Marcelo Bielsa, Argentine coach.
Photo: OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images
The month of February will be decisive for the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) to finish choosing and giving command of the National Team to one of the options it has in front, either Miguel ‘Piojo’ Herrera or Guillermo Almada, but there is still a name that haunts the bench of El Tri and it is that of Marcelo Bielsaan ‘old temptation’ for managers.
‘Loco’ Bielsa, always eccentric in his ways and demands to accept a coaching position, is the most difficult of all candidates. In response to the difficult ESPN Futbol Picante table, the president of the FMF, Yon de Luisa, revealed that there have been approaches by the Argentine strategist.
“Yes there was an approach”, responded the manager to David Faitelson’s question. De Luisa added that they have also spoken with other international candidates but the list has already been reduced.
“The opportunity is there and more if one of the club owners of the MX League contacted him (…) It is on the lists,” Yon added about Marcelo Bielsa’s option for the Mexican National Team bench.
But Yon de Luisa, beyond confirming names or advanced negotiations, let it be known what the FMF is looking for in terms of the profile of the new coach and the conditions that will be given to him to do his job well and avoid new failuresafter that of Tata Martino in the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
“What is important are the characteristics and conditions that are being sought so that the technician who comes has a positive cycle, in the short, medium and long term,” explained De Luisa.
Marcelo Bielsa, the coach Mexico needs?
From the past cycle of Gerardo Martino, the Mexican National Team can take positive aspects and another large number of negative edges: indiscipline, bad decisions, dominant groups, lack of cohesion, among others.
But with Marcelo Bielsa, much loved by players and managers alike for his charisma and career in football, would these problems end?
Already in the past the Loco Bielsa twice refused to take the Aztec helm because they did not meet their project requirements. The El Francotirador column even recently assured that the Argentine would seek to “refound Mexican soccer.”
Despite the admiration and affection they have for him in football, Bielsa has only lifted three titles in his entire career: two with Newells Old Boy from Argentina and one -very recent- with Leeds United from England, to the EFL Championship or English promotion.
As for countries, he led his country Argentina without much success from 1998 to 2004, going through the failure of the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup that the South Americans did not reach the round of 16.
With the Chilean National Team, Bielsa was able to lay the foundations of a team that played in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Then Jorge Sampaoli won the 2015 and 2016 Copa América, in addition to being able to play in the World Cup.
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