Mexico fired Diego Cocca from his role as head coach of its senior men’s national team on Monday.
Jaime Lozano will be the interim coach in place of Cocca, who lasted seven games since being appointed in February. Mexico went 3-3-1 under Cocca.
Cocca lost his position after Mexico lost to the United States in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Nations League last week. Mexico recovered to finish third while the USMNT beat Canada on Sunday night to win the cup.
Cocca’s staff was also terminated, and Rodrigo Ares de Parga was fired from his role as the executive director of Mexico’s national teams.
“A game against the United States can be lost,” Mexican Football Federation commissioner president Juan Carlos Rodriguez said Monday. “There’s always that risk because this is football and the win can go one way or the other. What cannot be accepted was the way in which it happened.
“This phase has been flawed by the disorder in decision-making, by the lack of processes, rigor, and transparency in appointments, and by a perfect storm in the bad habits that we’ve been dragging for so many years.”
Rodriguez added that although it might have been “the natural thing to do” to wait for the end of the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup, he felt that Mexico did not have time to waste.
Cocca, 51, hails from Argentina and played and managed throughout South America before being tapped for the Mexico job. He stepped down from the Mexican club titan Tigres UANL to take the national team job in February.
Lozano, 44, was a midfielder who played in 34 games for the Mexican national team and last coached at Necaxa, another club in Liga MX.
–Field Level Media