Gerardo Martino is criticized upon arrival in Mexico City

The Mexican national team failed to qualify to the knockout stages for the first time since 1978 and everyone is blaming former head coach Gerardo Martino for their performance at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. El Tri arrived in Mexico on Sunday morning and fans were waiting for them at the airport to express their discontent with the results during the group stage.

Martino, the one to blame

It shocked many that Martino didn’t wait for security to escort him out and he walked alongside the rest of the players to the exit the gate. This information was confirmed by AS Mexico and fans were yelling at him for the poor decisions he made at the tournament and for not calling up players that were in better form like Javier Chicharito Hernández or Santi Giménez.

“You held on to Rogelio Funes Mori instead of calling up Chicharito,” yelled a discontented fan at Martino. “You only came for a paycheck,” said another Mexican fan. The Mexican Soccer Federation was submitting paperwork to get security to escort Martino to avoid any type of aggression toward him, but the former boss didn’t want to wait any longer.

Martino took over the Mexico job in March 2019 and managed 66 games across all competitions. The 60-year-old boss had a positive record under his tenure with 40 wins, 14 draws, and 12 defeats, but in the last two years in charge, the team lost the 2021 Gold Cup final, 2021 CONCACAF Nations League final against the United States and failed to qualify to the Round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup.

“I will leave my analysis with the Soccer Federation if they ask for it,” said Martino after the last game of the group stage against Saudi Arabia. “I want to thank the president and the people in charge because I have been in constant communication with them during my time here [Mexico].” Martino will not continue as Mexico’s head coach and a new manager should be appointed early next year.