Stylistically, Osorio is everything his beloved predecessor, Miguel Herrera — last seen rolling around on the grass of the 2014 World Cup in fits of operatic fury and elation, before being fired for punching a broadcaster — was not. He takes extensive notes on the sideline in color-coded pens, quotes the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges and is prone to lengthy digressions about the chemistry of the human brain.
Without the pedigree of a successful playing career, the calling card for most professional soccer coaches, Osorio’s rise has been fueled by an obsessive quest to master the tactical aspects of the game.
He persuaded Manchester United to allow him to observe its practices when Sir Alex Ferguson was still in charge there; and he not only befriended a Liverpool family whose home overlooked the team’s training ground, he moved in with them.
Osorio’s players, at least, appreciate his hard-won expertise. “I call him, in a way, like a genius because they live in a completely different world than ourselves,” said Javier Hernández, the Mexican star known as Chicharito, or Little Pea. “Even if you can speak five minutes with him about one game or one player, he gives you the way he sees football and the way he sees that player, and it’s knowledge that you can learn if you want.”
(Osorio stood by the players after photos and videos leaked of a party several of them attended with escorts hours after the team beat Scotland, 1-0, in its final appearance in Mexico before heading to the Cup.)
After the Chile defeat, with a traumatized nation baying for his firing, Osorio went on something of an intellectual and emotional journey, consuming books about failure and humility, while seeking out other coaches who had endured devastating losses. He had his players study a video of Chile’s goals, and hired a mental coach from Spain to help them recover and prepare for this World Cup.
Now, Osorio will finally have the chance to erase the loss from his and Mexico’s collective memory and maybe even break the nation’s World Cup curse.
“If he can get through to the fifth game, all will be forgiven,” said Hérculez Gómez, a Mexican-American broadcaster for ESPN who played professionally in the United States and Mexico. “That’s what they’ve long yearned for.”
Source : NYtimes
