El Tri in spotlight, Liga MX poised to return
Pattern of recycling managers disrupted by Diablos
Toluca fired Jose Manuel de la Torre after a scoreless draw at Pachuca on Sept. 24. Management announced it would hire a full-time coach before its next game, Oct. 4 vs Cruz Azul.
Naturally, it was assumed a familiar, “proven” name would be revealed with former Toluca legends José Cardozo and Hernán Cristante seen as the favorites.
Contract talks with Cristante were quite advanced as gameday approached, but details were not finalized, so assistant coach Carlos Morales was placed in charge for the Matchday 13 date against the Cementeros. Toluca stunned Cruz Azul 2-0, giving ownership pause, and the all-too-typical Liga MX routine of recycling coaches was discarded.
Instead of a second term with Cristante at the helm (the club’s legendary goalie for six Liga MX titles coached Toluca from 2016 to 2019), the front office handed the job to Morales for the remainder of the Guardianes 2020 season.
The 41-year-old is better known as Ramón Morales’ brother despite enjoying a 21-year career that only ended last year (with Toluca from 2006-2008) and he has never been a head coach.
Here’s one scribe who hopes this move works out for Toluca. It is comical how often Liga MX teams opt for the old and familiar (emphasis on “old”) when conducting coaching searches. It’s well past time for fresh ideas and new approaches.
Names like Enrique Meza, Luis Fernando Tena, José Guadalupe Cruz, Ricardo La Volpe and Carlos Reinoso inevitably pop up when a vacancy opens. These intrepid nomads have a combined 78 head-coaching stops in Mexico since the 1980s. “El Ojitos” Meza and “El Flaco” Tena have each coached Cruz Azul on four separate occasions.
Several current coaches have enjoyed careers that feature double digits in teams, including “El Profe” Cruz who just took over at Necaxa last month. Current Chivas skipper Víctor Manuel Vucetich has 17 Liga MX teams on his résumé as well as a brief stint as manager of El Tri.
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The man who might best personify this aggravating tendency to recycle coaches is Tomás Boy and he’ll return to the Liga MX sidelines this month as “El Jefe” was hired to replace Francisco Palencia at Mazatlán.
Boy was fired by Guadalajara last year, the 14th club he departed without claim to a single championship (he did lead Morelia to the Clausura 2011 Final where he lost to UNAM and their star player “Paco” Palencia). Still, the fiery 69-year-old Boy will imprint his aggressive style to his 15th team. Liga MX owners are simply reluctant to give younger coaches opportunities.
A few up-and-comers have had chances this past decade, but patience is too often lacking. Rafa Puente, Jr., Jimmy Lozano, Marcelo Michel and Martín Palermo are all “under-40s” who showed promise yet failed to earn secure spots on a bench thereafter.
Alex Diego is an exception. The 35-year-old Mexico City native was brought in to replace the outgoing Vucetich at Querétaro this summer. Many pundits interpreted the move as a bottom-line decision, suggesting the Gallos Blancos front office was slashing budget and downsizing.
The roster is indeed among the cheapest in Liga MX but coach Diego has his boys punching above their weight. The Gallos have suffered some heartbreaking losses and have been punished by poor refereeing, so their record does not reflect great success.
Their modest 3-3-7 record has Querétaro well down the bottom half of the table, but among their 3 victories were back-to-back upsets of Cruz Azul and América in August. Still, they are only 2 points out of a playoff spot with 12 points still at stake.
Here’s hoping Carlitos Morales can make a positive impression and help pave a path for new blood to trickle into the Liga MX coaching ranks.