Mexico Says It'll Take Time to Decide on Juan Carlos Osorio's Future as Manager
Juan Carlos Osorio's future as Mexico national team manager is still being contemplated, new Mexican federation president Yon de Luisa and director Guillermo Cantu announced at a press conference on Wednesday, which was expected to reveal some finality to the situation.
Osorio, who guided Mexico to the round of 16 at the 2018 World Cup, had his contract expire after the competition. If he does not stay on for another term, it's expected that he'll draw interest from U.S. Soccer for the U.S. men's national team position, though he could have interest elsewhere, most notably in his native Colombia, should Jose Pekerman make way from the bench.
"After the World Cup, the contract ended but we've held talks since then. We still haven't reached a final decision, it's a very important and difficult decision," said Cantu, who added that any final decision on Osorio would be revealed at a different press conference.
“We agree that it's a very important issue, but we also agree that it's more important than urgent.”
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Osorio managed his first game for Mexico in November 2015, a 3-0 World Cup qualifying win over El Salvador that came on the heels of El Tri's triumph over the USA in the Concacaf Cup playoff, which confirmed a place in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. He won his first nine matches in charge and only lost one of his first 20–but the one loss was a big one, an embarrassing 7-0 defeat to Chile in the Copa America Centenario quarterfinals.
Osorio survived the outcry for his job after that loss, though, and led Mexico to the semifinals at the Confederations Cup, a first-place finish in Concacaf World Cup qualifying–which included a first win for Mexico over the USA in Columbus, Ohio–and a landmark win over Germany in the opening match in Russia. A failure to beat or tie Sweden in the final day of group play resulted in a second-place group finish and a date with Brazil in the round of 16, where Mexico fell for a seventh straight World Cup.
The 56-year-old Osorio has gone 33-10-9 in all with Mexico, which will need to sort out its manager situation sooner than later, despite Cantu's remarks of caution. El Tri begins the long road to Qatar 2022 with a pair of friendlies in the USA in September, taking on Uruguay in Houston on Sept. 7 before facing the Americans four days later in Nashville.
