De la Torre to take charge of Mexico

Mexico's new manager Jose Manuel de la Torre is an unknown outside of his home country but during his five years as a coach has quickly gained an awesome reputation in Mexico.

Three league titles won in those five years shunted 44-year-old 'Chepo,' as he is commonly known, to the top of the Mexican Football Federation's list to take over from Javier Aguirre.

Known as a stern, attack-minded coach who will give short shrift to players that step out of line, Chepo had a distinguished playing career starting out at Guadalajara Chivas in 1984. In the 1986-7 season Chepo helped Chivas to the title. He also won titles with Puebla in 1989-90 and Nexaca in the Invierno 1998 tournament.

He was a regular for the national team but never played in a World Cup.

After he retired from playing in 1999, Chepo took up coaching positions helping managers such as Mario Carrillo, Leo Beenhakker and current America boss Manuel Lapuente.

Born in Guadalajara, it was Chivas that gave Chepo his first chance at managing. In just his second tournament in charge in 2006, Chivas won the league title, a feat he repeated with Toluca in the Apertura 2008 and again in the Bicentenario 2010.

Having only played one year outside Mexico for Real Oviedo in Spain, it's been argued that Chepo doesn't have the international experience required for the post of national team coach, especially during a time of crisis.

Chepo's brother, Nestor de la Torre, was director of the national team until he was forced to resign from the post earlier this month.

Chepo's first job when he officially takes over in January will be to finally put to bed the ongoing fallout from September's party after the game against Colombia in Monterrey.

Eleven players were fined and two (Carlos Vela and Efrain Juarez) suspended for their role in the shindig, but all thirteen took offence at the very public nature of the investigation. All thirteen responded by refusing to play for the national team. The players then asked a public apology from Nestor before the recent friendly against Venezuela. When he refused, he was forced to resign.

Such examples of player power are rare in other countries. The Mexican press had a field day, one cartoon reading: "The party goes on!"

Finding the balance between appeasing the FMF and getting the players behind him will be difficult for Chepo. The hope is that it will be a smooth transition from successful club manager to international glory.

Chepo's first major tournament will be the Copa America 2011.

Scandal, sex and soccer: recent Mexican soccer news

Mexican soccer is currently awash with interesting stories both on and off the field.

The most attention grabbing has been regarding the national team and a party in a Monterrey hotel after the September 7 game against Colombia.

The Mexican Football Federation (FMF) fined 11 players 50,000 pesos for their part in the shindig. Two players, Efrain Juarez and Carlos Vela, were banned from the national team for six months.

Then, last week team captain and New York Red Bulls star Rafael Marquez responded by penning a letter stating that he and the other 12 players sanctioned were refusing to play again for the national team until the directors clean up their act. (Mexico still has no permanent manager despite knowing Javier Aguirre would leave before the World Cup). All the other players, including Manchester star Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez supported Marquez verbally but didn’t sign the letter, according to Marquez.

In the letter, Marquez called for a cleaning up of the FMF and also seemed bizarrely to put himself in the frame to head the organization. The Mexican press was split between supporting the players’ demands for more organization and decrying them for acting like babies spitting out their dummies when the FMF punished the players.

The latest news is that Marquez says he will play for the national team and that there has been dialogue between him as captain and the FMF.

The players’ case wasn’t helped in any way when transvestite Yamille, also known as “Gema,” came out last week and said Fulham left back Carlos Salcido invited him to a party in the players’ hotel. In a video interview with TVNotas, she also recounted a sexual encounter the two had in the bathroom, described by Yamille as “oral sex.”

The two met via Facebook in April earlier this year, according to Yamille, who would easily pass as a female to be fair to Salcido, but it wasn’t until after the September 7 game that the two actually met.

Yamille described the “moral hangover” she felt after the incident, as Salcido had no idea that he was a man. The transvestite, who appeared on a high-class prostitutes website, told Salcido later and he was said to have been a little shocked. Yamille also apologized to Salcido’s wife.

Salcido denies the event happened and is suing the transvestite.

One newspaper columnist asked the question that if Salcido did what he did and only got a 50,000 peso fine, then what could Juarez and Vela have done to deserve a six month ban?

In other national team news, next Tuesday, October 12, the team travel to Ciudad Juarez to play against Venezuela. Known as the most dangerous city in the world, the game is more a PR exercise than anything else. Everyone is hoping everything goes smoothly. Security is likely to be extremely tight.

In the domestic league, Cruz Azul top the general standings after a 1-0 home derby victory over the giant America on Sunday. Cruz Azul hadn’t beaten their Mexico City rivals for seven years.
In the big Guadalajara clasico, Chivas took on Atlas at their brand new Estadio Omnilife. Unfortunately, the stadium was only around half full but on the field the game was full of incident. It may be a world class venue but there is a big difference between the price people in Guadalajara can pay and the price of the tickets. Chivas owner and businessman Jorge Vergara was left with egg on his face. For many in town, the Chivas-Atlas derby is the biggest game of the season.
On the field action was highly entertaining and ended in heartbreak for the loyal Atlas fans who have seen their team win only once since late April.
After a fairly even first half in which both teams set out to get goals, the score was 1-1. On 63 minutes, Chivas player Marco Fabian had a penalty saved by Pedro Hernandez. As fate would have it, Atlas took the lead for the second time on 73 minutes and goalscorer Gerry Flores got a “Zorro” mask from somewhere, put it on and saluted away fans going crazy for their team known as the “Zorros.” Unfortunately the referee took a dim view of the humorous prank and gave Flores a second yellow card followed by a red.
Naturally, Chivas piled the pressure on Atlas but couldn’t get the equalizer. The rapid Omar Arellano and playmaker Adolfo “Bofo” Bautista pulled the strings while Atlas looked increasingly dangerous on the break as Chivas ploughed men forward.
In the first minute of injury time, Bofo broke free inside the penalty area, made his way to the byline and put in a low cross. With two Chivas players waiting for a tap in, Atlas defender Nestor Vidrio sliced a clearance into the top corner of his own net. The game ended 2-2 with the Zorros devastated.
Elsewhere and the post-season playoffs (liguilla) look to be shaping up the same as they have for the last couple of years.
Cruz Azul, Monterrey, Santos and Toluca make up the top four with San Luis, Pumas and Puebla just behind them.
The big question is whether the “big two” of Mexican football, Chivas and America, will be there along with the aforementioned clubs. The playoffs have missed them in the later stages over the last few years.

Mexican player to watch


Cruz Azul striker Javier “Chuletita” Orozco has grabbed a lot of headlines this season and is a young Mexican player to look out for. He’s scored six goals so far and recently broke into the national squad and came on to make his debut. From Sinaloa, Orozco played more baseball than football but, thankfully, he opted for the latter despite being an excellent batter.

Salcido's transvestite oral sex shame

Mexican national team soccer star Carlos Salcido may have some explaining to do to his wife after a transvestite made some astonishing claims about a sexual encounter in a hotel bathroom.

Transvestite Yamille said Salcido invited him to a party in the players’ hotel during an interview with a national magazine and described a sexual encounter the two had in the bathroom.

The two met via Facebook in April earlier this year, according to Yamille, but it wasn’t until after the September 7 game against Colombia in Monterrey that the two actually met.

Yamille described the “moral hangover” she felt after the incident as Salcido had no idea that he was a man. The transvestite, who appeared on a high-class prostitutes website, also apologized to Salcido’s wife.

Salcido, born near Guadalajara and who plays in the English Premier League for Fulham, was fined 50,000 pesos along with ten other players for his role in what the Mexican Soccer Federation described as a “party.” Two players, Efrain Juarez and Carlos Vela, were banned from the national team for six months.

Team captain and New York Red Bulls star Rafael Marquez responded by penning a letter stating that he and the other 12 players were refusing to play again for the national team until the directors clean up their act. All the other players, including Guadalajara star Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez are supporting Marquez.

The mess will need to be sorted out before Mexico take on Venezuela in a friendly in the battle weary city of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua on October 12

For Salcido, the barrage from the British tabloid press and opposing fans is likely to be relentless.

Mexico v Ecuador preview

On Saturday, September 4 at 8 p.m. Mexico play a friendly match against Ecuador in celebration of the country's Bicentennial of Independence.

The team to start the game has already been announced in advance:

Guillermo Ochoa,
Hector Moreno,
'Maza' Rodríguez,
Carlos Salcido,
Andres Guardado,
Pablo Barrera,
Rafael Márquez,
Gerardo Torrado,
Giovanni Dos Santos,
Carlos Vela,
Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez

Remarkably, only one player in the starting line-up plays in Mexico, Gerardo Torrado. The rest are based in Europe, aside from Rafa Marquez who recently moved to New York Red Bulls.

The brand new Estadio Omnilife is a sight to behold but the 45,000 capacity stadium has been dogged by complaints about its synthetic pitch and the likelihood of injury.

When Pumas visited the stadium last Saturday, some of their staff were vocal about the danger of the synthetic pitch.

"The pitch is and falling could provoke grazes and even cartilage problems and tendon injuries," said the Pumas physio after the game. "It represents a risk and the people that made it should have a long, hard look at it."

Former Mexico star Israel Castro declared himself far from happy playing on the grass.

Already, two Chivas players have got injured and Juan Francisco Palencia was injured for Pumas last weekend.

There should be a few worried club managers come Saturday.

Formation

It's been suggested that Mexico will play with three at the back but another option would be Moreno at right back with Rafa Marquez in central defence.

Temporary coach manager Efrain Flores (Mexico seem to be waiting for Toluca boss Jose Manuel 'Chepo' de la Torre, who will probably take the reins in late December/early January) will have the final decision about how the team lines up on Saturday but it looks like Mexico will come out attacking.

The same team could very well start in the Copa America 2011.

ps. Mexico will play in a special kit to celebrate the Bicentennial: