Mexico's injury crisis is clearing, with most of El Tri's injury players eligible for selection for Sunday's Gold Cup group match against Martinique.
However, Tata Martino won't be able to call upon midfielder Erick Gutierrez. The 24-year-old left Mexico's 3-1 win over Canada in the first half clutching at his hamstring. He was replaced by Andres Guardado, who went on to score twice as Mexico continued its perfect start to the Martino era.
Gutierrez has been evaluated, with his hamstring injury confirmed and a timetable set that will keep him out for the next two weeks.
"The directors of the national teams informs that after the injury suffered by Erick Gutierrez in the game against Canada, the pertinent studies were done on the player in Denver as well as in Charlotte," a statement read. "The result of those is that Erick Gutierrez has a muscle injury in his right hamstring with an approximate recovery time of two weeks."
That timetable would put the midfielder returning the day before the final, making it unlikely he'll see action in the rest of the tournament.
The good news for Mexico comes in the cases of Hector Moreno and Rodolfo Pizarro. Moreno, a center back, was injured in a pre-tournament friendly match against Ecuador but returned to full training with the team and could return to the starting lineup this weekend.
So too could Pizarro. The attacker has been dealing with an ankle knock but also is set to get a clean bill of health to help the national team.
"While he hasn't been troubled, he doesn't feel at 100 percent," Martino said after the Canada match. "He's worked well over the last few days, but he's always trained separately and he doesn't feel the confidence needed to be able to play. Everything that doesn't involve a change of rhythm, he can do well, but when he starts to participate at full-speed, he feels some discomfort. While that happens, we can't involve him in a match."
El Tri closes out the group stage against Martinique, with the match set to kick off around 8:30 p.m. ET. While it's highly likely they'll move onto the quarterfinals, their place in the knockout stage has not yet been mathematically clinched.
