Just right off the bat we have to say this. The reasons why Miguel Herrera is the ideal candidate to take over as head coach of the Mexican national team has nothing to do with his teams’ performance on the field. It has everything to do with his knowledge of the way business around the national team is conducted.
If you were around the last time that the man they call “El Piojo” managed the Mexican national team you can recall that he was on every billboard in Mexico and every TV show that he’d get an invite to. Whether that be local TV or any of the international programs run by Univision and Telemundo. For most of his tenure he had a very good relationship with the media. Ironically it’s precisely an issue with a prominent member of the media that ended his tenure. That doesn’t mean though that he doesn’t understand the business. At this point with the hiring of Rodrigo Ares de Parga to serve as the administrative head of the Mexican national teams the Mexican FA have played their hand.
Everything Is About Money & They Want Lots of It
We at World Soccer News Now happen to have the luxury of being very close to people who were around the last two times that Mexico hosted the World Cup. In the 1970 World Cup Mexico essentially hustled FIFA into taking whatever they could provide from the profits of the World Cup. They actually delayed the payment of those profits for about 2 years. Obviously this meant that a lot of the money that should’ve gone directly to FIFA got lost in the pockets of Mexican officials. Don’t feel too bad for FIFA though it was essentially a robber on robber crime what took place in 1970.
How does this all tie into the current situation? Let’s just make it clear as day. Rodrigo Ares de Parga has no experience in on the field issues. He’s got a ton of experience though in shady business deals. The Mexican Federation could’ve gone with someone who was more on the field oriented for the job. They chose this guy because he knows how to handle money, there’s no two ways about that.
Now coming full circle back to Herrera, he’s as eager as Ares de Parga, Yon de Luisa and all of the other higher ups in the Mexican FA to get his hands on the World Cup money. There’s a ton of money to be had for him in advertising and media deals. Plus, he’s going to be someone who will look the other way as money changes hands in the Mexican federation.
He’s Not The Worst On The Field Option
The Mexican FA have played their hand and made it clear it’s all about money in this next World Cup cycle. Leaving that aside we could still more or less agree that Herrera is not the worst on the field option that they could’ve come. At least he knows the league and the Mexican players abroad. There’s no adjustment period in that regard. That hasn’t been the case with the last 2 head coaches that Mexico brought on.
Another one of the issues though that we may see with Mexico if Herrera is in fact handed the keys is that he’s got some core players that he likes. They may get preferential treatment from him. Sebastian Cordova and Diego Reyes come to mind. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to get Cordova playing at an elite level. Still, Herrera is a man with favors to pay and certain beefs with people within Liga MX. That and of course the money aspect could heavily influence his decision-making and therefore the play on the field.
We’ve thrown a ton of names out there as potential candidates for head coach of Mexico. With the Mexican FA playing their hand so blatantly bringing on Ares de Parga we’d be shocked if Herrera is not the coach. Almada would have to adapt to a lot of the financial situations around the team. With how he carries himself it just seems hard to picture.
