Just what you don't want to read after a late Saturday night on the town: Scolari and Bianchi Interview for Mexico Job To be found at the very bottom. Looks like Scolari is the top candidate. This could be fun.
Not worried at all about him taking the reins of Mexico. I have faith in the USA guys to sit Mexico down AGAIN! Smells like desperation from Mexico City.
I'm just saying, if you think Mexico will ever be a walk in the park, think again. With Sampson in Costa Rica, and possibly Scolari in Mexico, the US has a tough road to Germany. Not an impossible one, nor one that I don't think they'll traverse, but it is a tough one.
wager... i will bet someone premium membership that scolari is not mexico's coach when qualifying starts...
True that Mexico is always an anxious game. Arena seems good about getting the team to focus on itself for the most part. Scolari or not, Mexico is going to be keen to try and beat us now more than ever.
As we saw with Mexico in the first half of the qualifying cycle, a bad coach can REALLY put you behind the eight ball -- even with a talented pool, and Mexico, we must understand, is QUITE talented. I thought Scolari (along with Hiddink and Arena) was one of the top coaches at the WC. Shrewd in his personnel evaluations, flexible in his tactical decision making, able to get the superstars to take on specific and somewhat circumscribed roles, and certainly not intimidated by the press and public outcries. Clearly, if you can deal with the media 'heat' in Brazil, you can deal with it ANYWHERE. Should he be hired, he would be a formidable opponent. As far a Sampson is concerned, there is no doubt he is a great administrator, organizer, and long-range planner. He is a very hard worker, and spends a lot of time on preparation issues. These qualities have been sorely lacking in our Latin American foes. The question is, is he tactically sophisticated enough, and can he handle the psychological/motivational side of the ledger -- aspects where he was sorely lacking in '98? Moreover, you KNOW he's itching to revive his reputation -- so never underestimate an opponent who will be intensely motivated to achieve success. So, on balance, things have gotten harder for us, no question, but it's not necessarily insurmountable.
Rumor has it that Scolari is going to be a scout for Arsenal in Brazil. It seems to me that he'd have a tough time watching Brazilians in Mexico.
I think it would be great for the region if he would become coach of Mexico, however, it would certainly make things more difficult, assuming he would still be around come qualifying. Who was the last Mexican coach to stay on the job 4 years?
Probably whoever preceded Bora-- and in that, whoever had the job during the 1994 World Cup. Name escapes me, however, in my late-night haze here... I'm also willing to bet, purely on a hunch, that Scolari will take himself out of the running at some point. Between the two names listed, I think Bianchi might be the one more likely. But even still, I think they'll wind up with a Mexican coach in the end-- recalling back in the early '90s and Menotti's ill-fated run as Mexico's coach, the natives not taking too well to him in the end... Cheers, William
WTF is anyone scared of Scolari for? Because his team won the world cup? He mismanaged that team almost out of the WC in qualification and with that team he didn't coach anyone. I could have coached that team: "Hey, give it ronaldo. And he's not open give to rivaldo. And if they're not open, send it over to that other guy who's effing awesome as well."
I dunno about this...basically he could hardly get the team together in qualifying to do the necessary preparation. Guys flying in the night before, stuff like that. I think the CBF is really the inept mismanager, but a discussion there would require a novel to do it justice. Once he HAD the team for an extended period of time, he did very good things with it -- and not just win the cup, by the way. So I wouldn't be so dismissive.
He was the guy who saved their quaification. It was the 7 (sarcasm) coaches they had before him who almost blew it.
I'll be happy with Bruce ARENA against any coach in the World. btw, when did Scolari take over? I thought that he was hired at the beginning of qualification. Karl, all I was really saying was taking Brazil to the WC final does not make you a great coach. Managing all those stars a la Phil Jackson is a feat in itself but I'd like to see how they do with average players.
Guatemala will also be tough. Freddy Garcia and el Pescadito bring it. Don't jinx the game by flaming me.
Like in all sports don't guys like Luiz Felipe Scolari and Carlos Bianchi use these instances to get the best deal they can at the place they really want to be Didnt Arena do some of this to a lesser extent too
IMO, coaching did not cause Mexico's struggles. As we saw at the Finals, el Tri had three indispensable players: Blanco, Torrado, and Marquez. Early in the Hex, Blanco was out, Marquez was either out or playing hurt, and Torrado was still being broken in (age 21 at the time). As US fans, we've seen our team's performance fluctuate wildly depending on which playersare available. Similarly, Mexico was not very good without its stars. Even after Aguirre replaced Meza, Mexico was losing 1-0 to Jamaica at halftime. They looked dreadful, but that's when Blanco entered the game. He scored twice to salvage an unconvincing 2-1 victory. The team's recovery came down to the player, not the coach.
I don't expect nor want Mexico to EVER be a walk in the park. I want Mexico to be our rival. To be a rival the games have to be competitive. And seeing how we've not once won a qualifier in the Azteca we have little room to feel overconfident anyway.