MEXICAN NATIONAL TEAM
Hugo Sánchez claims that he would win the World Cup as Mexico manager
The ‘Pentapichichi’ said he was ready to take control of the Mexican football team and the appointment of Diego Cocca annoyed him.
Once again, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) decided to put their faith in a foreign coach to take over the national team for this new pre-World Cup phase after the failure of Gerardo Martino. Diego Cocca started his tenure on the right foot with a 2-0 win over Suriname on matchday 5 of the Concacaf Nations League.
But the boos came in his second game in charge of Mexico at the Azteca stadium after the 2-2 draw against Jamaica last weekend. The Argentine coach has not started how everyone wanted and criticism did not take long to bubble under the surface from fans and various media outlets after witnessing the team’s performance during the two games.
Hugo Sánchez speaks out against the FMF’s decisions
Among the critics sits Hugo Sánchez. During an interview with La Opinión, he said he was upset with the people at the top of Mexican football for appointing a foreign coach again. The ‘Pentapichichi’ also claimed he was ready to lead the team and go further than the fifth game, as long as the FMF fulfils one condition:
“A Mexican should be in that position and that is why I am disappointed, with the fact that those at the top are not making the correct decisions for the improvement and growth of Mexican football and that makes me uncomfortable.
Hugo Sánchez says he feels he ‘could do a job’
“It bothers me that they’re not taking advantage of myself”, he continued, “because I’m getting older and in the future they’ll turn round and say ‘hey, we never gave Hugo Sánchez a chance to go to a World Cup, right?’ So now that there are no qualifying matches It is a good moment, because I feel that I could do the job; At the time I did it in 2007 when I was in the national team”.
Sánchez went on: “We can be world champions, but we need three World Cup processes. If they allow me three World Cup processes, I promise that we can be world champions, but the owners and managers of Mexican football don’t see it that way. ‘Do you know why we won’t be world champions? Because you don’t believe it. I do believe it, but I’m saying that 3 World Cup periods are needed’”, added Hugo Sánchez.
‘Instead of having someone foreign you might as well get someone Mexican’
Hugo Sánchez strongly believes that a foreign coach cannot take the Mexican team to the next level. To reinforce his words and thoughts, the ‘Pentapichichi’ recalled that historically, no team has been able to win the World Cup with a foreign manager in charge.
“Now we have had, I don’t know if it’s 4 or 5 managers who are not Mexican and we have not achieved anything important, we are in the same place. So, instead of having someone foreign you might as well get someone Mexican; you have to use our own people. Statistically speaking, I don’t know of any world champion team, to date, with a foreign manager. All the countries that have won the World Cup have done so with coaches from that country: we must follow that line”, Sánchez said.