• Home
• /
• Football

De La Torre named new Mexico coach

MEXICO CITY - Jose Manuel De La Torre has been named as the new coach of Mexico’s national football team, less than five years after making his coaching debut.

De La Torre’s post was confirmed at a meeting of Mexican club owners Monday. His nomination was almost a formality after the only other contender, Victor Manuel Vucetich, dropped out of the race Saturday for personal reasons.

The 44-year-old, who will leave his job at Mexican club Toluca, began his coaching career in 2006 and has won three Mexican league titles.

The new coach was presented with a green Mexico cap and official white tracksuit jacket at the announcement.

“This is a dream I’ve had since I was a child,” he said.

De La Torre takes over from Javier Aguirre, who left after Mexico was eliminated in the second round of the World Cup. Two temporary coaches have overseen Mexico since then.

“It’s a dream to represent your country,” De La Torre said. “As I developed as a coach I kept feeding the same dream every day.”

De La Torre acknowledged his primary objective as Mexico coach will be to make sure the team qualifies for the 2014 World Cup, but he takes over amid a crisis in Mexican football.

In September, 11 players were handed fines and two others — Carlos Vela of Arsenal and Efrain Juarez of Celtic — were given six-month suspensions for holding an all-night party after an international friendly against Colombia.

The 11 fined players, upset at the punishments and angry the affair had been made public, threatened to boycott future matches unless national team director Nestor De La Torre — Jose Manuel’s brother — left his job.

The rebel players turned up for the subsequent match against Venezuela in October, but Nestor De La Torre resigned hours before the game, which ended 2-2.

Mexico has won just one of its last four matches.

Jose Manuel De La Torre acknowledged discipline would be important during his stewardship.

“I have always been very clear on the sporting side of things. The one who ends up saying and demanding things is the national coach because he’s the one with the responsibility,” he said. “Discipline is essential to any project.”

De La Torre, nicknamed “Chepo” appeared for the national team during his playing career and made his debut as a coach in the Clausura 2006 tournament in charge of Guadalajara Chivas.

Success soon followed as Guadalajara won the following tournament, but differences with club owner Jorge Vergara led to a parting and a subsequent move to Toluca.

With De La Torre at the helm, Toluca won titles in the Apertura 2008 and Clausura 2010 tournaments and has become arguably the most consistent side in the Mexican league, winning 43 of 76 matches — the best record in the top flight during that period.

His style is based on a 4-4-2 formation and is considered defensive, but he is also known to be tactically astute with the flexibility to make changes during the match as circumstances dictate.

“I have a very affectionate relationship with Chepo, but my professional opinion is that he is very capable,” said former national coach Manuel Lapuente, currently in charge of Mexican club America.

Lapuente employed De La Torre as his assistant during an earlier stint with America at the beginning of the decade.

“You only have to look at what he has achieved in a short space of time ... he has an impressive career and some fine achievements,” Lapuente said.

De La Torre is known as having a serious personality, making few jokes and reluctant to give interviews or long answers at his post-match press conferences.

That stony facade has led to questions about how he will handle the pressure of the Mexico job so early in his career.

De La Torre was left as the only candidate after Victor Manuel Vucetich, the coach of Mexican club Monterrey, withdrew from the selection process on Saturday, saying his family situation would prevent him dedicating the time necessary to the national team.

He becomes the 32^nd national coach in Mexico’s history, and the sixth since Argentine coach Ricardo La Volpe left the post after the 2006 World Cup.