Miguel Herrera and Mexico begin their World Cup preparations on Wednesday when El Tri faces off against Israel.

According to ESPN, "Mexico will start vs. Israel with José de Jesús Corona, Carlos Salcido, Maza Rodriguez, Diego Reyes, Miguel Layún, Paul Aguilar, Héctor Herrera, Conejo Brizuela, Marco Fabián, Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Oribe Peralta."

The big name in that starting lineup of course is the 41-year-old Blanco. The Mexican legend will be playing one final game for El Tri in what will be his goodbye match. He is expected to play around 15 to 20 minutes before making way for a younger keeper.

"He is going to start and he knows the importance of this match," Herrera said. "He is one of those special idols who deserves tribute. We won't be losing the game's essence, but we will be stressing the importance that a player of his level of excellence can have. When we sub him out we will probably go with Raul (Jimenez) or Chicharo (Javier Hernandez)."

Blanco has accumulated 119 appearances for Mexico and has scored 39 goals. He played in the 1998, 2002 and 2010 World Cup, as well as the 1997 and 1999 Confederations Cups. He is also the first Mexican player to score in three World Cups for Mexico.

Another interest point about the starting lineup that will likely be analyzed for coming days is the choice of Corona in goal over Guillermo Ochoa. The former has been a constant for Mexico over the years, but many feel that Ochoa is the player with greater upside and could give the team a more dynamic presence between the pipes. Herrera recently admitted that he was struggling to make his final choice regarding the starting goaltender position.

"The only place on the field where I have doubts is in the goal," he said Tuesday. "I had that doubt before we started training camp as well. I will have to make a decision and one will start but it is going to be difficult and I am trying to be fair. But the goal will be well guarded, I know that."

It will also be interesting to see how Herrera integrates such players as Javier Hernandez and Giovanni Dos Santos; neither has played for him with the Mexican team but both are considered major pieces of this squad. Herrera has already seemingly been doing his best to create a sense of team unity, as his Twitter account might suggest.

This is just the second match between Mexico and Israel; the two sides met back in 1975, when the Israelis managed a 1-0 win over El Tri.

Yossi Benayoun will make a return to the team for the first time since August 2013; the 34-year-old will be playing in his 95th game for Israel.

After the game against Israel, Mexico heads to Texas to take on Ecuador on Saturday. The team follows that game with a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Chicago on June 3 and caps its preparation tour with a contest against Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal on June 6. Then on June 13, the team opens its World Cup competition with a match against Cameroon before facing Brazil and finally Croatia in Group A.

Despite enduring a horrific qualifying campaign in which El Tri was minutes away from being eliminated, the team enters the group stage with a major opportunity to get to the knockout rounds. Brazil is the favorite to top the group, but Croatia and Cameroon do not have as distinguished track records in the competition as Mexico does.

The ball starts rolling at 9:30 p.m. EST and can be watched on ESPN2.