Mexico"s Soccer Coach Climbs Ladder of Success, a Rung at a Time

Mexico vs. Jamaica | 2016 Copa America Highlights

So Zambrano took Osorio on the MetroStars preseason tour of Spain and Portugal to evaluate him.

The players took an immediate liking to him because of his preparation for every session and his individual care for each one of them, said Zambrano, now the director of youth development for Club Deportivo El Nacional in Ecuador. By the time we got back to New York, he had earned his position.

The traits refined during those early years set Osorio on a path toward four club championships and two domestic cups as a head coach and defined a meticulous, intellectual, collective approach that has helped Mexico win or tie 21 successive games.

Mexico will risk that streak Monday night in Houston against Venezuela at the Copa Amrica Centenario, with the victor finishing first in Group C.

Since Osorio became Mexicos coach in October, the team has won nine consecutive games and allowed only one goal. Yet when he took the job his first as any national teams coach Osorio was criticized before his first game.

I dont know how they came up with Osorio, but there are better coaches in Mexico, said Cruz Azul Coach Toms Boy, who played for Mexico in the 1986 World Cup.

Hugo Snchez, one of Mexicos 12 coaches between 2006 and 2015, was asked whether Osorio deserved the position.

If he were Mexican, yes, Snchez said. But since hes not Mexican, hed be the ideal coach for Colombias national team.

Mexicos players, however, are learning to appreciate Osorios style.

He knows a lot and he loves to study, said goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera, who called Osorio a soccer philosopher.

Osorios philosophy leaves no room for the melodrama surrounding Mexicos national team.

The most important thing is to gain the players confidence, because theyre the ones who have to implement what we plan, he said. I knew it was going to take time. In fact, I still have the responsibility to inculcate in the players the way we want them to work.

Osorios attention to detail extends to arranging and rearranging training cones himself. He directs players with a notebook he fills with detailed, color-coded comments. He emphasizes collective effort, especially when selecting Mexicos lineup.

Photo Osorio, near left, with forward Javier Hernndez, known as Chicharito. Credit Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse Getty Images

The national team is involved in a lot of games, and theres not a lot of time for training, Osorio said. Its more a matter of having a defined strategy. Its a matter of trying to identify who complements whom in what scenario. In a group like this that has multifaceted players, we see how they interact with each other as a group.

Osorios methods reflect his postgraduate education in Britain, which accelerated his career. In 2001, Osorio left the MetroStars to obtain a degree from Liverpool John Moores University in a unique major: science and football. While pursuing his degree, he often observed Liverpool F.C.s training sessions from outside a fence at the clubs Melwood training center.

I remember talking to him before he left for England and told him I thought he was crazy, Gaitan said. He was going there to spend a year and take a coaching course. He ended up taking the course watching training sessions, I believe, from his apartment, and eventually working his way into the Liverpool facility.

Osorios persistence led to a four-year stay at Manchester City, where he rose from trainer to assistant coach. In 2006, the Colombian club Millonarios gave Osorio his first head coaching job. A year later, Osorio returned to M.L.S. to guide the Chicago Fire, which promptly surged from last place to the playoffs in half a season.

Yet in December 2007, Osorio resigned to return to New Jersey as coach of the renamed Red Bulls, who reached the 2008 M.L.S. championship game. But after the Red Bulls lost 16 of their first 22 M.L.S. matches in 2009, Osorio resigned that August.

Colombias Once Caldas, where Osorio once played, provided his next job and his first league championship in 2010. But Osorio made his biggest impact when he guided Medellns Atltico Nacional to three league championships and two domestic cups between 2012 and 2014.

After firing Miguel Herrera last July, Mexico lured Osorio away from his post at So Paulo F.C. in Brazil.

I guess my whole career is different from anybody else, Osorio told an interviewer in May. Now when I look back, probably the hardest and most important decision was being 23, playing professional football in Colombia and saying to myself: No, this is not good enough. I have to go prepare myself to be the best coach I can be. I need to go start from scratch.

From that decision, he built a career. With Mexico, Osorio built a team that could become the first from outside South America to win the Copa.

He started out being a fitness coach, and look how he has evolved, Gaitan said. Not many people have that kind of passion and desire to do what he did. He deserves everything that comes his way, and we all take a little pride in the fact that his success started with us.

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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/sports/soccer/mexico-soccer-coach-juan-carlos-osorio-copa-america.html