Mexico is still without a coach after the failure of Qatar

A week after the deadline set by the leaders to publish an analysis of the failure in the World Cup in Qatar, Mexico continues to consider the names, but without appointing a coach who will relieve Gerardo Martino to face the upcoming matches of the League of Nations.

El Tri will return to action with two matches in the CONCACAF Championship, with Jamaica and Suriname at the end of February.

Although Mexico holds a secure spot in the 2026 World Cup, hosting the United States and Canada, the inaction of the leaders in the face of the upcoming World Cup is surprising.

Leon de Luisa, president of the Mexican Football Federation, has not commented since December 1, the day after the team was eliminated for the first time in the first phase of a World Cup since Argentina 1978.

“An in-depth analysis will be carried out, structural changes such as timeshares, promotion and relegation will be made, and the number of foreigners will be reviewed,” De Luisa said after the failure.

Neither LUISA nor the federations have released any data so far this year. Not when FIFA punished Mexico for its homophobic rants at the World Cup or for losing matches at the table due to the improper alignment of Alejandro Zendegas.

De Luisa is expected to break his silence early next week when the deadline for the release of his analysis expires. In the meantime, there are many steps to follow that will determine changes in the structures of Mexican football.

Climb should come back

The promotion and relegation of clubs was suspended two years ago. The measure, according to the captains, was intended to boost the economy of the Second Division teams, but in fact caused some First Division teams to comply who invested less in their squads knowing they were safe in the First Division.

Although the original plan was to keep the domestic championship without promotion for five years, the failure forced the leaders to reconsider.

Mikel Areola, the president of Liga MX, said recently that they will try to speed up the adoption of upgrade teams so that promotions can be normalized. Currently, only one of the second division clubs fulfills the requirements put forth by the organization to be able to play in the first division.

In addition to ups and downs, another practice that affected the performance of the Mexican national team was the large number of players not born in Mexico in the clubs. Under current regulations, up to eight players out of the eleven can play even if they are not Mexican by birth, creating a barrier for young talent.

It was one of the Argentinean Gerardo Martino’s public criticisms of the leaders before leaving office.

Any changes to what currently prevails must be approved by the owners’ council, which has not met or planned to meet despite the World Cup setback.

Who is the coach?

To date, the two most famous names are Miguel Herrera, the Mexican coach in Brazil 2014, and the Uruguayan Guillermo Almada, who leads Pachuca.

Herrera currently has no job after being fired from Tigres.

“I worked to be in the next process, today they can say I’m applying, but it’s because I don’t have a coach in the national team, because I don’t have a job, and I know I’m not the only one who was fired for fighting with a journalist at an airport in the United States,” said Herrera. .

Al-Mada said he would like to be considered, but has been restrained in his statements in recent days.

In addition, some media outlets said that Argentine Marcelo Bielsa is one of the favorites, which is not surprising. El “Loco” was on the wish list of the Mexican commanders in two operations, but it was not achievable.

Recently, Brazilian Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti, who won five league titles with Tigres, raised his hand to take over despite previously saying he’d rather be a sweeper than a Mexican coach.

What do you expect from the report?

For now, not much more than the conclusions left by Martineau’s operation. De Luisa does not have the authority to appoint a new coach himself at this time, something the owners agree with.

Despite this, the setback was strong and De Luisa will have to announce substantial reforms. It will be interesting to see if he retains Jaime Urdiales in his role as manager of national teams or makes any changes to the structure.

De Luisa is recognized by the owners for its management in the economic aspect, not for sport. Perhaps creating a new position as head of sports in the Mexican Federation would be an option.