The Challenges of European Coaches in Mexican Soccer

Mexican soccer is a receiver of all kinds of footballers, it's a sport that welcomes foreigners as one of its own, making them feel at home. This is something that is repeated in the field of coaches, where, as now with Paco Jémez, at least in the short tournaments, Liga Mx has hosted nine European coaches, including the former Granada coach. However, the disappointments with these coaches have been greater than the number of titles.

Now, Jémez will face perhaps the greatest challenge of his career; coaching Cruz Azul is not an easy task. For the first time, Paco will have enough human talent, at least on paper, to develop an offensive style of play, as he likes, that convinces his fans, wins games and ultimately, why not?, lifts the long-awaited league title. He will be running out of time.

Also, Jémez will have to face some ghosts of compatriots and colleagues born in the Old Continent, who arrived in Mexico in the past with a reputation as a solution for their teams and ended up as promises. Names like Leo Beenhakker, Juan Manuel Lillo or Pako Ayestarán were not enough to achieve the effectiveness they promised.

The most recent case was that of Ayestarán himself, who took over from Pedro Caixinha, another European strategist at Santos Laguna. In the middle of last year, and after coming close to promoting the now-defunct Tecos to the First Division in 2014, this coach, and former assistant to Rafa Benítez, with whom he won a Champions League and a couple of leagues in Spain, took charge of the Guerreros, but after a little over three months in the job, he left Torreón due to a lack of adaptation and poor results. He had twelve matches, three wins, five draws, and four losses.

Prior to Pako, precisely the one who replaced him at Santos, was Pedro Caixinha, the most successful European coach in the national soccer league for short tournaments. The Portuguese left Laguna for unknown reasons, although there are speculations of a split with the board, but he left as a champion, after winning the league title in the Clausura 2015, in addition to a runner-up in the Concacaf, a Copa Mx, and a Champion of Champions. His strong character gave him personality in the national environment.

Chivas, likewise, bet on a shepherd from the Old Continent. At the beginning of the last decade, Hans Westerhof arrived in Guadalajara and came close to winning the Clausura 2004 title, which he lost to Pumas; he had a second and brief period in 2006. More recently, and recommended by Johan Cruyff, John Van't Schip led the reins of the Rebaño for one semester, between 2012 and 2013, but also left the institution amidst disappointments and bitter moments.

Previously, it was the Spaniards who occupied the benches of the national soccer. The management of Dorados trusted Juan Manuel Lillo, just over 10 years ago, to establish them in the top league, but not even with Guardiola on the field, they managed to stay. In 2005, the experienced Xabier Azkargorta arrived at Chivas. One season later, with only eleven points out of 36 possible, the board terminated his contract; Benito Floro achieved an offensive version of Monterrey, but without a title to his name, and almost at the same time, Josemari Bakero made his debut as a strategist in Puebla, without any success.

The multi-award-winning Leo Beenhakker returned to América in 2003, longing for the old times when, in the mid-90s, the Dutchman and an excellent group of national and foreign players formed a front that frightened anyone; things were very different. He failed in his only Liguilla against Toluca, and is remembered for the scandal in the Copa Libertadores, where the Azulcrema fans entered the Azteca stadium after a fight with Sao Caetano.

But not everything has been negative. In the old long tournaments, several European coaches became immortal in the collective memory, due to the visual style of their teams and the trophies they added to their clubs' showcases. Pumas owes its championships in the 1976-77 and 1980-81 seasons to Jorge Marik (Hungary) and Bora Milutinovic (Yugoslavia); while Arpad Fekete (Hungary) was part of Chivas' Campeonísimo team, with two titles, in the 1958-59 and 1950-60 campaigns.