We’re coming up on around 2 months now since Mexico was bounced from the World Cup after their last group stage game. Still to this point there has been no official word on who the new manager is. In fact, the departure of Tata Martino was so swift that we’re not even sure it’s technically official. In any case, it was clear that the Argentine manager wasn’t going to be staying with El Tri regardless of what happened at the World Cup.
Now we’re learning about multiple potential managers. As we reported recently Bielsa is the newest leader in the clubhouse, or is he? Our sources on the inside claim that there might be some controversy brewing to push the narrative that the Mexican FA wants Bielsa knowing full well he won’t take the job. So they’ll settle for the next best thing! In reality the next best thing is what they want to do all along, but they don’t want to make it seem like that’s their first option. Let’s go down the rabbit hole and find out what’s going to happen with the Mexican National Team!
The Miguel Herrera Debacle
We even reported about a week ago that Miguel Herrera was the frontrunner to take over for Tata Martino. That notion ended really quickly. It seemed like there was a push from Televisa to help his candidacy. About two days into the media frenzy, Andres Vaca, a sportscaster for Televisa put out a tweet saying that Herrera had only won 2 titles in 20 years and that it wouldn’t make sense to hire him.
That tweet literally seemed to end Herrera’s campaign. It was really odd because it was TUDN, Televisa’s cable sports network that was promoting the news. They had other on air talents talking Herrera up. The news was even branded with their logo on it. Two days in though it seemed like the editorial line coming from the higher ups changed. It effectively killed El Piojo’s campaign.
Bielsa Will Say No So …
For this week the main candidate to take over El Tri is the man they call “El Loco”. Bielsa is one of the most highly regarded coaches in all of world football. However, he’s developed a reputation of being difficult to work with. Long before his days as a top manager in Europe he worked in Mexico, and was one of the people responsible for developing golden generations at the Atlas academy. Giving players like Pavel Pardo, Oswaldo Sanchez and Jared Borguetti their starts in the pro game.
Here’s where the conspiracies start to take hold though. Bielsa is great friends with Tata Martino. With how Martino is leaving the job it doesn’t seem likely that Bielsa would be keen to take over. That’s what the Mexican FA is betting on. If Bielsa says no they can show they went after the big fish, but settled for their second-best option.
Lozano, La Volpe, and Pelaez are The Second Best Option
Jaime Lozano, Ricardo La Volpe, and Ricardo Pelaez were all part of a late night program during the World Cup which aired on Televisa. They would talk about the games of the tournament and the Mexico National Team in specific. All of them threw out ideas about how they would make things better.
If you can’t get “El Loco” Bielsa, you go get “El Loco” La Volpe, who actually did a great job taking over for Bielsa at Atlas. He’s responsible for the second wave of academy players that took Liga MX by storm in the late 90s. He’s said he would take over the underage teams leaving Lozano with the senior squad. Lozano was already with the under 23’s it would make sense to give him charge of the senior squad next. Pelaez would be in management, a position currently held by Jaime Ordiales whom no one really seems to like. Watch from a “no” from Bielsa to El Tri, and what it can trigger!
