Everyone’s favorite meme-generating, journalist-punching, former Mexican National Team manager has finally found a new job. Miguel “El Piojo” Herrera will be the new manager of Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, known as Tijuana or Xolos for short.
That’s right, a man nicknamed “The Flea” will manage a club who’s mascot is a Xoloitzcuintli, a Mexican dog breed. Seems like a match made in heaven.
Herrera has signed a two-year deal with Tijuana and will officially start with the team after this Apertura season ends, as per Liga MX rules.
¡Bienvenido @MiguelHerreraDT! #WelcomeToTijuana https://t.co/jHRaJ2dJPM pic.twitter.com/aj4rP1Vldv
— Xolos 🐕 (@Xolos) November 3, 2015
This is a huge step in the right direction for Tijuana as after the club sacked then-manager Rubén Omar Romano, they were looking for someone to turn the ship around as they have been a mess this whole season. The team has been under the direction of interim manager Raúl Chabrand since October 19th.
Although they have one of the top five leading scorers in the league in Dayro Moreno, Tijuana is solely reliant on Moreno’s offensive output and their defense is tied for worst in the league with 28 goals against. These are some of the reasons why Tijuana sit in second-to-last place in the Liga MX table only above relegation threatened Dorados.
Not to mention that Tijuana has been on an incredible losing streak, losing five straight games and are winless in their last seven matches. So much like Herrera did when he took the Mexico NT position, he will have to go into damage control mode as soon as the Clausura season begins as he is inheriting a Xolos team that is in serious disarray.
But, expect big things from Tijuana in the Clausura season in 2016 as Miguel Herrera will try and bring the mentality he brought to América when they won the Clausura Championship in 2013. He will also try and help Tijuana to another league title, as Tijuana last won their first and only championship in the Apertura 2012 season.
With Miguel Herrera’s proven leadership, Tijuana will be (in my opinion) one of the big players in the Mexican winter transfer market and will probably be one of the favorites to finish in playoff contention.
