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Serious Issues Affecting Mexico's Progress
Jose E. Morales laments the state of Mexican soccer, pointing out key issues that seem to be hindering the development of El Tri, Mexico's beloved national team.
Jan 5, 2009 3:23:16 AM
For quite some time there has been something holding the Mexican National Team back. However, what most people don't know is that severe harm is being done far from the pitch. El Tri is being chained down by the very thing that is supposed to be fueling it - money.
The firing of Hugo Sanchez is one main thing that must be addressed. He could not have possibly been released simply because of results, because his record in official matches with the national team was good at 7 wins, 1 tie and 2 losses. Moreover, since the losses were to the US in Chicago and to Argentina in South America, those shouldn't be that big of a big deal.
Let's not forget the fact that under Hugo, Mexico beat Brazil 2-0 and absolutely smashed Paraguay 6-0 in the quarterfinals of Copa America on their way to obtain third place overall.
So why was Hugo fired? Because he failed to qualify Mexico to the Olympics?
The Mexican public really cares very little about the Olympics. That's not to mention how little the Mexican sports commissions ignore Olympic-type sports in general - with their meager funding to athletes and lackluster facilities - but that's a whole other can of worms.
Olympic soccer in Mexico is like a set of car keys. You care very little about them and even toss them on the couch, the floor, and what have you - until you lose them. All of a sudden, you have a problem and then you care very much. The Olympic loss for Mexico was not in the loss of sport or lack of growth, it was in the loss of millions of dollars lost in TV money.
As many know, Televisa and TV Azteca alone own several clubs and have huge TV contracts with even more Primera sides, thus they have an insane amount of influence on decisions made by the FMF(Mexican Futbol Federation). Hugo's supposed failure was a great pretext for the telecommunication giants to ask for his head to roll because of the amount of money they lost because of Mexico's absence in the Olympic tournament.
As a replacement, the FMF hired Sven Goran Eriksson. His hiring was perhaps the best move the FMF could have done, because it brought a lot of attention to Mexico and the hiring of someone of such high profile is a sign of Mexico's growth. Perhaps Eriksson would bring more net worth to Mexico than a lower profile manager like Jesus Ramirez, who won the under-17 world championship with Mexico.
Publicity is a great reason to hire a manager isn't it? Not to take anything away from Sven; he is a proven winner and should be able to do great things with Mexico, but the motive to hire him was the wrong one.
The most important futbol person in Mexico is the manager of the national team, he has over 100 million people on his shoulders. At the same time, we could say that the person with the least amount of support in Mexico is - wait for it - yes, the Mexican National Team Manager.
Clubs and club managers fail time and again to relinquish players that the gaffer requires for a national team side, claiming injuries, or that they need the player for Copa Libertadores, or for this, or for that. The amount of excuses from team administrators is staggering. The side that Mexico often ends up fielding is a second-class squad.
It is, however, a second-class squad that chargers first-class ticket prices in friendlies. Those friendlies that are about 90% played in the US against vastly inferior opponents. What Hugo did offer Mexico in his short time was a game played in Fulham, England against Ghana. It was a game that offered very little money to the federation in terms of gate receipts. Maybe that's part of why Hugo was sent packing.
When the FMF speaks about the possibility of Mexico's absence from World Cup 2010, they focus on the 250 some odd millions of dollars they would lose. The concern doesn't seem to be the severe setback in terms of the growth of the country's national team program.
Another crime being committed in Mexico was recently pointed out by the Chicago Fire's own Cuauhtemoc Blanco; He spoke out against Guillermo Lara and Carlos Hurtado, two very active promoters of talent in Mexico, who have been doing misdealings for years. Blanco attributed part of Mexico's lack of growth to them.
Lara and Hurtado take young men from anywhere in North, Central or South America for very little money. Let's say, for example, $300,000 and then they sell them to clubs in Mexico for about 3M USD on average. They are friends with a lot of First Division managers as wells as many in the lower divisions. They ask for favors to have their own players played to exhibit their talent and raise their value. The managers are paid for this of course, and in some cases when a manager is out of work, he still receives a paycheck from the promoters until he finds a new team in order to maintain their relationship.
This is absolutely disgraceful, as Blanco pointed out. He went so far as to call them a "cancer" in Mexican futbol and that nobody seems to do anything about it.
I would love to close out this article by saying that things are turning around in Mexican soccer and getting better, but they are not. At times it seems that things are in fact getting worse. Greedy hands and deep pockets drive a lot of things at the FMF. As Mexico grows in futbol, so does the greed. A little success will only increase and perpetuate the problem. The FMF loves to take one step forward and three steps back.
Out of frustration and seeing no light at the end of the tunnel that Mexican soccer has entered, I will leave off with a Kurt Vonnegut Jr. quote, "So it goes. . ."
Jose E. Morales is an occasional contributor to Goal.com.
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