Everything is going to be all right for Eduardo Coudet. The Argentine coach parted ways with Club Tijuana on Monday and in the time it takes to play a World Series game was being linked to jobs back home.
San Lorenzo and Racing would be interested in having the 43-year-old, according to Clarin, if the situation is right. It seems El Chacho will not be out of work for long. That's understandable. Coudet lost more matches than he won at Tijuana, but most of his disappointing mark over the 15 matches he coached came after the team stumbled out of the gates and lost its first three games of the season.
The team started to click and ran off some positive results after an offseason that saw not only coach Miguel Herrera but also some of the team's best players head for the exit door. A top-eight finish, and the playoff spot that comes with it, was not out of the question.
Perhaps interim manager Diego Torres can get the results the team needs Friday against Leon and in the finale in Toluca, but Xolos almost certainly would be better served to have Coudet. Coudet and his staff had an established plan with players understanding the expectations, even if they hadn't been able to execute recently.
Dumping a coach Monday ahead of a game Friday isn't unheard of in Mexico. Coudet becomes the seventh coach in an 18-team league to start the season and not survive the tournament. Most teams were floundering when they made a move. Tijuana is not thriving, but is three points out of the Liguilla places and still alive in the cup.
What's at work here? Reports from outlets across Mexico noted that Coudet was headed for the exit door not because of sporting reasons but because of economic ones. Depending on which report you read, players and members of the coaching staff were anywhere between one month and two months behind on wages. It's worth noting that it's not just Coudet but his entire staff departing.
Falling behind on payments is not entirely uncommon in Mexico, something Coudet either may not have known or may not have cared about if he went to management demanding an explanation. Generally the money comes through and everyone moves on. That does not appear to be the case in this situation.
Good for Coudet. Maybe others are used to seeing things run this way, but there's no reason for it to happen. The organization of a players' union could have an enormous effect on owners' business practices, but in the meantime people in positions of power like Coudet need to stand up.
Even if players are eventually paid up, and again there's no reason to believe they won't be at Tijuana, which generally is a well-run operation, having to wait two months for their checks is ridiculous. It's exactly the kind of rotten business that leads players to eagerly accept moves to a place like Major League Soccer, where the level isn't as high as in Liga MX but the checks clear twice a month.
Coudet had a bright future in Liga MX, and that may have been cut short by one of the league's frustrating and unethical idiosyncrasies. He might be better off in the long term, but Liga MX is worse off if it can't figure out a way to maintain managerial and on-field talent.
