Photo Credit: Pumas UNAM
By Steve Graff
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Mexican football continues to be at a controversial state. While Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez, Jesus ‘Tecatito’ Corona, Miguel Layun, Andres Guardado and others have found their form and place in some of Europe’s biggest clubs; the game at home continues to show signs of significant weakness. These weaknesses showed themselves both in international youth tournaments, intercontinental club tournaments, including the Club World Cup and the FIFA U-20 and U-17 World Cups but most noticeably in the domestic LIGA MX.
Two different sets of criticisms have been made from within Mexico. One side of the criticism has attacked Mexican football culture as neither strong nor deep and attacked the mentality of the Mexican players, managers, and teams. The other set of criticism, led by Pachuca president Andres Fassi, is that teams are too willing to bring in foreign players and few young players are given an opportunity. These criticisms claim that other team’s youth systems are not producing enough players for the first team.
Last week, Pumas UNAM midfielder Daniel Ludueña and Club Queretaro manager Victor Manuel Vucetich inserted themselves into the debate. Ludueña, an Argentine born / Mexican naturalized citizen, explained at his press conference:
“Mexican players are conformist, has two pesos in his pocket, a car, and already feels that he has everything. [Mexican players] lack ambition, and so many prefer to stay in the league and to not [go abroad].”
When asked about whether the foreigners were the problem, Ludueña, who has played 11 years in Mexico, explained that foreigners were not the problem.
“We are not the problem,” he added, “the youth systems are failing to produce [the Mexican] players.”
These comments on Mexican players are not new. Current Chiapas FC manager Ricardo La Volpe had famously stated that “taxicab drivers [in Argentina]know more about football than anyone in Mexico.”
The Club Queretaro manager Victor Manuel Vucetich rebutted Ludueña’s comments.
“The decision makers are the managers. We play with the rules [that are in place],” he explained. “I work with the youth system often, but there are other aspects that I have to care to, such the [required]results. There is much talk of sending players abroad, but we must realize something specific in a meeting to review the game. ”
Vucetich went on to address the subjects of players in the youth system, saying that players were well-prepared for first division play. He also addressed ‘Hachita’ Ludueña directly, saying:
“I’m sure Ludueña says he sees some aspects, but we can not throw ourselves against [what is here now]because it works in Mexican football.”
Mexico is a country with a population of approximately 117 million people, and approximately 21 million children under the age of 9. Improving the ability of all of those children will ensure that coaches at the youth systems, even at clubs that may be in lower tiers of Mexican soccer right now would allow Mexico to make the leap from a nation with a few really good players, to a consistent producer of lots of world class players.
It would not only enable Mexico to regularly compete for World Cup championships, but it would also allow two other things. First, it would not need to rely on expats (American players of Mexican descent) or naturalized foreigners to form the basis of the national team. Second, it could mean Mexican players would have more opportunities abroad because others would start to see the value of Mexican players (and not just a few coaches or agents).
But in order to do so, there has to be a cultural component to reach the masses of Mexicans in what they need to do, or what the kids need to do. Tom Byer, a development expert whose methods and expertise have helped turned Japan into a footballing power over the last two decades, had some of the greatest effects presenting his material in anime and manga comics that were widely distributed and lots of children tuned into. It would also provide a forum for children to work on skills away from structured (or street) football, and provide a greater cultural capital for football skill.
Mexican football is also starting on a much higher level and implementing these changes than Japan was. So, something that may help Mexico improve would be more futsal courts, or to simply spread futsal and get more people playing in the game (even on outdoor courts). And so, more players learning to control the ball on futsal courts (or on hard surfaces) would contribute to the players’ skill levels improving.
