GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- The Mexico national team could play 17 games in the space of just under two months this summer. It's a hectic schedule spanning three countries and involving a match every 3.6 days, or 86 hours.
It will require anything up to, and even more than, 50 players split across two squads.
A 32-player roster for friendlies against Croatia (May 27) and Ireland (June 1) was named Tuesday. That team will be whittled down to a 23-man squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and the United States and June's Confederations Cup in Russia. Then there will be a separate announcement for July's Gold Cup, which is set to be made up of primarily younger players.
In recent months, there has been a mammoth scouting mission carried out by Juan Carlos Osorio's coaching staff to get the selection just right. For those who know the slightest thing about the Mexico manager's methods, it will come as no surprise that a rotation policy was used as the staff crisscrossed the country assessing talent.
The central organizer behind the scouting drive has been assistant Humberto Sierra.
The Colombian coach fervently drew up plans each week for the five key members of Osorio's staff -- Pompilio Paez, Sierra, Jorge Rios (conditioning coach), Nestor Mario Marin (goalkeeping coach) and Osorio himself -- to fly around the country, watching as many players live as possible.
"In general, we watch six or seven games [live] in the Mexican league [each weekend]," Sierra, 56, said in an interview with ESPN FC. "We do it in a really practical way, in which we rotate ... All of us have the opportunity to see all the teams and all the players."
The staff have then been meeting once or twice a week, according to Sierra, to hash out what they have seen and discuss which footballers should be involved this summer. Naturally, the games involving Mexican players in Europe are monitored remotely, though Osorio makes periodic visits.
"If one spots a different player than the ones we've been calling up, we talk about him and describe why we like him," Sierra said. "We talk about where he could be useful, the characteristics of the player, and each one of us expresses ourselves in the meeting."
Over recent days and possibly weeks, Osorio will have invited each member of the staff to produce their own squad list for the Confederations Cup, as is the norm before a major roster announcement. If all five have a certain player -- such as is the case with stalwarts such as Andres Guardado and Hector Moreno -- it is generally a closed case, but things aren't always so cut-and-dried. And it seems that Osorio likes to foment discussion among his trusted allies.
"The debating table opens up a lot, and in the end El Profe [Osorio] takes the decision," Sierra said. "He is the boss, and sometimes it has happened with a player [and he says], 'I want that player because of this, that and the other, and it's my decision.' And we respect it."
Stats and videos are used -- particularly for the foreign-based players -- but it is mainly by watching players live that decisions and conclusions are made.
Each position on the pitch has about six specific characteristics that guide the staff when scouting players.
"For example, we like a center-back to have a good aerial game, be strong in the challenge, be moderately quick [and] bring the ball out, so there you have four or five characteristics, and each player has more or less six in his position," he said.
The more of these boxes a player ticks, the better chance he has of being called in, though there are other factors when it comes to planning for specific matches: whether a player is versatile, if a center-back has the ability to play in a line of three as well as four, if a wide player could play as a false winger and if a defensive midfielder prefers to be alone in the position or have someone alongside him.
Spend some time in Sierra's company, and it quickly becomes obvious that the former America de Cali and Atletico Nacional midfielder -- he made the move between the two clubs at a time when rival cartels wielded great influence in the institutions -- likes to talk a lot about soccer. It is not difficult to see how he'd get on with the football-obsessed Osorio. It is also notable that the duo, as well as Paez, left their families back in Colombia to take on the challenge of El Tri. Osorio's group of comrades is tight-knit, dedicated to a job they clearly love and in Mexico with the express intention of elevating the national team.
"We enjoy the work," said Sierra, who is gushing in his praise of the job done at youth-team level in the Mexican federation. "Going to the games isn't a chore for us. It isn't a problem to go again to watch the same team ... Tracking players, watching football, learning about Mexican football, discovering new players that are breaking through ... There are some people in football that don't like it."
It is notable that when Osorio gives opinions in news conferences or interviews, he almost always uses "nosotros" or "we." He often starts sentences with "we believe" or "we consider." He's talking in direct reference to the coaching team behind him, and it's a sign of his regard for that group.
Sierra's relationship with Osorio stretches back to 2010. Sierra had been employed a year earlier by Colombian first-division club Once Caldas to lay the foundations for their youth system. Osorio was brought in as first-team coach, though the two hadn't previously spoken.
"I'd heard that he was a very studious man, that he'd been trained in the English game, working with Manchester City," Sierra said of Osorio.
The duo slowly began to click. After long talks, they coincided on their love of wide play, which Sierra said was common when he played but had been forgotten in Colombia. They agreed that wingers should be pushed as high up as the center-forwards, something that was rare in the country at the time.
Another point of common ground was Osorio's rotation system. When Sierra was part of America de Cali in the 1980s, manager Gabriel Ochoa used a large squad and balanced it between the Copa Libertadores and domestic competitions.
What Sierra admits took time to adapt to was Osorio's overall methodology, which had been refined in England and the United States and hadn't been seen before in Colombia.
"Honestly, his methodology was very new for those of us in Colombia because Osorio's methodology is totally European," he said. "So I had to learn it."
The assistant understands the waves of backlash that Osorio's rotation policy, in particular, received, especially following the 7-0 loss to Chile. Indeed, the Envigado native said the same thing happened in Atletico Nacional, where Osorio eventually won over the fan base and lifted three league titles.
Sierra believes that there is one striking similarity between Osorio's time in Medellin at Atletico Nacional and what has occurred so far with El Tri.
"I believe the most important thing has been that those who truly have identified and believed in this proposal and idea from the start are the players," Sierra said.
Mexico's players have certainly publicly backed Osorio, and the summer will be another stern test for El Tri, as well as his loyal coaching staff.
