Hugo Sánchez gets a second chance to be the hero

Tuesday, 23 December 08, 03:21 AM · Comments(0)

When it was thought that Hugo Sánchez was enjoying his time away from the spotlight, an unexpected announcement from Spain confirmed that "Hugol" wants to keep his name in the headlines in some way, shape or form.

It turns out that Almería in Spain's La Liga is giving the former Mexican National Team head coach an opportunity to be a hero by counting on him to save them from relegation.

This wouldn't be the first time that a Mexican is being asked to help a squad stay in the Spanish top flight. After Javier Aguirre guided Mexico to the Round of 16 of the 2002 World Cup, Osasuna offered him the head coaching job. To make a long story short, Aguirre added a much-needed boost to the Pamplona side by not only helping it stay in La Liga, but also bolstering his value as a strategist. And I'm sure you know the rest of the story.

Without a doubt this will be a daunting task for Sánchez since the Andalusians don't have much of a budget to begin with. But at least a player already there has something in common with him, ties to Pumas UNAM. Esteban Solari, who had a brief but successful stint with UNAM in the Primera División de México, can count on getting strong consideration from the "Pentapichichi" since he is familiar with the Argentine's playing style.

At the time of the hiring of Sánchez, Almería stood in 16th place with 16 points, 25 back of Barcelona. There's doubts out there regarding the Mexican's ability to rescue his tarnished image after being fired as Mexico's coach. He couldn't figure out how to coach a talented "Tricolor" with a dozen players in Europe and failed miserably in his quest to help Mexico's Under-23 National Team reach the Beijing Games. And that team had decent players as well.

Perhaps this is what "Hugol" needs: to take the reigns of one of La Liga's most modest teams and place it permanently in the middle of the table. At the same time, he pumps up his market value and get one step closer to one of his dreams, to coach Real Madrid.

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