Mexico hires Javier Aguirre as its soccer coach
The last time Javier Aguirre coached Mexico’s national soccer team, it was beaten, 2-0, by the United States in the second round of the 2002 World Cup in Jeonju, South Korea.
Not surprisingly, Aguirre was immediately dismissed.
On Friday, almost seven years later, he was welcomed back as Mexico’s coach, with instructions to put “El Tri” back on course for a berth in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
It took Mexico’s soccer federation less than 24 hours to replace Sven-Goran Eriksson, who was fired as coach Thursday after Mexico’s 3-1 loss to Honduras in a 2010 qualifying match the night before.
The rapid appointment of Aguirre caught no one by surprise. Media in Mexico and the U.S. had regarded him as the logical choice once Eriksson’s team started sputtering, going 0-4-1 in its last five World Cup qualifying games on the road.
A former national team midfielder, Aguirre, 50, has extensive coaching experience in Mexico and Spain. He has had charge of Mexican clubs Atlante and Pachuca and Spanish teams Osasuna and, most recently, Atletico Madrid.
Under Aguirre’s guidance, Atletico Madrid qualified for the UEFA Cup in 2007 and for the European Champions League in 2008. A string of bad results in 2009 led to his dismissal in early February.
Ever since then, Aguirre has been, in effect, Mexico’s coach-in-waiting. He denied having an interest in the job, giving his support to Eriksson, but most observers realized he was simply awaiting his chance.
Mexico has picked up only three points out of a possible nine in the final round of qualifying for South Africa, going 1-2-0, but it has two relatively easy games, at El Salvador and at home against Trinidad and Tobago coming up in June.
After that comes a more intriguing encounter against the U.S. on Aug. 12 in Mexico City, when Aguirre will have the chance to avenge, at least in part, the World Cup loss in 2002 that cost him his job.
He was 17-6-4 in his first stint as Mexico’s coach, also taking the team to the final of the Copa America in 2001.
During his playing days, the Mexico City-born Aguirre appeared for Club America, Atlante and Guadalajara in Mexico, as well as for Osasuna in Spain and for the Los Angeles Aztecs of the defunct North American Soccer League.
Meanwhile, Eriksson’s agent said Friday that the Swedish coach probably would seek a return to the English Premier League, where he coached Manchester City before coming to Mexico last June. Also, Mexico’s El Universal newspaper reported his dismissal would cost the Mexican soccer federation $3.5 million.
After being let go, Eriksson was quoted as saying “I am frustrated by the results. I believed that I was the perfect man to guide Mexico to the World Cup.”
Now, Aguirre has that opportunity.
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