Mexico stick with coach despite Copa humiliation

Mexico City (AFP) – Juan Carlos Osorio escaped the axe as Mexico coach on Thursday despite the humiliating 7-0 thrashing by Chile in the quarter-finals of the Copa America Centenario.

The Colombian coach survived as a consequence of having guided the national team to nine wins and a draw before Saturday’s historic loss in Santa Clara.

“What happened Saturday was a blow to all of us in Mexico,” said Mexico football federation (FMF) secretary-general Guillermo Cantu.

“To remove him may be the simplest solution, but we decided to continue with the project started last October.”

Cantu acknowledged that Mexico’s participation in the Copa America Centenario “was a failure” because, aside from the nature of the team’s elimination, they had failed to reach the goal of a semi-final spot.

That had been one of the targets set out for Osorio.

However, Cantu insisted that Mexico had no desire to return to the days of “hire them, fire them” when it came to recruiting coaches.

In the last decade, 12 different men have held the job of national team coach.

The last coach who survived an entire World Cup cycle was the Argentine Ricardo Lavolpe, who quit after the 2006 finals in Germany.