On January 19, the Mexican Football Association confirmed that Monica Vergara was the new technical director of the women’s team, just one day after the sacking of Christopher Cuellar. It means a woman arrives at the national bench for the first time in more than 50 years of history.
Of the past 20 years, 16 were led by Leonardo Coyard, two others led by his son Christopher, and another two led by Roberto Medina, who failed to qualify for El Tre for the 2019 World Cup in France.
Since Leonardo was fired, the name Mónica Vergara seemed to take over, but it wasn’t until 2021 that marked the shattering of the sport and chassis paradigm.
“It is an opportunity to strengthen the woman’s personality in the structure of Mexican women’s football,” Claudia Pedraza, a researcher specializing in gender and sports issues, analyzes in an interview with El Economista.
He adds that the new position for Vergara, who was a world champion under the age of 17 in 2018 and a bronze medalist at the 2014 Youth Olympics, must be understood from two perspectives:
“Symbolically, it is an advance in the development of women’s football because it affects the promotion and promotion of coaches. On the sports side, their experience, ability and willingness make us understand that besides the moment when the players live in the Liga MX for women, they set high expectations for the team.
Monica Vergara’s arrival comes in a context where the Women’s MX League includes the largest number of coaches in its history (six) and the players who graduated from this competition made the leap to Europe, such as Ruby Soto and Cecilia Santiago.
“The structure of women’s soccer in Mexico continues to take moderate, but necessary steps. Many other things are still needed, but the way is this. It’s a step that gives impetus to what follows, which could be having more coaches in Liga MX” Or more women in decision-making positions in FMF. We are still very far from international standards, but I think progress is being made, ”Pedraza mentions.
Yon de Luisa and Gerardo Torrado, president and sporting director of the federation, respectively, announced Maribel Dominguez (top scorer in national team history) as the coach of the U-20 club and Anna Galindo as the coach of the U-17 team.
“I always had hope that women’s football would grow in our country, I dreamed of it,” said Monica. “Then we started to believe a lot in these spaces, and now we have to put up with that courage to make it happen.” Vergara after his January 19 presentation.
For Academician Claudia Pedraza, Monica’s experience as a player will be a key factor in trusting the players and even communicating with the women’s team: “We are talking about someone who knows the sporting, tactical, strategic and social commitments that exist. In women’s football.”
“Having experienced the different stages of women’s football in Mexico, it gives her a vision to understand the shortcomings, absences and weaknesses she has faced as a player and that she has seen other players face. This is crucial because it gives you a global perspective of what can and should be done to promote women’s football in Mexico,” she continues. “.
She adds that this decision was made even through the federation’s strategy: “It is a very smart move to score points internationally in front of FIFA, the media and the international women’s football community. (FMF) not only does this for the good vibes, but it also knows the implications of having a woman. As a coach at the level of the public image. “
Vergara was part of the Mexican national team that competed for the first time in the World Cup in the United States in 1999, as well as the 2004 Olympic tournament in Athens, an experience that would be essential in her new position, according to Claudia Pedraza: “She is a woman who does not focus only on the team, But on how to create a project to promote women’s football and thus better performance, from the perspective that the growth of the first team can only happen when there is a project that promotes women’s football from the grassroots in its various categories and fields, and the weaknesses that exist in the training processes for the players.
In this regard, the academician expects that Vergara will be able to “open new channels of communication with Liga MX women’s clubs” that can sponsor his work in the first team, since 2019, Roberto Medina indicated that the lack of classification is due to the reason for the World Cup in France, among the factors Another, to the fact that “most of our girls arrived four days before the event, and unfortunately all of them at a very different pace.”
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