Mexico National Team Coach Jaime Lozano during the Gold Cup Final. Shaun Clark/ISI Photos (Getty Images)
The reason was entered through the window of the Mexican Football Federation. The institution has officially, albeit not personally, named Jaime Lozano as the coach who will lead the 2026 cycle at a World Cup to be held in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Managers break an eight-year streak without a Mexican strategist to hand control to a coach who knew how to regroup players at one of his worst moments at the lowest point in his history.
Lozano, 44, won the federation’s lead based on his results. In 2021, he completed his cycle as a youth team strategist with a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. At the beginning of the summer, after the sudden dismissal of Diego Cocca, who could only play seven games, he was offered to suddenly take charge of the absolute team. Cocca’s arrival further split a group of players led by Tata Martino who were eliminated from the group stage of the World Cup. As performance and morale faltered, El Tri underwent a metamorphosis with a reorganization among the federations that included the creation of the post of chief commissioner. Juan Carlos Rodríguez, a former Televisa employee, fired Cocca in his first decision, acknowledging the erratic decision.
Rodríguez approached Lozano and asked him to lead the team that would compete and win the Gold Cup, the premier tournament in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Lozano accepted, although he was only told he would be a replacement. They didn’t guarantee the position. The footballer forged at UNAM set out to fix the team. Did. He won the tournament and conceded players, managers, sponsors and fans.
“We wanted to give a Mexican coach confidence. It’s time to acknowledge that there are technicians in Mexico who have prepared and who deserve a chance to lead our team. “We believe that the best option for the group at the moment we are in is a national team coach who knows our football inside out and best connects it to our environment,” said Ivar Sisniega, executive president of the federation Opinion video. .
There hasn’t been a Mexican coach since 2015, when Miguel Piojo Herrera was still in charge. After Herrera came Colombian Juan Carlos Osorio, who tried to start a revolution and helped him surprise the world by beating Germany (0-1) at the World Cup. Then came Martino, who squandered the move in Mexico by losing the lead in the Concacaf against USA and Canada and falling mercilessly in Qatar, a feat not seen in 40 years. In Liga MX, only four of the 18 clubs are managed by a Mexican technical director. History and data have something to add: however, no Mexican coach has managed to lead his country to glory, only to the brink of the World Cup quarter-finals.
Mexican fans insist on seeing the reflection of Lionel Scaloni in Jaime Lozano. The Argentina coach was also a backup coach before taking command of the Albiceleste side. They respected his trial and youth. The best results were winning a Copa America and the World Cup. Lozano will face the challenge of staying in charge until 2026 in a process that will see no knockout matches, only friendlies. Having organized three World Cups (1970, 1986 and 2026), Mexico will go down in history as the favorite host of the World Cup, and want to cause the big surprise at the last World Cup.
Subscribe here Subscribe to the EL PAÍS México newsletter and receive all the important information about current events in this country