The Europe Warriors project, the brainchild of Jesús E. Sánchez from Mexico, current head coach of Osos Rivas (Madrid, Spain) is entering its final month. A team of players from European clubs has been put together to travel to Mexico to play the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) – Pumas CU on August 12 in the Estadio Olímpico Universitario on the UNAM campus in Mexico City.
The game will celebrate 90 years of history of the Pumas football program.
We asked coach Sánchez how the recruiting progress has been:
Sánchez: The recruiting process has been good. We have only two spots left. We have filtered over 150 requests from the invitations because we know they could help our team, and almost 50 players contacted us on our personal FB pages and through other outlets, so there was a lot of info to process.
AFI: Have you closed the roster off?
Sánchez: Right now we have 42 players with contracts signed and most of them with the flight tickets, and we are waiting for some contracts to be sign, we will close the roster on 44 players and we plan to do it this weekend.
AFI: Will you be holding tryouts and if so when and where?
Sánchez: We won’t have tryouts, we recruit the same way most teams in Europe recruit their imports with interviews, videos and references.
AFI: How are you feeling about the event?
Sánchez: I’m convinced as I tell all the players on the welcome letter this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. PUMAS is a team with a great tradition and they will only celebrate once their 90th anniversary, we expect over 15,000 spectators in a great day for football. But still I’m focused on the important aspects of the game like working hard on scouting and planning to get the win or make the players give their best effort while they enjoy the experience and not focus on the relevant of the game like the celebration of the 90th anniversary, big stadium….
AFI: As you probably know, American Football International has been covering both college leagues in Mexico for the past two years so we think this is an outstanding event. What kind of interest is being generated in Mexico?
Sánchez: Well right now there is still some doubts on the people if this is for real, but as soon as the UNAM announce the game im sure the Mexican crowd will be very exited and waiting for the game.
AFI: You are recruiting players of all nationalities but how many Spanish players have signed up?
Sánchez: Right now we have 11 nationalities on our roster we have four players from Spain signed and with fight ticket , we also have players from Italy, France, Denmark, Poland, Germany, UK, Mexico, USA, Canada and China.