Jose Manuel de La Torre Fired as Head Coach of Mexico National Team

After losing a World Cup qualifying match at Azteca Stadium for the first time since 2001, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) has fired national team coach Jose Manuel de la Torre (aka Chepo).

Mexico lost 2-1 against Honduras Friday night in an important World Cup qualifier. The loss for Mexico, who have already been reeling from a poor qualification process, means that the national team sits in fourth place in the CONCACAF qualification group with only three matches remaining in qualification — and one of them is Tuesday against the United States in Columbus in a match that the US will desperately want to win after losing to Costa Rica last night.

According to the FMF website, “The President of the Mexican Football Federation, Justino Compean, decided to make a change [to the national team coach] of the senior team.”

Luis Fernando will take over from Chepo in a temporary role until a permanent decision can be made.

Let’s not forget that there were reports in late July that Chepo was going to be fired after meeting with FMF officials, but a decision was reportedly made at the last minute to keep faith with Chepo. In hindsight, Mexico may have been better off changing managers in late July and allowing time for the new national coach to bed in.