Yesterday news started circulating on social media to indicate that former Tigres, and Club America coach Miguel Herrera is reportedly the clubhouse favorite to once again take over as Mexico National team manager. The news was spread by multiple Televisa employees. Long time followers of Liga MX and the Mexican National Team will know that Televisa is viewed by many as the evil empire that runs Mexican soccer from behind the scenes.
Whether those fears or conspiracy theories are 100% true is up for the debate. It is completely true though that the media giant has a lot of influence within the Mexican national team. The fact that many Televisa on air personalities were the ones mainly promoting the news seems to indicate that clearly Herrera is the candidate that the media conglomerate wants to push. Would he be a good candidate to take over the chair that Tata Martino left vacant?
Going Back To Herrera Is Going Back To Familiar Territory
The higher ups of the Mexican FA made two long shot bets that none one was asking for in the last 2 World Cup cycles. Essentially bringing on Juan Carlos Osorio was a move to try and think outside the box. There was ultimately no long term benefit of having him on. At the end of his tenure he was not backed by the fan base. Even through his win versus Germany at the World Cup. The same exact thing happened at the end of Martino’s tenure. He didn’t even get a Germany win, so it ended even worse.
Now, a move back to Herrera is a step towards a known commodity. You don’t have to go out and get a foreign manager, and get him acclimated to the circus that is Liga MX and the Mexican FA. In that context it makes some sense. Particularly since Herrera is going to be accepted by at least some of the fan base.
Where Does This Leave Almada?
Perhaps the biggest issue with bringing in Miguel Herrera will be that he’ll have the shadow of Memo Almada hovering over him. Particularly if Almada keeps winning. By all accounts that’s probably going to be the case. Right off the bat if the Mexican FA picks Herrera over Almada the first thing that critics are going to say is that the Uruguayan has been more successful in Liga MX as of late.
The problem with Almada though seems to be that he doesn’t have the backing of a powerful figure in Liga MX. If Grupo Orlegi, who brought Almada to Liga MX, and his current employer Grupo Pachuca banned together to make him their candidate we could have an interesting face off. It’s all politics though! The fact that Televisa employees are sort of preparing the ground for Herrera to be the candidate really lets you know how this is going to play out. It would certainly be interesting to have a two horse race between Almada and Herrera in the court of public opinion.
Why Head Coach Of The National Team Is Not The Full Story
It’s not just the senior men’s team that needs some help in Mexico. The women’s team failed to qualify for the World Cup. The choice of manager for that team seemed to be completely flawed as well. The underage men’s teams are not going to the Olympics or the under 20 World Cup. So whoever shows up to coach and to serve as sporting director of the national teams is going to have their work cut out for them. One of the questions around Herrera also will be his willingness to incorporate young players into his squad. Something that from what we’ve seen Almada is more inclined to do! If we had to make a bet though since Televisa is pushing Herrera he’ll probably get the gig.
