Mexico national team needs Mexican in charge, says Miguel Herrera

A few days before 2022 goes down in history, the technical director Miguel Herrera was invited to reflect on the year with our team at AS México. One of his main arguments, with no feeling of nationalism behind it, was to urge the directors of the national team to think carefully before putting a foreigner in charge.

Herrera on Mexico

“It is not about searching for the sake of searching, nor about any foreign name having to be foreign,” Herrera said. “I think that first the national market would have to be seen and reviewed.

“Suddenly there is talk of the coach from Saudi Arabia, especially following the [World Cup] victory over Argentina, but unfortunately it had got as far as that. They talk about [Mauricio] Pochettino and well, he’s fine, but he’s Argentine and nothing has happened with him either.”

World Cup successes

Herrera went further and pointed to international teams of the past.

“First, before thinking abroad, we should review the statistics and see that no team in history has been world champion with a foreign coach at the helm. The numbers say so, so that as long as it is possible, we will have to continue betting on the Mexican technicians.”

Asked whether the poor showing from Mexico in Qatar would have a negative impact on the domestic game, Herrera was dismissive.

“Well, everyone said the same when before we went to Brazil in 2014, because of everything that had happened where Mexico had to play the playoffs to go to the World Cup, but in the end nothing happened, the Liga MX continued to be strong. The truth is that each team must take responsibility for progression and not leave everything to the national team.”

And in terms of potential improvements...

“I think that what needs to be reviewed and requires a priority is promotion and relegation, the other thing is competition.”