The Mexican men's national team named Victor Manuel Vucetich as their new manager on Thursday following the dismissals of Jose Manuel "Chepo" de la Torre and interim manager Luis Fernando Tena.
Víctor Manuel Vucetich, Director Técnico de la Selección Nacional Mexicana http://t.co/0c3kPxlUMd
— FEMEXFUT (@FEMEXFUTOFICIAL) September 12, 2013
The appointment of Vucetich is the second managerial switch in less than a week for El Tri. Tena took over as Mexico coach on Saturday hours after an embarrassing 2-1 home loss to Honduras in World Cup qualifying ended the two-year tenure of de la Torre.
The 58-year old Vucetich, who led Monterrey to three straight CONCACAF Champions League titles before leaving this year, follows Jose Manuel De la Torre, who was fired after Friday's 2-1 home loss to Honduras, and Luis Fernando Tena, who led El Tri in Tuesday's 2-0 loss at the United States.
Vucetich is known as ''King Midas'' after winning 14 of 15 the finals he has managed in his career.
The United States (5-2-1) moved into first place in the North and Central American and Caribbean finals with 16 points, one ahead of Costa Rica (4-1-3), which was held to a 1-1 tie at last-place Jamaica and also clinched.
Honduras (3-3-2) is third with 11 points and on track for the region's final automatic berth for the 32-nation field for Brazil next June. Panama moved ahead of Mexico (both 1-2-5) on goals scored for fourth place, which advances to a playoff against Oceania champion New Zealand.
Mexico is in danger of missing the World Cup for the first time since 1990. Its remaining games next month are home against Panama and at Costa Rica.
Altogether, Mexico has scored only four goals in the North and Central American and Caribbean finals this year, dropping into fifth place in the group of six countries. The most likely, and even upbeat, scenario is that the team heads to a playoff against New Zealand to qualify for the world tournament.
"It's the biggest challenge of my career," said Vucetich in a press conference. "In football everything is possible. We're going for all the six points."
The Associated Press was used in this report.
