Tata Martino: A Story of Few Victories and Many Failures

What a face Gerardo “Altata” faced Martino at dawn Sunday, when he returned to Mexico from faraway Qatar, where the national football team ended its worst time in the World Cup since 1978, by failing to qualify for the round of 16. Martineau, sometimes serious, sometimes funerary, under a barrage of claims and insults from the crowd, came face to face with the consequences of his limitations, obstinacy and arrogance. He was hired (for the sum of $1 million) so that Mexico could reach the fifth match of the World Cup, after twenty-eight years of failed attempts, and he stayed for the third match. Total failure.

Never mind that his aides, like source Norberto Scoponi, confronted those who had insulted his boss. Few or even less, it does not count that the players “closed their ranks” when criticism intensified during the elimination process before the World Cup, due to the poor game and incorrect results of the team, or the consecutive defeats against United. Countries in the finals of the Gold Cup and Nations League. Little help, at this point blank checks were presented, again and again, by the Mexican Federation authorities and the National Teams Committee. El Tata joined José Antonio Roca, remembered, as one of Mexico’s worst coaches at the World Championships.

How did the directors figure out that Martino was the man to take us to the happy fifth game? As a player, ‘Tata’ was average, with a long career at Newell’s Old Boys and some short runs at Tenerife, Lanus, Barcelona (from Ecuador) and O’Higgins from Chile.

Already as a coach, he went through the modest Almirante Brown and Platense (to which he descended in 1999). Paraguay was the country where his career really began. There he came out champion with Libertad (in two shifts) and Cerro Porteño. He returned to Argentina, without luck, in Colon, but in 2006 he was offered the captaincy of the Paraguayan team and he accepted.

He didn’t win anything with Guarani, but he had great performances, given the team’s history, at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where he lost to Spain in the quarter-finals, and at the 2011 Copa America, in which he lost. Final 0-0.3 against Uruguay. He left the team in 2011, took his beloved Newell’s, who flirted with relegation, and led them to the Argentine championship in 2013, his first victory as a coach in his country.

Then he made a new quantum leap. Barcelona (from Spain) called him into their ranks and Martino was able to give himself the pleasure of managing the strongest club at the time. He won the Super Cup as soon as he arrived, but was defeated in the cup by Real Madrid, and in La Liga he managed to finish second, behind the rocky Atlético “El Cholo” Simeone. This failure (Messi, Neymar, Alexis, Javi, Iniesta, Cesc, Busquets, Mascherano, Puyol, Pique, etc. were in this team) sealed his fate and Tata left the Catalan team with the stigma of not knowing how to manage big teams. .

As if they had not learned this lesson, they called him to lead the Argentine team. And in just under two years, Martino managed to lose the Copa America final twice to Chile (both on penalties). The public did not forgive him and Tata submitted his resignation in June 2016.

He still had time to steer his ship, in MLS, and win a title with Atlanta United FC before the leaders of Mexican football decided he was their guy. Martino made his debut with the trio, winning the 2019 Gold Cup. But in the playoffs his team started to show the seams. A poor performance followed. El Tata decided to fire all-time top scorer Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández and not negotiate with a reluctant Carlos Vela over his possible return. The result of this and obstinacy was an aimless, superficial team that struggled with the boys and was dominated by the greats. Martino whitewashed himself: he faced the press (which reported that he not only watched the domestic league matches, but traveled to watch Argentina matches), clung to his decisions, played with veterans like Jimenez, Ochoa, Herrera, Guardado, etc., and let go of notable rookies like Jimenez is out of Qatar.

The result is known: elimination in the first round, failure, allegations and insults from the fans upon their return. Nothing useful to Mexico remains from its era. On the other hand, he will subtract what he was allowed to save, which is his salary of more than three million dollars annually. Bad business for some, good for others.

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