Impatience returned to Liga MX. After León’s defeat against América on matchday 15, the emeralds announced the dismissal of their technical director, the Argentine Ariel Holan, for which nine coaches have already been fired during Clausura 2022. With two days to go before the tournament ends , the figure is only one away from tying the record for the most layoffs, which was 10 during Clausura 2019.
50% of the Liga MX teams have already fired their coach before the end of the first half of the year. León and Ariel Holan are the most recent case, but before that there were Chivas with the dismissal of Marcelo Michel Leaño, América with Santiago Solari, Monterrey with Javier Aguirre, Mazatlán FC with Beñat San José, Pedro Caixinha with Santos, Leonardo Ramos with Querétaro, Pablo Guede with Necaxa and Marcelo Méndez with Atlético de San Luis.
It is worth noting the size of the teams that have fired their technical directors in 2022, since it is not only about those that are located at the bottom of the table or involved in percentage issues, but there are also others that were considered long-term projects and with characters of international hierarchy such as Javier Aguirre, Pedro Caixinha and even Santiago Solari, who achieved an effectiveness rarely seen in his first two seasons (71.5%). He now it was the turn of Holan, who had just been a finalist a season earlier.
Santos Laguna was one of the clubs that presented a new face on the bench for this campaign. Pedro Caixinha, champion with those of the region in 2015, returned to replace Guillermo Almada in the technical direction, after he had disagreements with the board. But the pleasure did not last long for the Portuguese, who was fired after only six games, without wins in Liga MX and just six goals in favor.
The vacancy was filled by the Mexican Eduardo Fentanes on an interim basis, however, despite having obtained four wins, he continues with the team out of the playoffs. During the previous two seasons, the Lagunero team had been close to the title (finalist in the Clausura 2021 and fell in the quarterfinals in the Apertura 2021).
Another of the great departures was that of Javier Aguirre, a coach with a good line-up for his work and experience in Spanish soccer and with major teams such as Japan and Egypt, who earned an extravagant salary in Mexico. After failing to meet expectations for the highest payroll in the league, that of Rayados de Monterrey, the coach was fired on matchday seven. The board decided to give a new opportunity to Victor Manuel Vucetich, with whom the team is placed, until matchday 15, in last place for direct classification.
Club América also had no patience with Santiago Solari, dismissed when the Azulcremas were in the penultimate rung of the general table. In his place, the team placed Fernando Ortiz as interim. Another two days passed for the team to take off and now they are sixth, thanks to a streak of five consecutive victories (the only team in Liga MX at present with that winning rhythm).
A week ago, Marcelo Michel Leaño stopped being coach of Chivas after accumulating three wins, five draws and the same number of losses that keep them out of playoff positions, becoming the eighth coach fired from Clausura 2022. Ricardo Cadena, current strategist del Tapatío in the Expansion League, took charge of the Chivas first team on an interim basis, obtaining a pair of immediate victories against Cruz Azul (1-0) and Tijuana (2-1) that allowed the rojiblanco team to reach the zone of reclassification at the close of date 15, which they will have to maintain for two more days.
Another of the renowned coaches outside the play-off positions is Ignacio Ambriz, coach of Toluca. The former champion with León accumulates four games without a victory and his most recent defeat was against Juárez, second to last in the regular phase. The Mexican coach acknowledged in the post-match conference that he has “tried everywhere but things don’t work out” and that the squad is “unplugged.”
Despite this, ESPN assured that sources commented that Ambriz is firm in the technical direction of the Devils, although the results have not been as expected, since Toluca has lost seven of 15 games and also has the worst defense of the tournament with 28 goals against, six more than Juárez FC, the last in the general table.