Opinion: Mexico got it right with Tata Martino hire
Gerardo “Tata” Martino was presented as the new coach of the Mexican national team. Martino, 56, arrives in Mexico City after a glorious 2018 MLS season with Atlanta United.
During his two years in Atlanta, Martino achieved the MLS Cup and generated a 1.82 points per game average in the regular season. Atlanta United lost just 19 games across all competitions out of 78 encounters with Tata on the bench.
However, when a foreigner takes charge of the Mexican national team, there is skepticism in the press and more with former Mexican footballers. In the last process, Colombian Juan Carlos Osorio received a lot of criticism from the media. From 2002 to 2006, Argentinian coach Ricardo Lavolpe suffered daily persecution from former Real Madrid player Hugo Sanchez.
Although, in the last 20 years Mexico hasn’t had someone with the experience and resume that Gerardo Martino offers.
He was champion in Paraguay with Libertad and Cerro Porteño, champion in Argentina with Newell’s Old Boys, winner of the Spanish Supercopa with FC Barcelona.
Martino coached the best Paraguayan generation in World Cups. He was runner-up in the Copa America with Paraguay in 2011, and with Argentina in 2015 and 2016.
There is no question that Martino can offer excellent solutions for a national team that is developing a new generation of players. The bold argument that a national team should be led by someone from the same nationality promotes ignorance.
Football is universal, and there’s not one way to play it. The work of a national coach is not just to develop talent, it is to place that talent in the right place. It is to give them the tools of growth and significant responsibility. In other words, you might need someone who has a broader panorama of the game.
Tata Martino checks every box available. His experience with two national teams, South American clubs and FC Barcelona, the aesthetic of his teams on the pitch, offensive style he transmits, and the way he coaches and leads international stars makes him the ideal candidate to command a new generation of Mexican players.
He is part of a brilliant generation of Argentinean coaches like Simeone, Gallardo, Pochettino, Berizzo, Mohamed, Coudet and Coca. And most importantly, he is the best person who most assimilates his work to Leeds United coach Marcelo Bielsa, Mexico’s biggest desire.
Follow Luis on Twitter: @LFulloa.
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