Mexico fire coach after World Cup loss to Honduras

Posted Sunday, September 08, 2013 by YAHOO Sport

MEXICO CITY, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Mexico coach Jose Manuel "Chepo" de la Torre was fired on Saturday, a day after a painful loss to Honduras which dented their hopes of qualifying for next year's World Cup.

Justino Compean, president of the Mexican Football Federation, fired de la Torre and replaced him with Luis Fernando Tena, who coached the gold medal winning Mexico team at the London Olympics, according to a statement on the federation's website.

Mexico suffered only their second ever World Cup qualifying defeat in the Azteca Stadium with a 2-1 loss to Honduras on Friday which left them in fourth place in North and Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF) region standings, outside the automatic qualification slots and only a point ahead of Panama.

'El Tri' face old rivals the United States in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday and then have a home game against Panama in October before finishing away to current CONCACAF leaders Costa Rica.

The fourth placed team in the six-nation final qualifying tournament for the CONCACAF region will face a two-legged play-off against New Zealand in November.

Mexico's only other qualifying defeat at the intimidating Azteca Stadium came in 2001 against Costa Rica but their home form had been strangely lacklustre with three goalless draws before Friday's stunning loss.

De la Torre has been under fire since Mexico lost two of its three games in the Confederations Cup in June for an early exit. Mexico then failed to defend the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States in July. Mexico had won the last two cup tournaments but were upset by Panama.

But it was the risk of missing out on the World Cup finals for the first time since 1990 that forced Compean to act.

Mexico was banned from the 1990 World Cup after using over-age players in the World Youth Championship. The last time they failed to make it through the CONCACAF qualifying process was in 1982.

Mexico's poor form, despite one of their most talented squads ever, has frustrated fans who have frequently called for de la Torre's head.