Since Club América was kicked out of the Liga, it’s been over a week, and there are still more questions than solutions. What should have been the 14th championship season finished with a humiliating loss at home to a rival team and Fernando “Tano” Ortiz’s resignation. As the new season comes, fans everywhere want answers, and this time they want a coach who will bring home the 14th.
América had a slow start to the season, but fans weren’t worried because they’ve had slow starts in the past and still ended up on top of the table. The end of the season was special for the guilas because they had the best offence in the league with 36 goals, and shooter Henry Martin won the scoring title with 14 goals. All the signs pointed to the club winning the coveted 14th title, which would make it the best club in Mexico, and ‘Tano’ Ortiz would be able to say he did it. This didn’t happen, though, and the team once again lost in the playoffs. This time, though, fans made it clear how unhappy they were with the club. Some of that went away when ‘Tano’ Ortiz told reporters after the game that his time with the team was over, effective right away.
After being named temporary manager, the Argentine helped the team get back on track after a terrible start to the Clausura 2022. The team’s success led to him getting the job full-time. Ortiz’s problems started last year during the Apertura 2022, when the team was again kicked out of the liguilla. This was the third year in a row that the team was kicked out of the liguilla. He was also a big reason why they lost the last game they were supposed to win at home. He stopped playing to score more goals just as Chivas was getting more active and dangerous. Even when almost every attacking player was replaced with a defence, Chivas still won the game because Ortiz used some very bad strategies. Ortiz’s departure came as a bit of a surprise, but it may have been for the best since he has now failed three times in a row in his one year with the club.
Now, the goal is to find the right teacher who can put together a team that can finally win a championship after years of trying. They last won a championship in December 2018, when Miguel Herrera was in charge. Since then, a team that is held to a very high standard has had heartbreak after loss. Even though there isn’t a head teacher yet, things are still moving. There have been rumours that Kevin Alvarez from Pachuca will move to Mexico City and Federico Vias will go to Club León, which is a good idea since the scorer hasn’t been good enough for the club for a while.
Adding Alvarez to the team will help improve the defence, which got better when Israel Reyes was brought in before the Clausura. All that would be left to do is hire a new head coach, and there are a lot of names that are said to be on the list. It seems like a new name comes up every other day. The Apertura 2023 is coming up quickly, so there isn’t much time left. The new coach will be under a lot of pressure. Fans aren’t happy with how things have been going lately, and if the team doesn’t win the championship this season, the new name might not stick around for long.
