubs in Central America, the Caribbean and Canada.
Cuban coach Pablo Elier Sánchez called up 21 players for the blank clash against Guatemala, including Marcel Hernandez, who plays for Club Sport Cartaginés in Costa Rica.
The 63-year-old Tena is the ninth foreign coach for Guatemala in the current century, in a roster that also includes Loredo, Victor Manuel Aguado (Mexico), Julio Cesar Cortes (Uruguay), Ramón Maradiaga (Honduras), Sergio Pardo (Chile), Hernán Gomez (Colombia), Ivan Franco Sopegno (Argentina) and Éver Hugo Almeida (Paraguay)).
Possible lineups:
Guatemala: Nicholas Hagen; Moises Hernandez, Jose Carlos Pinto, Gerardo Gordillo, Alejandro Galindo; Antonio Lopez, Jorge Aparicio, Marco Dominguez; Jose Martinez, Andres Lezcano and Marvin Ceballos.
Coach: Luis Fernando Tena.
Cuba: Sandy Sanchez; Carlos Vasquez, Yuri Perez, Yosiel Piedra, Jorge Luis Corrales; Karel Espino, Rolando Abreu, Dayron Reyes, Marcel Hernandez; Luis Paradela and Yasniel Matos.
Coach: Pablo Elier Sánchez.
Stadium: Pensativo, from Antigua Guatemala.
Time: 18.00 local (00.00 GMT on Friday).
EFE
Últimas Noticias
Debanhi Escobar: they secured the motel where she was found lifeless in a cistern
The oldest person in the world died at the age of 119
Macabre find in CDMX: they left a body bagged and tied in a taxi
The eagles of America will face Manchester City in a duel of legends. Here are the details
Why is it good to bring dogs out to know the world when they are puppies
