"The chistecito (little joke) turned out to be considerably costly for Mexican soccer," writes David Medrano, probably with a disgusted sneer, in the D.F. sports daily Récord. "All told, Sven-Göran Eriksson proclaimed himself the most expensive coach in the history of the National Selection."
It was only a matter of time before Eriksson got the boot as coach of the national team. After a humiliating World Cup-qualifying loss to Honduras on Wednesday (3-1), the Mexican Football Federation asked the Swede to turn in his green jersey -- to the tune of about $7 million USD total. Genius?
There was never much love here for Eriksson since he was hired last June, ostensibly to give Mexican soccer some international caché. Ten months later, Eriksson kept the home record solid but the away record tanked. Now the tricolor is in danger of actually not qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The man replacing Sven-Göran Eriksson, Javier Aguirre, is well known to Mexican soccer fans. He's coached both the Mexican team and Atlética Madrid. But no matter what moves Aguirre makes, this won't be easy for anyone.
