Mexico national team forward Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano revealed why El Tri were ultimately unsuccessful with Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino at the helm at the 2022 World Cup, revealing “we were not connected.”
Martino, now the head coach at Inter Miami, was relieved of his duties following Mexico’s shocking group stage exit in Qatar, but things are looking better now for the North American country with new head coach Jaime ‘Jimmy’ Lozano leading the way.
Chucky, one of the more prominent figures in the Mexico set-up with 17 goals and 11 assists in 64 appearances, did not shy away from explaining why Martino’s time with El Tri didn’t work out.
“At that moment, many things came together, such as the coach and some players, we were not connected and many were not 100 percent, neither the coaching staff nor the players, that came together and exploded in the World Cup, there were many things that were not right,” Lozano said in an interview with W Deportes.
Lozano, like many of his Mexican teammates, was extremely disappointed with how the World Cup panned out for El Tri: “I left very frustrated, I arrived with great enthusiasm, with great desire … When I returned home, it was very difficult for me to recover from Qatar 2022. It hurt me a lot because Mexico did not deserve that, it hit me a lot, I did have a month or so that the World Cup made my head spin, but I think I tried to get over it.”
Although Lozano didn’t take part in the 2023 Gold Cup, which saw El Tri win the competition for the ninth time, he believes it was clear to see the impact that the then interim boss had on the squad.
“For me it’s something very important: having a Mexican coach who already knows everything about Mexicans, how soccer is handled, the players, that’s important for the national team. He’s hungry, he wants to do something important and that’s what he transmits, that was missing a bit in the selection,” the 28-year-old said.
The former Napoli player is now back in the Eredivisie with PSV Eindhoven, where he first made his name in Europe before switching to the top flight of Italian football in August 2019.