Martino fully qualified as Mexican national team coach, Herrera says

Liga MX club America’s manager, Miguel Herrera, said after his team’s friendly in Houston against Santos Laguna that he has “nothing” to recommend to the new coach of the Mexican national soccer team, Argentine Gerardo “Tata” Martino, and gives him his full support.

After concluding the Mexican soccer championship match on Saturday night in which America, the Apertura champion, and Santos, the winner of the Clausura title, tied 1-1, Herrera completely ruled out having anything to say to the new coach.

“Me, nothing,” Herrera responded. “Tata is a very prepared coach. He has more experience than me, although he hasn’t been in Mexican soccer. He headed the Argentine team on two occasions, and Barcelona...”

The Mexican coach reiterated that the new national coach has experience that guarantees his class and professional ability.

“He’s a very, very capable coach, as he’s shown. It’s not for me to do anything more than support what he needs from America,” emphasized Herrera, who also refused to speculate about whether he could return to coach the national squad some day, saying: “I’m very happy now with America.”

Despite the tie against Santos, Herrera expressed great satisfaction with the way the team responded on the pitch with its young stars.

“The truth, as I said, is that the game served to let us see many young players. We ended with nine players from the reserve and that’s really good. Each day, seeing more kids and that’s going to be very important for strengthening the team with young players,” Herrera said.