‘Are they Mexicans? Are they footballers’
Aguirre’s first roster, like Lozano’s last, blended youth with experience while omitting the goalkeeping legend Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa (who then completed a move to Portuguese top-tier club AVS to “keep up the idea of making the Mexico national team in my hopes and to play” in a sixth World Cup), incoming San Diego FC winger Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, 33-goal striker Raul Jimenez, and Houston Dynamo talisman Hector Herrera.
All but Lozano are past 30, considerably so, but Aguirre says he’s not eliminating anyone from consideration. If you’re playing, you could be called in.
“Are they Mexican? Are they footballers? Well, they’re in all of our orbits,” Aguirre said in his initial media appearance after taking the assignment. “There are parameters, obviously. There’s an idea, we try to follow it, but we’re also interested in good footballers and Mexicans who are proud to be in the national team.”
Mexico’s Cesar “Chino” Huerta (right) battles with Canada’s Richie Laryea during a 0-0 friendly tie Sept. 10 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo: Brian McLean/ZUMA Press Wire via ISI Photos)
The grit and fight he wants to require, if not so much the style and precision, was certainly present in his first two games. El Tri came out aggressively Saturday night against New Zealand, no surprise, were ahead just five minutes in, and their workmanlike performance evolved into something more once 23-year-old Pumas UNAM winger Cesar “Chino” Huerta came on early in the second half.
They struggled to find space or conquer Canada’s counterpress until after the break three days later and responded physically, disrupting their foe with 24 fouls (the Canadians committed 18) while shutting off access to its goal but for one occasion, a Cyle Larin header near the end of the first half that Club America’s Angel Malagon dived to push aside.
“I really liked the attitude,” Aguirre said after the first game. “And even though it wasn’t our best game, the team searched. … They had a wonderful disposition and a great attitude.”
Mexico was better after halftime in both games. Huerta, who came on against New Zealand when Colombian-born Al Qadsiah winger Julian Quiñones tweaked a hamstring at the start of the second half, provided great energy, doubled Mexico’s advantage on his first touch, should have had a second a minute later, then started the sequence for Cruz Azul midfielder Luis Romo‘s strike three minutes after that. He was a constant threat, and was rewarded with a start against Canada.
El Tri was outclassed the first 45 in the second game, then took charge after the break and was unfortunate to tie. Santiago Gimenez, whose productivity with Feyenoord has not been approached internationally, should have done better with a one-on-one chance in the 54th minute — his goalless stretch with Mexico reached 14 games — Dayne St. Clair tipped Roberto Alvarado‘s blast over the crossbar in the 72nd, and Alphonso Davies got in the way of a Johan Vasquez shot in the 84th, the last two of these chances arriving from debris in the box.
The foundation for the roster in 2026 is in place, for good or ill, and Aguirre fielded veteran sides. He recalled three key players left off the Copa America list — Toluca left back Jesus Gallardo, who won his 99th cap against New Zealand; Cruz Azul midfielder Luis Romo, who fed the second and scored the third goals in that win, and America striker Henry Martin, who came off the bench in both games — and used an experienced midfield group in a 4-2-3-1 formation designed to provide a stronger core. Veterans got the call in midfield: Orbelin Pineda, who scored the fifth-minute opener and assisted on Romo’s strike, and Guadalajara winger Robert Alvarado started both games, and Luis Chavez might have but limped off with an injury before the first night was done.
Aguirre’s long-term goal, to supplement these vets with new talent, comes with an eye on 2030, when Marquez is expected to be running the team.
“We’re looking for players who get a lot of minutes with their clubs, and I think that’s really great for looking for young blood in the national team …,” said Aguirre, who gave Guadalajara goalkeeper Raul Rangel his second cap in the opener, Monterrey center back Victor Guzman his fifth against Canada, and Pumas UNAM Erik Lira his fifth and sixth, with a start in game two. “We need to look [for eligible players elsewhere], and that way we’re coming in strong for the World Cup in 2026, and in 2030 we’re also coming in strong with a fresh group of players.”
Several young Mexican players are in Europe — 23-year-old LA Galaxy product Julian Araujo, who left Barcelona for Bournemouth, started against Canada, and eyes are on Athletic Bilbao backup goalkeeper Alex Padilla and FC Copenhagen Rodrigo Huescas, both 20 — and the prospect that 17-year-old Mexico City-born Brazilian phenom Matheus Reis, called up by the U-18s, might suit up for El Tri certainly is enticing.
Aguirre called thrice-capped UANL Tigres attacker Marcelo Flores, who developed in England, an “interesting” player but didn’t use him in these games. His eyes are open for others.
“We have to find the 23 best players for Mexico in these next two years,” he said. “No one has their doors closed from my national team.”
‘You can never say no to your country’
Duilio Davino, the Mexican federation’s sporting director, played for Aguirre during a stretch of his time with the national team and as Monterrey’s director hired him as coach three years ago. This was an easy hire.
“He is a Javier Aguirre with much more learning, more games, more victories, more failures, and that, without a doubt, makes him a better coach,” Davino told Los Angeles Times en Español. “He is a Javier Aguirre who, due to his age, has a coaching staff that listens more and can delegate and can make better decisions.”
Said Gallardo, to TUDN: “We know what [Aguirre] represents for the national team and for the entire career he has had here in Mexico and in Europe. … And we know [Marquez] on and off the field. He was a great player, is a great coach … and we have to take all the experience he has and learn a lot from them.”
Aguirre jumped at the chance.
“You can never say no to your country …,” he said in Pasadena. “I feel very privileged for the country to call me back. It gives me a lot of pride, and it’s very exciting. It’s like the first time, you come in a little tense and you hear all the fans at trainings and the players. The day I lose that [feeling], I think it’s the last day.”
Now he faces work dissimilar when he took the reins in 2001 and 2009. Mexico was fifth in the Concacaf Hexagonal the first time, and he guided it to second and, the high point, into the Copa America title game. El Tri had lost two of their first three qualifiers the second time, but he steered it comfortably through the process, won a Gold Cup title and beat the USA outside of Mexico for the first time in a decade.
Both ended in the World Cup round of 16, just short of the quarterfinal berth everyone so desperately desires. Mexico has gone that far just twice, in 1970 and 1986, when it played at home. Now the tournament returns, and the path isn’t so well-defined nor simple. The list of potential foes is limited by the Nations League’s increased presence within international windows, meaning another Concacaf opponent, some of them far beneath Mexico’s level, rather than a strong European or South American encounter.
“This is different than the last two times,” Aguirre said. “There isn’t the necessity to come in and start winning, but just because we don’t need to win doesn’t mean we’re not going to give our best to do so. This [roster] is a more mature version of the team, and it’s not about bringing in random players and ‘we have to win, and that’s it.’
“No, we have time to prepare. It’s not easy because of the FIFA fates, but I think this is the right time for me to come into this national team. We have time.”
“We’re trying our best to cover up holes that are in our game,” Aguirre said, “but as of right now, we’re coming into the World Cup, and this is a great project. …
“Things are being done correctly. This is a great moment.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-11 14:21:00
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