Mexico mission is to put managerial madness behind them at World Cup

A revolving door was installed in the office of the Mexico national coach last autumn. Four different men held the job in little more than a month as the federation fired Jose Manuel de la Torre, Luis Tena and Victor Vucetich before seemingly settling on Miguel Herrera.

Stability was willingly sacrificed in search of results. It was unthinkable that El Tri might miss out on a Latin American World Cup in Brazil, but that chopping and changing has impacted on their odds.

Coral make Mexico 150/1 outsiders to lift the trophy, and they face a tough group that contains the hosts, Croatia and Cameroon. Herrera’s side start this pool as third-favourites both to get out of it at 6/5, and unlikely winners at 8/1.

The Aztecs are certainly consistent at World Cup finals. On each of their last five appearances, they have successfully negotiated the group stage. They are 9/4 to make the knockout phase and exit the tournament there, but are odds-on at 8/13 to fall at the first hurdle.

It follows that four different managers will have their favourite players, so how can anyone be sure of a place in the 23-man squad for Brazil? Former Arsenal forward Carlos Vela knows he will be watching with the rest of us, because of an unresolved dispute with the federation.

Real Sociedad benefit from this, but a global audience misses out. Vela’s 17 goals for the Basque outfit in all competitions this term show how he would give Mexico extra firepower from the flanks.

Herrera uses wing backs not wide men, however. In each of his six matches in charge of El Tri, he has played 3-5-2. Rafael Marquez, once of Barcelona, acts as sweeper, and the one other constant in the manager’s selections has been a contingent from former side Club America. A total of 10 men from that team have received call-ups.

Picking domestic players from Mexico for the national team got Herrera this gig permanently, and his former club charges did not let him down, as they comprehensively won an intercontinental play-off with New Zealand to reach the World Cup finals.

We are thus bracing ourselves for an Aztecs roster announcement in May, which could contain just seven or eight names that ply their trade in Europe. In other words, two-thirds of Herrera’s squad look set to come from Mexican clubs. It is bold, but his unbeaten record of four wins and two draws is hard to argue with.