Mejía Barón: the catalyst for difference in Pumas

Miguel Mejía Barón is in the driving range of Pumas, is waiting for the players to come back from their cardio routine; As they arrive, he intercepts one of them and they move away towards the depths of the field while they talk, they take a seat on a bench because the talk lasts about 15 minutes. Then he goes to the technical director Andrés Lillini and exchange ideas for another long period of time, the team will face the semifinal of the MX League and their experience and advice help shape the team’s direction.

“The teacher Mejía Barón has a lot of experience and in these kinds of games it is the details that make the difference. He has helped us a lot, always advising us, always being close, I think he has been much more on the court than in his office and it shows, “he told The Economist the side of Pumas, Alan Mozo.

Mejía Barón is an experienced Mexican soccer player who as a player developed his entire career in Pumas and as a coach led the Auriazules to the 1990-91 championship; as Mexican coach he achieved the Gold Cup in 1993 and a runner-up in the Copa América in the same year; most recently he has won multiple titles at Tigres as a technical assistant to Ricardo Ferretti.

At the beginning of September, when the team was in position 15 out of 18 in the general table and with just one win, the idol of the auriazul fans joined the Pedregal team to serve as sports vice president. He came to Pumas “without a plan but with good intentions”, as he pointed out in the presentation conference, he sought to integrate and get to know the institution as much as possible in order to give his opinion and thus try to improve.

Miguel Spain, who in his time was also part of the 1990-91 championship, shared with this newspaper that although there are a series of factors that have influenced the fact that Pumas has composed his performance, the addition of Mejía Barón was undoubtedly positive.

“He likes the player to take care of the little big details that are the difference between winning and losing and he is a great observer both on and off the boys’ court. He has the ways to talk to them, he also has a good vision of what the team is in terms of football, I think he is a good support for Andrés Lillini“Said the former captain of the team.

Mejía Barón is not interested in winning anyway, but doing it well. He is meticulous in the fundamentals of the players and in knowing how to choose well the moments to change the game, take a long pass or take a route.

“He takes great care of the principles, how the modes are and he is an empathetic person because the preparation has led him to that, also the years, he tries to talk with the players and I think he is a great support for Lillini because there are some things with which he coach should not be struggling, “added Spain.

After his arrival at this new stage in Pumas, Mejía Barón is aware that university students do not have the budget available to large institutions that always fight for the top positions in the table, in fact, the three most valuable templates in the tournament (Monterrey, America and Blue Cross) at least tripled the value of the felines’ roster ($ 27.6 million).

– How is Miguel when negotiating with the high command so that they take into account his opinion in budget decisions or signings?

– “He is a clear person, if he does not like something, surely we will not see it anymore. Without being a person who does not understand reasons, he has a way of seeing things, of working beyond the results, an honest way of facing and at the time of speaking, with a common sense, with reasoning about how things are happening and with all the knowledge that supports it. He will surely give his proposals and ideas to improve the team with the directive, with Andrés Lillini and with the basic forces ”.

The work of Andrés Lillini, the disposition of the players, the improvement in the performance of some of them, are just some of the factors that, under the consideration of Miguel España, have helped guide the team’s direction in the sporting results and that they are fighting for access to the final. The same players recognize that the only difference with the start of the tournament were the goals, which strangely did not arrive, because the work remains the same.

“I don’t think that the inclusion of Mejía Barón is the success of the team’s operation; no matter how an external figure arrives, the protagonists of the good or bad streaks are the players, we are the ones who ultimately make a decision and it has nothing to do with the people in long pants who are in the project; Many times they do end up influencing but what I see is that the arrival of Mejía Barón, the management that Lillini does with the group has helped to make this look better, but I think that the greatest credit goes to the players for having overcome criticism to a bad start to the tournament. The mexican soccer having this repechage format gives you hope, motivation when you are already inside and that is what is happening, “said Odín Patiño, a former footballer from Pumas.



Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx

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