Diego Cocca is out as manager of Mexico’s men’s national soccer team with Jaime “Jimmy” Lozano moving into the interim manager role, the Mexican Football Federation announced on Monday.
Cocca was hired in February and took over for Gerardo “Tata” Martino, who left when his contract ran out following Mexico’s group-stage exit at the 2022 World Cup. Cocca managed just seven games for El Tri and earned a 3-3-1 record.
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Mexico placed third in the Concacaf Nations League after losing 3-0 to the U.S. men’s national team in the semifinals and beating Panama in the third-place match on Sunday.
“In the last week, I have found many deficiencies,” Mexican Football Federation commission president Juan Carlos Rodriguez said on Monday. “A game against the United States can be lost, there's always that risk because this is football and the win can go one way or the other. What cannot be accepted was the way in which it happened.”
Along with Cocca, Rodriguez announced that Rodrigo Ares de Parga will no longer be the executive director of Mexico’s national teams.
Cocca had managerial success in Mexico’s domestic leagues before taking over the senior national team. He won consecutive Liga MX titles with Atlas in the 2021 Apertura and 2022 Clausura. The 51-year-old Argentine also previously managed clubs in Argentina and Colombia.
Lozano, meanwhile, led Mexico to a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He will manage El Tri when the squad begins the Gold Cup group stage with matches against Honduras on June 25, Haiti on June 29 and Qatar on July 2.
“The natural thing to do would be to wait for the end of the Gold Cup, but today we don't have time to waste,” Rodriguez said.