Mexico coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino fired after World Cup exit

An early exit from the World Cup has cost Mexico’s coach his job.

Gerardo “Tata” Martino is out as head coach of Mexico’s national team after it failed to get out of the group stage on Wednesday, falling short because of a goal differential tiebreaker with Poland.

“I am the first responsible for this terrible disappointment and frustration that we have,” Martino told reporters, per ESPN. “As the person in charge, it causes a lot of sadness, I fully assume responsibility for this great failure.

“My contract ended as soon as the referee blew the final whistle and there is nothing more to be done.”

Mexico went 1-1-1 in Group C, capped off by a 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia on Wednesday – a game in which it led 2-0 in the second half before letting up a late goal in stoppage time. Mexico was eliminated on a goal differential tiebreaker with Poland, which had a goal differential of zero compared to Mexico’s minus-1. El Tri drew with Poland in its World Cup opener before falling to Argentina 2-0 on Saturday.

It marked the first time Mexico did not advance to the knockout stage since 1990, a World Cup from which it was banned for using overage players in a U20 tournament.

Martino, 60, had led Mexico since 2019 after previous coaching stops with the Argentinian national team and Barcelona.

“It was the game we played the best, we created the most goal opportunities,” Martino said after Wednesday’s win. “And we could have scored the number of goals so as not to depend on the other game, but we failed.”