LA Galaxy’s Jonathan dos Santos called up by Mexico for friendlies

Jonathan dos Santos has been called up by Mexico National Team head coach Gerardo Martino for two friendlies scheduled for October in Europe.

Mexico began their international soccer shutdown comeback Wednesday with a friendly against Guatemala in Mexico City, but Martino used a domestic-based roster for that game, with some holdovers brought to the roster for the next set of games, against the Netherlands on Oct. 7 and Algeria on Oct. 13, while also calling up players based outside Mexico, including dos Santos.

The 30-year-old LA Galaxy midfielder is finally getting back to fitness after undergoing surgery in the summer to repair a lingering injury. He’s played nine regular season games so far, but started just three, playing 90 minutes just once, this past weekend against the Seattle Sounders.

On one hand, the Galaxy are used to being without him for much of this season, but no one would dispute dos Santos is a cut above the rest of the midfield corps when he’s healthy and fit.

So how much time will dos Santos miss with the Galaxy? Great question! The Galaxy have three games between Oct. 7-14, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Depending on when he leaves to join El Tri, he could miss a game before that, and then there’s the aftermath. It is said that players who go abroad must serve a quarantine period upon return to the United States per public health order. Depending on how long that lasts, it could extend his absence another game, or two or three. So it could be anywhere between three and let’s say seven games, although it will likely be somewhere in the middle. We’ll have to see what the team says on this.

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