Gago brings Marcelo Morales back to the Chilean national team after two years away

Two years. That's how long Marcelo Morales had been off the radar of the Chilean national team. And now, suddenly, he's back in it, included in the roster La Roja put together for its tour of North America, where it will face Canada, the United States and Mexico between September and October. This is no fluke or consolation prize: it has a name behind it, and that name is Fernando Gago.

The Universidad de Chile fullback is coming off a solid season under the Argentine coach, and that form is precisely what reopened the door to the national team. What's interesting is how that resurgence came about, because it wasn't spontaneous at all. Gago explained it himself on Friday at a press conference, and the story sounds like something out of a locker room pep talk.

I was very clear with him on the first day I arrived. I set myself, and I set him, a challenge: to get called up to the national team again. I told him that on the very first day we started training.Fernando Gago

The coach didn't stop at the motivational line. He went further and demanded concrete results. He admitted that in his first matches in charge, Morales wasn't even completing 90 minutes, and that's when he started pushing him to hold up for full games. That demand turned into a training routine that, according to Gago, transformed the player on several levels.

From there I built that training regimen and that consistency, getting him ready for the goal I had set for him. He grew enormously as a footballer, physically and mentally.Fernando Gago

It wasn't just about his game either. Gago also pointed to Morales's weight in the locker room, something that in national team football often matters as much as performance on the field. He described him as one of the most well liked players among his teammates, and said it gives him particular satisfaction to see him called up again.

The other news: Agustin Arce

The press conference also made room for another name out of the U: Agustin Arce, who was also considered by La Roja's coaching staff. Gago was candid in describing where he stands right now: a player in the middle of his development, with some very good matches but also dips in form that, as he mentioned, he's already pointed out to him directly.

Even so, the coach didn't hold back praise for his future potential, both at the club and with the national team, and made clear he trusts that room for improvement will turn into consistency.

He's a kid with a lot of upside, I've said it before and I still stand by it. He's one of the players with the most capacity to build a future for himself with the national team and at the club.Fernando Gago

With these two names on the table, the North America tour is shaping up as an important showcase for both: for Morales, the chance to cement his return; for Arce, the opportunity to show that the potential his coach keeps talking about is starting to become reality, match by match.