For the first time in the history of Liga MX the number of teams being coached by Mexicans is lower than the number of teams being coached by foreign nationals. From the end of last season to the beginning of this one at least 3 Mexican managers lost their seats to foreign nationals. With many of these Mexican managers being some of the best that the country has to offer. Is this just a coincidence, or can we talk about an actual crisis going on within the ranks of Mexican-born managers?
Why It’s A Bit Of A Coincidence
It’s a bit of a coincidence that the numbers stacked up to not favor Mexican managers because we had two of the best local coaches losing their jobs at the end of the season. In both instances the circumstances behind their firings are kind of a fluke. For example, Miguel Herrera was set to continue in his job at Tigres. He called the team old though in one of his last press conferences as head coach and that apparently didn’t sit well with the locker room. Also, he insisted on going to Qatar with Telemundo instead of going back to work. That led to him getting sacked and the team brought along former Atlas manager Diego Cocca.
Mexican manager, Jaime Lozano, who seemingly has a bright future was left without a seat for this upcoming season. His situation is also not necessarily down to poor results. Ultimately it seemed like he felt he had done everything that he could do at Necaxa and wanted a new challenge. It was looking like that new challenge was going to be Pumas, but that fell through. So at the end of the day two Mexican managers with decent credentials are going to start the season on the bench. Ironically enough two other Mexican managers who are not highly thought of joined clubs involved in the mixup that these two created in the form of Rafa Puente, and Benjamin Mora.
The Success of Foreign Managers Is Undeniable
Diego Cocca won back to back championships with Atlas. Last season Memo Almada won the title with Pachuca. Both of whom are foreign coaches. We’d have to go back to 2020 the tournament that was riddled with COVID issues to find Nacho Ambriz’s Leon team who was the last squad led by a Mexican manager to win the title. If we decided to go back even further we’d find Miguel Herrera’s Club America side beating Cruz Azul on penalties as essentially the only 2 Mexican managers to win Liga MX in the last 10 years! In a league that produces 2 champions per year the numbers don’t lie. Foreign managers have a much better chance to win the title it seems!
We Should See More Changes In Managerial Chairs This Season
Although the start of the season may not be ideal for Mexican managers in this next season we do expect more changes to be made in the managerial chairs of teams than what we saw last season. Because of the tight schedule caused by the World Cup, and the fact that 12 teams have a chance to win the title at the end of the regular season, clubs seemed reluctant to let go of their managers mid-season. It took conceding 7 goals to Club America for Cruz Azul to let go of Diego Aguirre. There’s a feeling that the bar will be much lower this season. That could spark the return of someone like Lozano or Herrera. Although both of them are also likely holding out for a chance to take over the Mexican National team. Other than those two though, there aren’t exactly too sought after Mexican managers that are currently unemployed. That could mean there’s some truth to this idea of a crisis!
