Team Mexico selects final 45-man roster including 5 ex-NFL players

Federacion Mexicana de Futbol Americano (FMFA) and head coach Raul Rivera have announced the final 45-man roster that will represent Mexico at the 2011 IFAF Senior World Championship.

“We believe we have a team that will be able to fight one on one with any of the other teams at the Senior World Championship,” said head coach Raul Rivera. “We know that there will be strong opponents, but as far as I know it will still be 11 to 11 on the field and that gives us the ability to defeat any opponent.”

Mexico has developed several players who have been members of the NFL International Practice Squad Program and spent time in NFL training camp and on the practice squads of NFL teams – many of which have been selected to the Mexican Senior National team.

Linebacker EDUARDO CASTADENA (top picture – Arizona Cardinals), defensive tackle MAURICIO LOPEZ (2nd picture – Oakland Raiders), linebacker MANUEL PADILLA (3rd picture – Denver Broncos), tackle RAMIRO PRUNEDA (4th picture – San Francisco 49ers) and defensive tackle SALOMAN SOLANO (5th picture – Baltimore Ravens) all excelled in their native Mexico before progressing to the NFL.

Solano played college football at Tamaulipas. He played with NFL Europe’s Rhein Fire in 2006 and then went on to be a member of the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions practice squad. Pruneda has a similar football background playing college football at Monterrey Tech then going on to play for the NFL Europe Cologne Centurions in 2006. He was also a member of NFL practice squads spending time with the San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. Both are currently teammates playing in the Professional Indoor Football League for the Green Bay Blizzard, currently sitting in second place in the Great Lakes Division with a 6-2 record.

Linebacker Jovanni Carrillo currently plays in the ONEFA for the White Eagles and played on the Mexican junior national team at the IFAF Junior World Championship in 2009 and on the World Team against Team USA in Fort Lauderdale in 2010. Solano served as an assistant coach with Mexico in 2009 and with the World Team in both 2010 and 2011.

The Mexican Senior National team will hold a training camp on June 17 in preparation for the tournament. And will leave for Europe on July 4 to train in Vienna for four days before their debut in Group B against Germany on July 10. United States and Australia are also in the group.

Mexico Senior National Team Roster:

No.	Position	Name	Club Team
1	INT	Mauricio Lopez	ITESM
2	LB	David Morales	UNAM
3	LB	Lozano Fernando	UNAM
4	QB	Rodrigo Perez	UDLA
5	LB	Jorge Valdez	UANL
6	SS	Victor Saspe	UNAM
7	EXT	Jesus Alfredo Munoz	UNAM
8	WR	Alfonso Quinones	UNAM
9	LB	Vazquez Hurtado	UNAM
10	WR	Arzate Quintanilla Erick	UNAM
11	SS	Luis Jaimes	UNAM
12	QB	Marquez Albarran Bruno	UNAM
13	CB	Roberto Reyna	UNAL
15	LB	Alberto Montembruck	UVM
16	QB	Casteneda Salvador	UNAM
17	INT	Salomon Solano	UAT
19	K	Juan Dias	UANL
21	RB	Mario Uresty	ITESM
22	RB	Jose Reyes Conn	ITESM
23	RB	Jonathan Sanchez	UNAM
24	CB	Serigo Cantu	ITESM
25	WR	Diego Viamontes	UVM
27	CB	Fernando Ramirez Paredes	UVM
28	FS	Raziel Lopez	UVM
33	CB	Mosqueda Romo Eric	UNAM
40	LB	Jovanni Carrillo	IPN
42	INT	Onesto Montiel Ariel	UNAM
44	RB	Castillo Najera	UNAM
55	OL	Edgar Cavazos	UANL
56	LB	Manuel Padilla Pontvianne	ITESM
57	EXT	Macro Martinez Villegas	UNAM
58	OL	Nava Pina Julio Cesar	UNAM
61	OL	Mario Rodriguez	UNAL
66	OL	Noel Moreno Duran	UNAM
70	OL	Santiago Maltos Diaz	UNAL
73	OL	Juan Garcia	ITESM
74	OL	Ramior Pruneda Zapata	ITESM
77	OL	Bermudez Pinete Mauricio	UNAM
78	INT	Miguel Angel Uresty	UNAM
81	AC	Daniel Roldan	ITESM
84	WR	Luis Araugo Cota	UNAL
85	WR	Oscar Ruiz Rodriguez	UDLA
86	AC	Miguel Morgado	IPN
92	INT	Susarrey Lopez Diego	INT
99	CB	Jose Miguel Luna	ITESM