Meza quits Veracruz amid record winless streak

Enrique Meza resigned as coach of Veracruz a 5-0 home loss to Queretaro on Aug. 27. (Photo by Refugio Ruiz/Getty Images)
Enrique Meza resigned as coach of Veracruz a 5-0 home loss to Queretaro on Aug. 27. (Photo by Refugio Ruiz/Getty Images)

The Tiburones are the third Liga MX team to experience a coaching chance during the Apertura 2019.

Another game, another embarrassment for Los Tiburones Rojos of Veracruz. The Tiburones lost 5-0 to Queretaro on Tuesday night, falling to 0-1-5 on the season. With the setback, Veracruz set a new world record in soccer futility, having gone 33 league games without a win. As might be expected, the Tiburones are last in our Power Rankings.

Veracruz last won on Aug. 25, 2018, beating Tijuana 1-0. Since then, it has been a long nightmare and, to be honest, a terrible embarrassment for Liga MX. The Tiburones are perpetually battling relegation and owner Fidel Kuri paid a 120 million-peso buy-in fee to the league in order to remain in first division.

After Tuesday’s game, coach Enrique “Ojitos” Meza submitted his resignation and Veracruz management has begun a desperate search, hoping to find a miracle-worker, no doubt.

Following the firings of Jose Luis Sanchez Sola (Puebla) and Javier Torrente (Morelia) after Matchday 5, Meza is the third coach to leave his job. Veracruz is in last place with 1 point and a dismal -16 goal differential (5 goals scored, 21 goals allowed). Meza was in charge of the Tiburones for less than three months.

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Veracruz has now gone through six coaches during their year of futility. The last Veracruz coach to win a game was Guillermo Vázquez (now the coach for Necaxa), but he quit the team, claiming that he was owed several weeks back-pay.

The Tiburones coaches that have come and gone without a win over the past year are Hugo Chavez, Juvenal Olmos, Robert Dante Siboldi, Jose Luis Gonzalez China and finally Meza.

The last win for the Tiburones was a 1-0 victory over Tijuana on Aug. 25, 2018. Since then, the club has gone a dismal 0-10-23. The previous record for longest winless streaks in world soccer  (32) was held by England’s Derby County, set during the 2007-2008 Premier League season.