Mexico's World Cup bid was dead and in the water before Javier Aguirre was given the task of replacing Sven-Goran Eriksson. After all, Mexico was on the outside looking in for a CONCACAF place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Since taking over last April, Aguirre's El Tri has only lost twice in 18 matches - qualifying for the World Cup as well as winning the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Kevin Baxter of the LA Times write of how not only has Mexico returned as one of the top teams in the CONCACAF region, but how Aguirre has also re-created the culture of Mexican soccer.
Javier Aguirre wasn't interested in talking about soccer.
Sure, the World Cup is fast approaching. And as coach of the Mexican national team he's made it clear El Tri is primed for a superlative effort this summer in South Africa.
But as he slid into an easy chair recently in a plush hotel suite in Pasadena, the subject that brought the widest smile to Aguirre's face is baseball. "All kinds of baseball," he confided in Spanish. "But especially the Oakland A's."
It's not hard to understand the affinity. The A's, after all, are made up primarily of young grinders, not veteran superstars. It's a blue-collar, lunch-bucket type of team.
And that's the same kind of mentality Aguirre has brought to his Mexican national squad.
"The most important thing," Mexican midfielder Israel Castro insisted, "is the team."
That may sound obvious, but it wasn't a mentality Aguirre inherited when he was named Mexico's coach a year ago. What he found instead was a dysfunctional, underperforming team in danger of missing the World Cup.
Mexico had won only six of its 13 matches under Sven-Goran Eriksson, the country's fourth national coach since 2006, and was coming off a humiliating loss to Honduras in World Cup qualifying when Aguirre took over last April. El Tri has lost just twice in 18 matches since then.
But the results on the field aren't the only thing that's changed. Gone, too, are the personality conflicts that had long plagued the national team.
"We're not going to fight amongst ourselves," Aguirre said. "We have to fight against El Salvador, against the United States, against Costa Rica.
"Those were the rivals. Not the Mexicans."
Aguirre also sought to rebuild the team by reconstructing its tradition, reaching out to players such as Cuauhtemoc Blanco, a legend in Mexico who had been cut from the 2006 World Cup team then retired two years later rather than play for Eriksson.
The temperamental Blanco, coaxed back to the national team by Aguirre, has since become the new coach's captain on the field and his biggest booster off it.
"He's a great coach. He has character," Blanco said. "He turned all of us into a good group."
Kevin Baxter of the LA Times write of how not only has Mexico returned as one of the top teams in the CONCACAF region, but how Aguirre has also re-created the culture of Mexican soccer.
Javier Aguirre wasn't interested in talking about soccer.
Sure, the World Cup is fast approaching. And as coach of the Mexican national team he's made it clear El Tri is primed for a superlative effort this summer in South Africa.
But as he slid into an easy chair recently in a plush hotel suite in Pasadena, the subject that brought the widest smile to Aguirre's face is baseball. "All kinds of baseball," he confided in Spanish. "But especially the Oakland A's."
It's not hard to understand the affinity. The A's, after all, are made up primarily of young grinders, not veteran superstars. It's a blue-collar, lunch-bucket type of team.
And that's the same kind of mentality Aguirre has brought to his Mexican national squad.
"The most important thing," Mexican midfielder Israel Castro insisted, "is the team."
That may sound obvious, but it wasn't a mentality Aguirre inherited when he was named Mexico's coach a year ago. What he found instead was a dysfunctional, underperforming team in danger of missing the World Cup.
Mexico had won only six of its 13 matches under Sven-Goran Eriksson, the country's fourth national coach since 2006, and was coming off a humiliating loss to Honduras in World Cup qualifying when Aguirre took over last April. El Tri has lost just twice in 18 matches since then.
But the results on the field aren't the only thing that's changed. Gone, too, are the personality conflicts that had long plagued the national team.
"We're not going to fight amongst ourselves," Aguirre said. "We have to fight against El Salvador, against the United States, against Costa Rica.
"Those were the rivals. Not the Mexicans."
Aguirre also sought to rebuild the team by reconstructing its tradition, reaching out to players such as Cuauhtemoc Blanco, a legend in Mexico who had been cut from the 2006 World Cup team then retired two years later rather than play for Eriksson.
The temperamental Blanco, coaxed back to the national team by Aguirre, has since become the new coach's captain on the field and his biggest booster off it.
"He's a great coach. He has character," Blanco said. "He turned all of us into a good group."
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