There’s been a lot of talk this week surrounding the ‘imminent’ appointment of Miguel “Piojo” Herrera as Mexico’s national manager for a second tenure at the helm. The media and Herrera himself sees himself as the optimal candidate to guide ‘El Tri’ towards the 2026 World Cup, but there’s still lot of skepticism regarding the move, and there’s still no official word from the Mexican FA yet, that’s why several reports suggest there’s still talks to be held, and an ‘underdog’ candidate, Jaime ‘Jimmy’ Lozano may be a realistic option to take on the job after all.
Youth Talent Booster
Jimmy Lozano’s presentation card, and greatest achievement up to this date is having led Mexico’s under-23 squad in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to a Bronze Medal. The former Pumas UNAM player took over the U23 team back in 2018 and started to work with young talent so he could build a competitive squad with aims towards the Olympic Games, and he delivered excellent results.
Lozano is well known for having an eye on youngsters, and Mexico’s National Team urgently needs to make a generational change on its senior team, since a lot of veterans have already overstayed their welcome. Another reason why Jimmy would be an excellent manager candidate is the fact that he’s already had under his wing several players that could help shape Mexico’s starting XI towards the 2026 World Cup: J. Vazquez (Cremonense), C. Montes (Espanyol), J. Sanchez (Ajax), U. Antuna (Cruz Azul), A. Vega (Chivas), D. Lainez (SC Braga), to name a few.
Lack Of Experience
The greatest disadvantage Lozano has to take on the Mexico’s manager role is his lack of experience as a manager at senior level, since after his achievements in Tokyo, he took over Liga MX team Necaxa, and after just one year he left the role without pain or glory. Lozano has under his belt just a couple of years in senior managing (Queretaro 2017 & Necaxa 2022), and both of those years were coaching mid to lower table teams that are not as demanded as a title candidate team, and not even close to the pressure Mexico’s hottest seat, the National Manager, brings.
But maybe that “lack” of experience is something this team needs, since Lozano will surely avoid any unnecessary friction with the media and fans, since there’s no bad blood like with other candidates, and he will focus just on coaching the team.
Another favourable trend is how many successful, and trophy-winning managers in today’s football started in big roles with little, to no experience whatsoever, so this can also be the case for Lozano, who could be the ace under the sleeve for Mexico’s FA.
