Arsenal’s young talent Marcelo Flores may be experiencing the first major pressure of his short career and still short life. Due to the current context of soccer and the proximity of the upcoming FIFA World Cup, the pressure has begun to fall on him: which team will he defend on the field, Mexico or Canada? For starters, there is already a clue to the answer, and he himself gave it.
Flores, who has already been called up by Mikel Arteta to train and appear on the Gunners‘ first-team bench, is currently training with Mexico for what could be his second game in that jersey, a friendly against Guatemala.
The match against the Central American team could be one of the last opportunities for several young players, such as Marcelo Flores, to earn the consideration of Gerardo Martino so that they can be taken into account for the big event of the year, which begins on November 21: the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Marcelo Flores’ request that Mexico would have to comply with in order for him to play with them
One of the privileges, not only of the wonder kids, but of every quality player is to have a special treatment. As long as they can count on them, practically every team is willing to give in to their requests. Perhaps that is the card Flores is playing, as he recently revealed in an interview with TUDN the condition that would have to be met for him to forget about Canada and choose El Tri as his National Team.
“Also Canada could make me the same offer, but if Mexico National Team includes me in its Qatar 2022 roster, I think it would be done. I would choose it“, stated a very confident Marcelo Flores who has not even played a single game with Arsenal’s first-team.
Thus, Mexico would already have Flores’ offer on the table, which it should consider as the Gunners‘ wonder kid made it clear that at this point he has not decided anything yet, despite having already played once with El Tri, and Canada could still be the National Team he chooses to represent.
“Of course I do have the interest on try out for Canada National Team. At the end of the day, I can not say anything bad or something good about them if I have not given them a chance. I visualize myself at the FIFA World Cup even before playing the Olympic Games… I want to play in Qatar 2022, it is my dream to be there, I want to play as many World Cups as possible.“, said Marcelo in an interview for Azteca Deportes.
Marcelo Flores, during a performance with Arsenal. (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Tata Martino’s answer to Marcelo Flores came quickly
Martino is a man of very firm convictions. This has been very clear during his time at the helm of Mexico, where he has not hesitated to leave out historic players for El Tri such as Chicharito Hernandez, for not matching the principles, attitudes and behaviors that he prioritizes. Marcelo Flores’ request to go to Qatar 2022 to choose Mexico as his National Team, did not please the former Atlanta United coach.
“He hasn’t decided yet (which National Team he will play for) and that’s not good, nor is speculation that he will play for the team that guarantees he will go to the World Cup. I think that first he has to consolidate himself, be clear about which team he wants to play for and not speculate that he will play for the team that will take him to the World Cup.“, stated Martino in a press conference from Mexico, as he was not able to travel with the Mexican Team to the U.S.A due to medical recommendation.
Gerardo Martino, Mexico National Team’s coach. (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
