On Sunday, July 26, Mexico beat Jamaica in football during the CONCACAF Gold Cup victory in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field. What should have been a time of national pride has quickly turned to worry after Coach Miguel Herrera assaulted a reporter the day after the 3-1 win. Yesterday, Herrera was officially fired after an investigation into the incident.
After years of going through coaches, El Tri, Mexico’s National Football team had found in Coach Miguel Herrera a stable, albeit fiery presence since 2013. During his tenure, Mexico had only seven losses, 11 draws and 18 wins. However, in the media there have been critics of Herrera’s skill as manager over the national team and the Mexican reporter who was attacked, Christian Martinoli of TV Azteca had been one of them.
Despite the win on Sunday, many commentators spoke on El Tri’s deficiencies as a team and how its win was very narrow. El Tri advanced to the final as a result of two knockout-round matches and late penalty kicks, calls that many thought were controversial.
Even Mexico’s Footbol Federation President Decio de Maria called into question how the team came to its win during its semifinal game, especially since most of its top players were missing.
We all saw what happened on the pitch…We won at the Gold Cup, but none of us like how it happened,” de Maria said.
When it came to the altercation between Martinoli and Herrera, TV Azteca released a statement about journalists having the right to express themselves without threats.
Our country needs brave journalists, who are able to share their opinions and who enjoy the freedom of doing so without being attacked…Mexico needs more liberty, more public debate and less violence.”
In 10 weeks Mexico will be up against the United States on Oct. 9th for the deciding game for which team will go to the 2017 Confederations Cup.
Subscribe to our weekly e-Newsletter for the latest news, trends & events: click here, its quick & easy
Facebook
Instagram
RSS