AGUILAR SAYS MEXICO DOES NOT MISS CARLOS VELA AND GIOVANI DOS SANTOS

Mexico defender Paul Aguilar says the national team side of Mexico playing at the Copa America does not miss the duo of Carlos Vela and Giovani dos Santos at the tournament.

He admitted that they were great for conversations in the locker room but they had capable replacements on the field hence the team didn’t miss much of them.

Aguilar was asked about the players who were left off the Mexican final 23-man squad for he Copa America Centenario, he claimed they were all missed on a human level it's manager Juan Carlos Osorio's call whether to put them in the group or not.

"Logically, they’re always missed as friends, but on the playing field, the players who are part of the or not part of the rotations, those are the manager’s decisions and they’re details we can’t concern ourselves with," Aguilar said.

Mexico have done well without the absences as they have claimed victories over Uruguay and Jamaica and a draw with Venezuela. The victories have set Mexico in a quarterfinal match against Chile billed for this weekend. Mexico played Chile in a pre-tournament game and won with a slim victory. Mexico struggled in the first half of that match, especially defensively, despite keeping La Roja off the scoreboard.

Midfielder Hector Herrera says the game would have nothing to do with the results when they meet at the knockout stage. “A friendly match is played very differently from a quarterfinal game. That's one of the reasons, and the other is that we're now a bit more accustomed to the manager's system," Herrera said. Herrera played all the games in the group stages. He said they have just had a good first stage but it all won’t be worth anything if they don’t win against Chile over the weekend.