Giovani Dos Santos an option for Ricardo Ferretti against the USMNT

Ricardo Ferretti's decision to leave Giovani Dos Santos out of the Mexico team for the friendlies against Trinidad & Tobago and Argentina made waves around El Tri.

For some fans and pundits, the rationale to exclude a player like Giovani Dos Santos was that it was a punishment by the FMF. By now, unless you've been been shipwrecked on a desserted island somewhere, you are most likely aware of Giovani Dos Santos' tweets in support of Miguel Herrera.

Ferretti, in his usual candid manner, brushed off any allegations of a punishment by the FMF and simply called it a "managerial decision".

After Mexico's 3-3 draw with Trinidad & Tobago, some hope arrived for Dos Santos. Fox Deportes journalist Ruben Rodriguez claimed that Ricardo Ferretti had asked his staff about the possibility of naming the Galaxy forward in the Mexico squad for the all-important October 10 game.

With Ferretti likely to stick to a 5-3-2 against the United States, who would he have to omitt this time to include Dos Santos in the team?

For starters, there's no way Giovani plays on the wing, considering he hasn't played there in a while and doesn't possess the defensive sharpness Ferretti comes to expect from a player. Even with injury, Oribe Peralta remains a Ricardo Ferretti favorite and is tipped to start in Pasadena. There's no way Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez isn't called despite having a below average game against Argentina, and Raul Jimenez has been in good form for El Tri. That leaves Carlos Vela.

Rumor has it, Ferretti isn't very fond of Vela. The Real Sociedad forward captained a Mexican reserve side against Trinidad & Tobago, but Ferretti wasn't fully convinced by what Vela brough to the team in training.

This may give a glimmer of hope to Giovani Dos Santos. And to his credit, he has been excellent for the Galaxy. At first, he was the target of criticism for moving to MLS so early in his career but his output in his first few games has turned heads.

A look at where he is playing on the field certainly doesn't do him any harm. He isn't necessarily better than Vela, but he makes a good like-for-like replacement for Raul Jimenez, who is likely to be a starter against the U.S.

Last week, Bruce Arena himself admitted not knowing why Giovani wasn't called up for the first two friendlies. " I would just think they have a pretty good team if [Dos Santos] wasn't called up," said Arena.

With a month to go, though, Giovani Dos Santos is back in the fold of things with El Tri. Should he be in the roster for the October 10 game, he will be just one of many Mexicans at the Rose Bowl hoping for a Mexico win.