Raúl Jiménez surprised by Diego Cocca’s dismissal as Mexico head coach

The drubbing against the United States in the Nations League triggered the departure of Diego Cocca just four months after taking over the Mexican national team. Speaking about the dismissal, forward Raúl Jiménez said that there was a lack of patience shown towards the Argentinian.

In an interview with TUDN, Jiménez said: “It’s a bit of a surprise for everyone. I think a bit of patience was needed. It’s not always just the coach’s fault, but well, those are the decisions that are made. Now I want to support the current coach, Jimmy, and wish him, his coaching staff and the players all the success in this Gold Cup. Hopefully, it is a very good Gold Cup and it goes very well for them,” he said.

Speaking about Lozano, who took over as interim coach for the Gold Cup, the Wolves player expressed his full support for the coach and believes he has all the tools to make El Tri successful in the CONCACAF tournament, which kicks off on 25 June against Honduras.

“I’ve never had him (Lozano) as a coach, but he has done very well with the national team, in the teams he has been in and he came third at the Olympics in Tokyo. I think he’s on the right track. He’s doing very well and there’s a reason he was named interim,” he added.

Jiménez surgery

Surgery will prevent Jiménez from playing at the Gold Cup and in the middle of the recovery process after his operation, the striker revealed how he experienced the last few months with Wolves.

“When I wasn’t playing in the team I said I could take advantage of the time [out of the side] for surgery as the coach was not using me. I told him, ‘I’m not playing’, but the club asked me to wait as they wanted me to play.

“I finished the last few games but the pain came back a little later, during a week I had off between the tournament and the friendly matches (with Mexico). I knew I wasn’t going to the Gold Cup and, well, that’s when I decided to have the surgery,” he concluded.