By: Jonny Rico
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Mexico hired a brand new manager in Juan Carlos Osorio, the team was not struggling on the field though. Mexico had just won the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup. But the then manager Miguel Herrera ended up in a physical altercation with a TV commentator that costed him his job. El Tri then went on to defeat the United States in the CONCACAF Cup, a playoff match for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup ticket under the direction of interim manager Ricardo Ferretti. Things on field were as best as they had been in a long time for Mexico.
The new year brought new hope. Mexico could participate in the 2016 Copa America Centenario. The stars were aligned, Mexico had its best ever opportunity to finally win a Copa America. Since 1993 Mexico has been invited to every single Copa America and it has come close to winning it but never gotten over the hump. El Tri has made the final twice and finished in third place another three times.
One hundred years after the first ever Copa America, Mexico seemed like it could become the first non-South American team to win the competition. After several Copa America editions in which Mexico has been forced to send reserve and/or youth squads due to CONCACAF Gold Cup obligations, El Tri was finally able to call up a full strength squad. Mexico had its best players in the best form of their careers. Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez finally found a club where he got regular minutes and scored regulatory. FC Porto trio Miguel Layun, Hector Herrera and Jesus ‘Tecatito’ Corona all brought their great momentum, Andres Guardado and Hector Moreno had the confidence of a league title with PSV under them. And last but not least, Mexico had something it had sought for years and had been denied; it had home-field advantage. Technically the United States were the hosts but Mexico were the home team all tournament long.
The only thing that could stop Mexico was Mexico itself and it did just that.
“I am very ashamed,” said Mexican National Team manager Juan Carlos Osorio in his post-game news conference after Mexico lost 7-0 against Chile in the quarterfinals of the tournaments. “I take full responsibility.
“I committed mistakes in all parts of the field. This completely my fault. We tried to play toe-to-toe against them in the midfield and completely lost that battle. I’d like to apologize to all of the Mexican soccer fans and the Mexican people as a whole.”
He came in with the intention of revolutionizing Mexican soccer. Osorio conducted experiment after experiment in all of his games in charge of the Mexican National Team, including official World Cup Qualification matches. Despite already having on-field success under the previous two coahces, Osorio felt the need to change everything. But the lack of clarity in Mexico’s game plan of Mexico did not stop them from racking up the wins. Osorio went through nine perfect games before picking up a 1-1 draw against Venezuela in the final group stage match of the Copa America Centenario.
A great part of the big winning streak for Osorio came against weaker teams in the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers and friendly matches in the United States. Serious doubt was still on Osiorio’s team heading into the Copa America which symbolized his first real test; a test which was overwhelmingly failed.
Mexico had the talent in the squad plus the off-field conditions to make a run at the title and instead it was humiliated in the quarterfinals and sent home a week early.
Osorio’s experiments continued well into the Copa America. He never (or has yet) found a clear starting eleven. One only needs to look at his selection of goalkeepers to realize that he has no set plan for the Mexican National Team. Out of the three shot-stoppers, none of them played two consecutive games during the Copa America. Alfredo Talavera kicked off the competition against Uruguay, Guillermo Ochoa played in the second match against Jamaica, Jesus Corona saw the action against Venezuela and in what would be the final match, Ochoa became the only one to play in multiple matches.
The experiments went beyond the goalkeeping position. The defensive back-line would vary from a back three or a back four and the names in both setups changed over and over again.
Osorio hopped that the changes and experiments would produce magic for Mexico and lead the team to glory. But in the end all that the mad scientist was able to accomplish was to blow up the lab in a humiliating 7-0 loss.
Copa America
