Tuca Ferretti Returns to Mexico National Team as Interim Coach
Tuca Ferretti is back on the Mexico sideline in a caretaker role.
The manager will take over El Tri for its September friendlies as the Mexican federation continues its search to replace Juan Carlos Osorio, who exited upon the conclusion of his contract following the World Cup.
Ferretti last presided over the men's national team in 2015, when he went 2-0-2 and guided Mexico to a Concacaf Cup playoff win over the United States at the Rose Bowl, sealing Mexico's place at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in the process. He'll get a chance to go 2-0-0 against the USA on Sept. 11, when Mexico faces the Americans–guided by an interim manager of their own in Dave Sarachan–in Nashville.
In keeping with the theme of interim managers, a few days earlier, Sept. 7 in Houston, Ferretti will coach El Tri against Uruguay, which also has temporary manager Fabian Coito in place. Its federation–which has currently been taken over by FIFA over governance issues–is still working out whether longtime manager Oscar Tabarez will return for another term.
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Ferretti, who has stated publicly that he has zero interest in taking on the Mexico job on a full-time basis, has managed at Tigres UANL since 2010 and won four Apertura titles.
Mexico's September friendlies will be its first matches since a seventh straight round-of-16 exit at the World Cup. Mexico beat Germany and South Korea in Russia, but fell bad to Sweden and required South Korea's help vs. Germany just to reach the knockout stage. There, it fell to Brazil 2-0 on goals from Neymar and Roberto Firmino.
