Javier Aguirre re-takes the reins of the Mexican coaching job. He was the coach of the 2002 World Cup team and replaces the fired Sven Goran Eriksson.
He has the difficult task of instilling confidence in a badly underperforming national team. Mexico lost to arch rivals US and more recently, Honduras thumped them. This has led to a lot of soul searching including figuring out shortcomings within the youth system which has led to the drying up of talented players in the men’s squad. To the plug the achievement gap, foreign born players have been included in the roster, a controversial and divisive decision. These systemic problems do not solve the more immediate need to qualify for the World Cup.
For the record Aguirre also coached the Mexican team that lost to 0-2 to the USA in the round of 16 in the 2002 World Cup. He is also only the second Mexican coach to record a win against the US since 2000. This was a 1-0 win through a Jared Borgetti goal on July 2001at Stadium Azteca in a World Cup qualifier.