Mexico could emerge from its coaching search with an attractive candidate, if the latest rumors are true.
Amid much hand-wringing and criticism from the peanut gallery to comprises the national soccer media, Mexican Soccer Federation officials have been recruiting a manager to succeed Juan Carlos Osorio who led El Tri to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Today, Gerardo “Tata” Martino is being touted as the next coach for Team Mexico. Azteca Deportes broke the story overnight and other media have followed up with their own reports.
Martino is currently the head coach of Atlanta United FC and the report suggests the 55-year-old Argentine would join Mexico once his team’s MLS playoff run is over. Atlanta finished the regular season as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and the club’s next game is Sunday vs Chicago.
The former Barcelona coach has long been rumored as one of the favorites to take the head coaching position and his potential signing has been a talking point at El Tri’s training camp.
Last week, forward “Chucky” Lozano said he would be thrilled if “Tata” took over as manager. “I think he is a great coach,” he told Spanish sport newspaper Marca. “I hope he comes; he’d be the best option for the team.”
Lozano’s PSV Eindhoven teammate Erick Gutiérrez also likes the idea of Martino taking the reins.
In late September, U.S. media was rife with speculation that Martino would become Mexico’s next coach.
Martino – a native of Rosario, Argentina (the same home town as Leo Messi) – is a disciple of Marcelo Bielsa for whom he played at Newell’s Old Boys in the early 1990s. Bielsa – a well-respected coach who was also on Mexico’s search list – has backed Martino for the Mexico job.
Martino started his coaching career modestly in 1998 with Brown de Arrecifes, a lower-division soccer club in the province of Buenos Aires. He later moved to Paraguay where he coached national power Cerro Porteño. From there, Martino moved to Argentine club Colón then back to Paraguay to direct Libertad.
When the Paraguayan Soccer Federation came calling in 2007, Martino accepted and he led the national team from 2007-2011, leaving the post after Paraguay finished second in the 2011 Copa América.
He coached for a year at Newell’s Old Boys before spending a year on the bench at Barcelona where he led the Cules to a Spanish Super Cup title. After that, Martino took the Argentina job, coaching Leonel Messi et al from 2014 to 2016, leading the team to the Copa América final in both 2015 and 2016 where they lost to Chile both times.
Martino took over as head coach of Atlanta United in 2017, their first season in existence and the club became only the third MLS expansion team to make the playoffs in their inaugural season.
Coach Ricardo Ferretti is presently Mexico’s interim coach and he has been in charge of El Tri in the three games since the World Cup with a fourth game set for Tuesday night. Mexico lost to Uruguay 4-1, lost to Team USA 1-0 and defeated Costa Rica 3-2 under Ferretti.