Next Stop, Qatar: From prodigal generations to dashing expectations
It was Oct. 2 of a distant 2005 when all of Mexico was paralyzed; the national team had just won a FIFA tournament. Yes, this now seems like a far-fetched dream or a best-selling fiction novel. At the time it was an astonishing achievement for a team not recognized as a powerhouse in world soccer.
While this was the World Cup tournament held in Peru for the Sub-17 youth level, it still meant a promising generation was soon to come for the Mexican National team.
A young Hector Moreno lined up as center back, Omar Esparza moved the chords of the midfield and a dynamic duo with Giovani Dos Santos and Carlos Vela tag-teamed the attack. These players, led by head coach Jesus Ramirez, would make their way to the final, beating national teams such as Uruguay and Australia in the group stage. In the knockout stages, they strolled past Costa Rica and the Netherlands all to conclude in the Cup final against Brazil with a 3-0 victory.
Quickly, the names of the previously mentioned athletes became well known in the Mexican soccer world, leading them to sign for top-tier clubs. Vela would start his career with Premier League Arsenal FC in the 2006 season. Dos Santos would also try his luck in Europe, starting at the youth teams of Barcelona’s academy La Masia. Esparza would quickly continue his success with a Liga MX league title at Chivas just a year after the world title.
This was the trailblazing generation, Los Niños Héroes, named the “Children Heroes” after the six young cadet soldiers who gave their lives for Mexico City towards the end of the Mexican-American War. In fact, they were such trendsetters that six years later the Mexico U-17 team would repeat the feat, beating Uruguay 2-0 at the Azteca Stadium.
But, what happens to these teams when they reach the World Cup stage after these youth processes?
It is certainly a different environment. The numbers at the gate are astronomically different, television deals shape the experience and the powerhouse teams are more dominant at the adult level.
At a youth level these players were all trying to make names for themselves. Back then, they would be barely starting to play for the youth academies of their respective clubs. Now, we tend to see various youth players debuting with the adult team at as young as 18 years old.
Take Marcelo Flores, who debuted for the Seleccion Mexicana this past summer at only 19 years of age. The process has now sped up and athletes want to compete as soon as possible, yet this does not help build the strength the team needs to raise the World Cup.
Mexican fans, and I count myself as one, tend to have a very positive outlook when it comes to soccer. But as soon as one thing goes wrong, we forget positivity and choose to sack the current coach. That is the issue with the Mexican Soccer Federation, where the coach lasts at most three years with the national team.
We saw this with Juan Carlos Osorio, who led the Mexican team to the 2018 Russia World Cup without any hiccups in the qualifying process, winning 6 matches, drawing in 3 occasions and only losing one game. Mexico beat the reigning champion of the time, Germany, with a single goal by Hirving “el Chucky” Lozano.
Osorio turned down a contract extension, ending his three year term with Mexico with a record of 33 wins, 10 losses and nine draws.
Certainly there are a lot of issues with the system of Mexican soccer. They erased the promotion-relegation system, taking with it the stronger competition of the local league. However, the biggest issue is the lack of continuity of coaching staffs at the helm of the national team.
The key is longer processes, where the coaches can develop a style and a project for not just one World cup, but two or more. Jose Peckerman had six with the Columbian national team, Vicente del Bosque gathered 8 years of experience with Spain and Joachim Löw had a tenure of 15 years with the German team. In that regard, Mexico can learn from other soccer powerhouses in order to make their dreams of lifting a world cup turn into reality.