Andres Flores is headed to the CONCACAF Gold Cup. (Andy Mead/YCJ Photo)

By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

The Cosmos will be without three El Salvadoran players, who have been called in for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Forward Irvin Herrera and midfielders Andres Flores and Richard Menjivar Wednesday were called into the squad for the tournament, according to the El Salvadoran website.

The competition runs from July 7-26.

Head coach Eduardo Lara Lozano named his first eight players into the team and they have been invited to camp starting June 26. That means the Cosmos will be missing that threesome for the July 4 home match against Indy Eleven at MCU Park, a July 8 return encounter at Indy and a July 15 visit to FC Edmonton.

The five others were midfielders Junior Burgos (Reno 1868) and Darwin Ceren (San Jose Earthquakes), former St. John’s University goalkeeper Derby Carrillo (IBV, Iceland) and forward Nelson Bonilla (Gaziantep BB, Turkey).

The El Salvadorans kick off the Gold Cup against heavily favored Mexico in Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego July 9, meet Curacao at Sports Authority Field in Denver July 13 and finish the Group C stage against Jamaica at the Alamodone in San Antonio, Texas July 16.

The quarterfinals are set for July 19-20, the semifinals for July 22-23 and the final at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. July 26.

The Cosmos visit Miami FC in a North American Soccer League spring season clash Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.