Ignacio Ambriz: “I don’t see any respect for Mexico”
The Toluca coach assured that he is willing to lend his services to Mexico’s national team as an assistant.
Despite recent results (a win against Suriname and a draw against Jamaica), Mexico has faced heavy criticism with fans demonstrating their unease with the new project headed by Diego Martín Cocca. Ignacio Ambriz was one of the candidates to take the national team coaching post and had good results during a brief stint as Javier Aguirre’s assistant with the Tricolor when he was starting out in his managerial career.
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In an interview for TUDN, the 58-year-old Mexican coach assured that he was willing to offer his services to the national team as an assistant again - adding that he would do it as a way of a thank you for everything that football has given him. Nacho went on to add that he does not feel that the national team, the players and coaching staff, get the kind of respect they deserve.
“I’m going to step on a few toes here but I don’t care. I don’t see any kind of respect for the national team. We had two coaches who taught us to respect it, to feel passion and they taught me that we were generators of joy and sadness for the people, for the entire nation. Once you get that idea into your head and in your heart, you have to go out and give everything, your heart and soul,” the coach said.
“I see people who say things like: ‘I’m not going, I’m not interested’. When I hear people says that ‘it’s not that that people criticize us, it’s that they don’t support us’ I say the same thing - if you’re on the inside, you don’t broadcast to the outside. People are tired of seeing people who don’t give their heart and soul for the national team,” he continued.
To end, Ambriz revealed that he had to overcome serious personal problems and football helped him to pull through. “I won’t lower myself (to be an assistant), it’s not for me. I just want to help by doing something for a sport that has given me everything, I had alcohol and drug problems, soccer got me out of everything,” he added.
Mexico advanced to the next round of the CONCACAF Nations League, after drawing against Jamaica (2-2) and beating Suriname (0-2). In June, the Tricolor will face the ultimate test, taking on the United States in the semi-finals.