Fansided

Liga MX reaches Final Four: Meet the coaches

By Thomas Buckley

Monterrey coach Antonio Mohamed shouts instructions to his team during the Rayados' 5-2 win over No. 1 seed Santos in the quarterfinals. (Photo by Alfredo Lopez/Jam Media/Getty Images)
Monterrey coach Antonio Mohamed shouts instructions to his team during the Rayados' 5-2 win over No. 1 seed Santos in the quarterfinals. (Photo by Alfredo Lopez/Jam Media/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 3
Next
Liga MX Final Four coaches
Miguel Herrera (left) and Guillermo Vasquez greet each other before the América-Necaxa match at Estadio Azteca during the Clausura 2019 season. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images) /

Veteran coaches played together

América coach Miguel Herrera and Necaxa manager “Memo” Vázquez are old friends. In fact, “El Piojo” and “Memo” were teammates on the same Toros Neza team that Antonio Mohamed led to a Finals appearance 22 years ago.

Herrera is the most accomplished coach in the Apertura 2019 Liguilla. As mentioned above, he has won two league titles as well as two Cups, but he also led Team Mexico to the 2014 World Cup and won the 2015 Gold Cup while in charge of El Tri.

This season, Herrera has been under fire and understands that he could lose his job if he doesn’t lead América to the championship. “El Piojo” has had to do a lot of mixing-and-matching since the Aguilas have been fighting the injury bug virtually all season long.

Herrera also has had to deal with self-inflicted wounds. He has been suspended three times this season, including a 3-game ban that was handed down after an offensive post-game rant following a Matchday 13 loss to Cruz Azul. The nature of his rant was such that many argued he should have been suspended for five games. Then, in his first game back on the sideline he was red-carded.

The high-strung “Piojo” was relatively calm during the Aguilas’ quarterfinal series against the Tigres and he’ll need to be on good behavior against Morelia in the semifinals because the refs will not put up with constant complaining.

As for Vázquez, he and Herrera met in the Apertura 2018 Final when “Memo” was coaching Cruz Azul. Now at Necaxa, Vázquez, 52, has gained the reputation of a coach who can help a team play above its ascribed talent level. The Rayos have qualified for the playoffs each of the past two seasons under “Memo” despite having a modest payroll.

Vázquez has the club playing a quick-strike offense that loves to attack off the counter. The Rayos are also capable of covering up their defensive shortcomings although “Memo” has been criticized for his flawed “prevent defense” tactics. His failures in that regard almost bit him in the quarterfinals when Querétaro nearly overturned a 3-0 deficit.

Home/Liga MX