Mexico have fired manager 'Chepo' Jose Manuel de la Torre, hoping to provide the team with a bit of a spark before their big match against the United States on Tuesday. El Tri took an early lead in their match against Honduras on Friday but collapsed in the second half, falling 2-1 to Los Catrachos. It marked the fourth time in four home games that Mexico has failed to win at home in the final round of World Cup qualifying.
Jose Manuel de la Torre fired by Mexico
Mexico’s performance against Honduras was so bad that ‘Chepo’ Jose Manuel de la Torre won’t even get the chance to manage them against the United States on Tuesday. He was fired early Saturday morning.
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
El Tri now sits on eight points, two behind Honduras for the final automatic World Cup qualifying spot in CONCACAF. Panama is just one point behind them.
The Mexican football federation released a statement just before 3 am local time announcing that de la Torre had been fired and that assistant manager Luis Fernando Tena would take over the team on an interim basis.
José Manuel de la Torre deja la Dirección de la Selección Nacional
Se mantiene el resto del Cuerpo Técnico bajo el mando de Luis Fernando Tena
El Presidente de la Federación Mexicana de Fútbol, Justino Compeán, tomó la decisión de hacer un cambio en la Dirección Técnica de la Selección Mayor y será Luis Fernando Tena el responsable de la Dirección Técnica, apoyado con los mismos colaboradores que hasta la fecha han participado en este proceso.
El día de hoy, sábado 7 de septiembre a las 11:30 hrs. en el Centro de Alto Rendimiento se ofrecerá conferencia de prensa sobre el particular.
For those who don’t speak Spanish, the release doesn’t do any thanking of de la Torre for his service to his country. It also says that federation president Justino Compeán decided to make the management change and that a press conference would be held on Saturday morning.
Tena has been a national team assistant since 2010 and was the coach that guided the Mexico Under-23 side to a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. The 55-year-old has 20 years of experience in management and started his career as Cruz Azul boss back in 1994.
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