Posted by After a shocking 2-1 home defeat to Xolos de Tijuana left Monterrey eliminated from the Clausura 2018 Liguilla at the quarterfinal stage, coach Antonio “El Turco” Mohamed offered his resignation, which was accepted by the club’s board of directors. Under Mohamed, Rayados won one Copa MX (Apertura 2017) and finished runner-up twice in the league. With the Argentinean at the helm, Rayados played some of the most attractive soccer in Mexico, emphasizing rapid counterattacking play. Mohamed’s counterattacking philosophy maximized the talents of players such as Dorlan Pabon, Aviles Hurtado and Rogelio Funes Mori. If the Liga MX title was decided based on a team’s regular season performance over the course of a year (as is the case in the Premier league, for example), Monterrey would be the 2017-2018 champion.
Nevertheless, Mohamed’s tenure must be viewed as a failure due to his inability to bring a league title to Rayados for the first time since the Apertura 2010. In the intervening eight years, the pressure for a league title has increased appreciably due to factors beyond the title drought. Since 2010, Monterrey has become one of the richest clubs in Mexico and in all of the Americas, possessing the league’s second-most expensive squad with an estimated value of $55.4 million. Furthermore, the club has inaugurated the Estadio BBVA Bancomer, which opened in 2015 and has a capacity of 53,500, making it the fourth biggest stadium in the league. While Monterrey has grown considerably as a club since 2010, they have seen their fierce local rivals, Tigres, win four league titles in that time, in the process passing Rayados on the all-time list of league crowns. The success of Tigres is made all the more painful for supporters of La Pandilla because the last of those four league titles came via a final victory over Monterrey, the first time the two teams had met in a league final.
The 2017 Apertura Final defeat to Tigres was the last in a series of failures by Mohamed’s Monterrey to perform in important matches. Although they entered the Clausura 2016 final against Pachuca having won the regular season title by 7 points, Rayados, playing at home, allowed a decisive goal in the third minute of extra time of the second leg to hand the title to Los Tuzos. In the 2016-2017 Concacaf Champions League, Monterrey was eliminated in the group stage by Panamanian side Árabe Unido, having lost to the Central Americans both home and away. Before losing the Apertura 2017 final to their hated rival Tigres, Monterrey was eliminated convincingly by the same team in the quarterfinals of the previous season’s (Clausura 2017) Liguilla, going out 6-1 on aggregate. Eventually, these repeated disappointments began to erode the interest of the fan base in their team. Rayados are known for having one of the most passionate fan bases in the league, and had the highest average attendance in both the Apertura 2017 and Clausura 2018. Nevertheless, Monterrey’s average attendance numbers for the Clausura 2018 represented a 10.8% decrease from the previous season.
With the departure of Mohamed, attention now turns to identifying his replacement. Candidates for the job include ex-Rayados coach Victor Manuel Vucetich, Diego Alonso and Matías Almeyda. Although he is said to have demanded reinforcements in this coming transfer window, it is unlikely that Almeyda will leave Chivas given that they are set to contest their first FIFA Club World Cup in December. Although Vucetich won two league titles and three CONCACAF Champions Leagues during his five-year stay in Monterrey (2009-2013), he was fired from his only subsequent Liga MX job with Querétaro, having brought Gallos Blancos into relegation trouble. Alonso, Pachuca’s coach when they defeated Rayados in the Clausura 2016 final, seems to be the outstanding candidate.
Regardless of the identity of the club’s next head coach, the new man will be stepping into one of the most coveted head coaching positions in the entire league. Ownership continues to pour money into the playing staff, and even before the new coach has been signed, there are strong rumors linking them to Liga MX standouts such as Jesús Gallardo and Marcelo Barovero. In an even bigger statement of intent, Rayados are said to have agreed to terms on the transfer of Chivas standout and Mexican international Rodolfo Pizarro for between $15 and $17 million. Without doubt, whomever the new coach is, they will not want for money to spend in the transfer market. However, Mohamed was also given strong backing in the transfer market during his mandate. Given their repeated big-game failures over the last few years, questions must be asked as to whether Monterrey’s failure to win a league title in the last 8 years has more to do with the mentality of the players than their quality. Getting a talented team that was playing poorly to improve their performance levels in regular season games is one thing. However, asking the new coach to turn around the team’s mentality in these pressure games is perhaps more difficult. It remains to be seen if the new Rayados head coach will have the ability to do so.
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