In occasions, the often announced and known by many, list of selected players for the World Cup, at least since the 1994 World Cup in the United States, has held some big surprises. However, beyond this, the same whims of the coaches occur during the World Cup, aligning players in an incredible way, or players who were not expected to be starters.
MEJÍA BARÓN'S WHIMS
Two of the most talked about cases for the 1994 American Cup call-up were Luis Miguel Salvador and Luis Antonio Valdez.
Both cases were quite controversial and unexplainable to many. In Salvador's case, he followed the World Cup process almost completely, but without much relevance; he even played a few minutes in the World Cup. However, the most striking was that of 'Cadáver' (Cadaver), as this player had not followed the process and appeared surprisingly in the final list.
He started in the first match of the Tri against Norway; however, this was quite discreet, accumulating only 45 minutes.
BRINGING 'YERNO' (Son-in-law)
For the 2006 Germany World Cup, Ricardo La Volpe, due to the deep animosity that existed, left Cuauhtémoc Blanco out of the entire qualifying process. Blanco was a player who, at that time, was in a very good football level and who - for clear reasons - would have contributed a lot to the final squad of 23 men for the World Cup.
In his place, La Volpe called up Rafael García, a player who at that time played for Atlas de Guadalajara. His participation was zero, not even adding a single minute in the tournament. His call-up was more because of a kind of nepotism.
BAUTISTA'S INCURSION
One of the most unpleasant surprises in recent times has been the incursion of Adolfo Bautista, not only in the final call-up for the 2010 South Africa World Cup, but also in the stage in which he was put by Javier Aguirre.
His appearance in the Round of 16 match against Argentina was practically of one player less, as he did not contribute anything to the team. This was one more of Aguirre's mistakes in World Cups, accompanied by that controversial decision to substitute Ramón Morales for García Aspe against the United States in 2002 and, in the same 2010, to leave Ochoa on the bench and put in Óscar Pérez.
STOLEN GOALKEEPER POSITION
The last major controversy, which still remains to this day, is that of the goalkeeper prior to the 2014 Brazil World Cup. This race was being led by José de Jesús Corona and Guillermo Ochoa, however, a few months before the start of the World Cup, the goalkeeper from Cruz Azul showed an excellent level, which had earned him the starting position for the national team.
Everything seemed like he would be the starter in Mexico's goal for the World Cup. However, hours before the debut, coach Miguel Herrera decided - surprisingly - that Guillermo Ochoa would be the one to take the opportunity. In light of what happened, the controversy sparked some tensions between Corona and Herrera, but it didn't escalate.
To the satisfaction of the national coach, his bet turned out well, as Ochoa had a very good performance in Brazil 2014.
EARLY CHRISTMAS GIFTS
Alongside Uriel Antuna, Omar Govea was one of the surprise calls-up that were chosen by Juan Carlos Osorio to face Belgium and Poland in November last year.
Now, taking his pre-list as a reference, the Colombian called up Edson Álvarez and Jesús Molina, players who - perhaps - are taking the places intended for José Juan Vázquez and Rodolfo Pizarro.