Controversial Hugo Sanchez Fired as Mexico Coach

Jesus Ramirez, who guided the Mexican U17s to their 2005 title, was named interim manager of Mexico. Also tarnishing Sanchez's 33 game coaching tenure was Mexico's loss last year to the United States in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final. Sanchez, a former star for Real Madrid, struggled with losses to regional minnows such as Honduras with the full national team and Guatemala with the U23s.

Sanchez acknowledged his Olympic program had failed, but had refused to resign.  Before taking the helm, Sanchez went on a four year campaign to become Mexico's manager, repeatedly criticizing predecessor Ricardo La Volpe and promising to make the team a world champion.  In the Gold Cup, the team struggled to beat teams it previously dominated, such as Cuba, Panama and even the tiny island of Guadeloupe. The Gold Cup also laid bare the shortcomings of Sanchez, who led the Spanish league in scoring five times while playing for Real Madrid. From his time coaching Pumas, Sanchez did not hide his inability to dominate the technical side of the game and relegated that responsibility to his Argentine assistant Sergio Egea.

However, his motivational coaching style didn't fly with some players, especially those belonging to European teams. Just before the end of the Gold Cup, three members of the team decided not to play in Copa America. Pavel Pardo and Ricardo Osorio, both of whom play for Germany's Stuttgart, and Carlos Salcido of Dutch team PSV Eindhoven, all quit, saying they were too tired to play. Salcido had previously said he had personal differences with Egea. Without them, Sanchez and Mexico finished third, causing the wave of criticism to subside for a while. Following that victory, the team fared poorly in a series of friendlies, during which it only defeated Panama, tied against Nigeria and the U.S. and lost to Brazil and Guatemala.