Search: 'Javier Aguirre'

Sven is quietly settling in as Mexico manager while his lookalike makes the headlines, says Martin del Palacio Langer

Mexico has always had stormy relations with its national-team coaches. The process is generally the same. They arrive amid great expectation and, after a few poor results, end up arguing with the press and being hated by the fans. Although the national team got through the group stage of the past four World Cup finals, no coach has lasted more than four years since Ignacio Trelles, who was in charge between 1958 and 1968.

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The future of a genuine players' union is in doubt, despite the position of its most influential supporter, national coach Javier Aguirre. Simeon Tegel reports

Mexico needs its own Jimmy Hill. No, not the sort of pundit fans love to hate. The airwaves here are already heavy with those. Instead, I mean a figure who can lead professionals out of the feudal age of labour relations imposed by the clubs and football authorities, just as Hill did for English players in the early 1960s when as chairman of the PFA he successfully campaigned to end the maximum wage and retain-and-transfer system.

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It's looking grim for Mexico, unitl now perpetual World Cup qualifiers from concacaf. Simeon Tegel looks for clues to the recent failures of the central American giants

If there was ever a country that should have been able to assume automatic qualification for the World Cup, then surely it is Mexico. With a football-obsessed population of 100 million, a league as rich as any in the Americas and a 110,000-capacity home stadium at a height of 2,400 metres, the country seems blessed.

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Having guided Pachuca to their first Mexican title, Javier Aguirre is affecting the world of politics as well. Simeon Tegel reports

In a sport where most professionals have no interest in politics or come from the Alf Gar­nett school of social justice, Javier Aguirre stands out. After coaching Mexico’s oldest club, Pachuca, to its first league title in December, the former international lost no time in reminding the country of his leftwing views.

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