Eddie Munster / Aguirre's Demands

Resilient Tudela Finally Getting Noticed

There's a pretty cool piece on Josh Tudela at lagalaxy.com. The kid (I guess not so much of a kid if you consider that he's already 25) has stuck around for 3 seasons and is apparently ready to break through.

Tudela is a very physical player, and I can see why he'd be an ideal understudy of sorts to Dema Kovalenko (though with a 2 man holding midfield, that "understudy" role includes playing time.)

Tudela may prove to be a heck of a ball winner but he's going to have to become a good distributor too if he hopes to earn a long-term spot in this team or another. After a good tackle, his eyes should be scanning the field primarily, for Donovan, Lewis or Klein, and if none of those are available, Buddle or Gordon.

I get the feeling that he's not guaranteed the spot though. From what I've seen and heard, Tudela will have to contend with another pesky "Get me the ball Brian" (obsure 'The Replacements' reference) type player in Bryan Jordan who has apparently made the move from forward to midfielder. With that level of hustle, I can't blame Bruce.




Aguirre Making His Demands

Yesterday, a number of rumors began to circulate regarding Javier Aguirre and his list of demands to join the national team. In ESPNDeportes' Futbol Picante, Jose Ramon Fernandez criticized Aguirre and attributed a million demands to El Vasco, but given JoseRa's recent spat with Pachuca President Jesus Martinez, it's hard to differentiate between objective and yellow journalism.

What seems to be true enough though is Aguirre's desire to have greater control of all things national team. He wants Mario Carrillo as his assistant to replace the plant that FMF had imposed on Sven, Paco Ramirez, and he wants Ignacio Ambriz, his assistant in Spain, to take over coaching of the youth sides.

Color me optimistic, but I get the feeling that Aguirre is making sure that he sets camp at FMF for a long tenure. I would be absolutely ecstatic if Aguirre took the job, took the team to the WC, and (unless there was an unforeseen tragedy) continued his work after the World Cup heading toward 2014.

Mexico Wasted Valuable Time With Sven

When a national team turns in its least productive World Cup since ‘78 after a four-year uninterrupted process it's time for a change. A change which should not only remove a manager and bring in another, but also rejuvenate the player pool and enables a natural transition between generations.

After struggling through the 2007 Gold Cup, Hugo Sanchez began this transition adequately. Pardo, Osorio, Salcido and Borgetti were removed from the roster for the 2007 Copa America and replaced by Jaime Correa, Fausto Pinto, Israel Castro, and Juan Carlos Cacho.

The results were self-evident. Coming from a disappointing 1-2 defeat to the United States in the final game of the Gold Cup, Mexico opened up Copa America with a resounding 2-0 victory over Brazil.

The team continued to play attractive football and players like Castillo, Ochoa, Guardado and Landin seemingly became the new torch-bearers for Mexico. Despite the 0-3 defeat vs. Argentina that kept Mexico at the semifinal round, El Tri went on to claim the 3^rd place spot in the competition.

In the following months, Sanchez continued the transition process. Salcido, Pardo, Marquez, Borgetti, and Osorio were overlooked in call-ups and despite their European employers, were generally regarded as part of the old guard. In their place, Sanchez continued to include a new group of, young and not so young, players who were eager to earn their first shot with the national team.

The objective was clear under Hugol: Establish a new group of players within the national team, ready to be the core for the next World Cup period leading up to 2010, and when appropriate, look to the old group for reinforcements in players who kept their form, maintained their level, and won their way back to the team.

But while Hugo, the most egomaniacal character in Mexican football, was hard at work building El Tri for the next four years, behind closed doors, Jorge Vergara, the most megalomaniacal character in Mexican football, was hard at work politicking for greater power within the Mexican Federation.

Vergara began launching criticism after criticism toward Hugo Sanchez at every misstep and eventually became the spokesperson for all those who opposed Sanchez’ tenure.

When Sanchez was sacked in 2008, Vergara headlined the campaign to bring in a ‘renown’ European manager to lead the team..

Fifty-percent star struck, and fifty-percent “malinchista” the Federation agreed to hire Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Once Sven was in charge, the doors that had previously been closed on aging veterans were blown wide open. Sven’s limited knowledge of the Mexican game (combined with the questionable advisors that were appointed to him) limited opportunities for younger players and forced an over reliance on aging “heroes” like Pardo, Oswaldo, and Marquez.

Now that Sven has lost his job, the next manager will have the task of continuing the transition process that Hugo Sanchez had begun and effectively identify which Mexican players will take the torch from the generation of the 2000s that can be categorized as nothing other than a failure.