Hugo Sánchez

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Coach

Club

Sánchez is the only manager in the history to lead a mexican team to two championships in a row [UNAM Pumas] in the Mexican first division. However, in the consecutive tournaments he led UNAM Pumas to one of its worst times in history, almost relegating the club to the Mexican second division league.

Mexican national team

After briefly managing Necaxa, Sánchez was named head coach of the Mexico national team, with the commitment of leading Mexico through the qualification process for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

During his coaching career especially, Sánchez has been known for his volatile temperament and willingness to speak candidly, often expressing strong emotions and opinions, a trait that engenders equally emotional and strong responses from those he criticizes. He has a long-standing feud between with former Mexican National Coach, Ricardo Lavolpe.

Sánchez's first match as Mexico coach was a 2-0 loss to the United States in Phoenix, Arizona before Mexican fans in February, 2007. Sánchez recorded his first coaching victory against Venezuela (3-1) in front of 67,000 "Tri" fans in San Diego at Qualcomm Stadium. Hugo's first game in Mexico took place against Paraguay in Monterrey, Mexico on March 25, 2007, which Mexico won 2-1. A few days later on March 28, 2007, Mexico defeated Ecuador 4-2 in Oakland, California at McAfee Coliseum.

In June, 2007 Sánchez coached Mexico in the 2007 edition of the Gold Cup, his first official competition. After struggling in the first stages of the tournament, México reached the final June 24, 2007 and lost it against USA (2-1).

On June 27, 2007, in the opening game of the Copa América 2007 held in Venezuela, Sánchez led the Mexican National Team to a stunning 2-0 win over 5-time world champions, Brazil. Hugo Sánchez first major victory of his coaching career. After glancing through the first round of the tournament, Hugo led the team to reach the semi-finals and battle against the Argentine squad, losing with a solid 3-0. Finally Mexico ended 3rd place of the competition by beating Uruguay 3-1.

In August 2007, Sánchez announced that Mexico would permanently, or at least in his time coaching the team, drop their infamous green home kit, thereby replacing it with their white away kit, meaning that their away kit would be red. For this decision, Sánchez was subject of a lot of criticism. The two main arguments against him were that the decision was breaking a long-standing Mexican tradition, yet the strongest critics suggested that he should devote more time to the strategy and training of the Mexican team rather than entertaining himself with superfluous features of the sport.

On March 2008, Sánchez had some very upsetting results , including a tie with Australia and Finland Fact|date=March 2008, and a loss at home in Querétaro against Ecuador's U-23 team. The bad results continued in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualification, with a tie with Canada and a loss with Guatemala. Finally, his only victory coming against Haiti with a 5-1 score. However due to goal difference Mexico was eliminated from the Pre Olympic qualifying tournament. The elimination was a hard beat against the soccer in his country, particularly to the owners of the Mexican soccer clubs, who had supported him both economically and sportily by providing the resources and allowing the players to be separated from their teams for nearly a month, while the Mexican season was up.

Many analysts claim that Sánchez's first year as the national coach has resulted in a Mexican team with poor soccer variants, null collective game, tactic stiffness, and lack of strategy. A significant proportion of the press agree that this situation has reached a point of no return with the U-23 eliminitation from the Pre Olympic tournament. Hugo also made the decision to change the jersey color of the Mexican National team from green to white, due to his feelings on green being a color that blends into the grass. On March 31, Hugo Sanchez was fired from the Mexican team via a unanimous 16-2 vote from the main leaders of the sixteen First Division Club Owners.

Managerial stats

"Last updated December 11, 2007" [http://www.mediotiempo.com/dts/dt.php?id_dt=423&idt=79] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_national_football_team#Schedule_and_Recent_Results]

¹Includes results from Copa Libertadores 2003 ²Includes results from CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2005 ³Includes results from 2000 U.S. Cup

Honours

National championships

* 4 Primera División de México (UNAM, as player, seasons 1976-77 and 1980-81; as coach, Clausura 2004 and Apertura 2004).
* 5 La Liga (Real Madrid, seasons 1985-86, 1986-87, 1987-88, 1988-89 and 1989-90).
* 2 Copas del Rey (Atlético Madrid 1985; Real Madrid 1989).
* 4 Supercopas de España (Atlético Madrid 1985; Real Madrid 1988, 1989 and 1990).

International cups

* 2 CONCACAF Champions' Cup (UNAM 1980, Club América 1992).
* 1 Copa Interamericana (UNAM 1981).
* 1 UEFA Cup (Real Madrid, season 1985-86).
* 1 CONCACAF Gold Cup (Mexico national football team 1977).
* 1 Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu (As UNAM coach).

Individual honours

* 1 European Golden Boot (season 1989-90).
* 5 Pichichis (1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1990 with Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid).
* Top scorer of the Mexican League (1978).
* 2 times best foreigner in the Spanish League (1987 and 1990).
* Best Sportist of Mexico of the 20th century.
* Best footballer of Mexico of the 20th century according to IFFHS.
* Best footballer of North America and Central America of the 20th century by IFFHS.
* Only Mexican who appeared in Pelé's 125 Top Living Football Players List in March 2004.
* Playable character in videogame FIFA 06, FIFA 07 and FIFA 08 in the Classic XI team, alongside legends Franz Beckenbauer, Gheorghe Hagi and Zico.
* Appointed by FIFA as "World Ambassador" by Unicef.

Personal life

Sánchez is the son of Héctor Sánchez, who played for "Asturias" and Atlante. Hugo Sánchez is married to Isabel Martín and has two children, a son and an older daughter from his previous marriage. His son, Hugo Sánchez Portugal was a football player and has played in UNAM Pumas like him.

Sánchez was appointed as the official FIFA/SOS Ambassador for Mexico, joining Wayne Rooney (Ambassador for England), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands), and fifty others in fund raising for the official 2006 FIFA World Cup Charity. [cite web |url=http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/news-and-media/news/pages/sanchez-calls-on-football-fans-to-support-sos-childrens-villages.aspx | publisher=SOS Children's Villages | title=Hugo Sánchez to attend 6 villages for 2006 opening in Morelia| accessdate=2008-08-06]

On September 1, 2007 Hugo Sanchez inaugurated a street with his name in Puebla, central Mexico, before a thousand of the locals around there. [cite web |url=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/deportes/Inaugurada/Mexico/calle/Hugo/Sanchez/elpepudep/20070901elpepudep_1/Tes | author= | publisher=El Pais | title=Inaugurada en México la calle Hugo Sánchez| accessdate=2007-09-01]

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.national-football-teams.com/php/spieler.php?id=15870 Hugo Sanchéz Profile and Statistics]
* [http://www.pumasgol.com/jugadores_destacados.php Hugo Sánchez]
* [http://www.pumasunam.com.mx U.N.A.M.]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/players/hugosanchez-in-ec.html Matches in European Cups]

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title= Hugo Sánchez international tournaments
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Persondata
NAME=Sánchez, Hugo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Hugo Sánchez Márquez
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH=11 July 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH= [Mexico City, Mexico
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=