Mexico has parted ways with men's team manager Jaime "Jimmy" Lozano following an underwhelming group stage exit from the Copa America, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) announced on Tuesday.
In a statement, the FMF said that Lozano turned down a demotion to stay on as staff for a new head coach.
"Jaime Lozano was offered, along with his coaching staff, a contract until 2030, in which during 2024-2026 they will accompany a more experienced head coach towards our World Cup, and later it would be Jaime himself who would retake the reins of head coach in the 2026-2030 process," the FMF said.
"After analyzing the proposal, Jaime Lozano informed us that he doesn't wish to continue. We respect his decision."
The FMF are set to announce upcoming changes in the first week of August.
ESPN Mexico reported last week that Lozano turned down an opportunity to stay on after demotion to assistant for Javier Aguirre, who is set to have talks this week with the FMF, to step in as national team coach for the third time.
Lozano, 45, was initially named as interim last June before going on to win the 2023 Gold Cup title, which helped him secure the permanent coaching position in August. By November, the first signs of pressure began to emerge after narrowly qualifying for the Copa through penalties in the quarterfinal stage of the 2023-24 Concacaf Nations League.
In March of 2024, additional criticism was placed on the coach who lost 2-0 to the United States in the Nations League final. Heading into the Copa, Lozano was questioned for dropping key veterans such as Hirving "Chucky" Lozano, Guillermo Ochoa, and Raúl Jiménez, among others, from his squad.
Foreshadowed by losses to Uruguay and Brazil in tournament warm-up games, the two-time Copa finalists failed to qualify for the knockout thanks to a third-place finish in Group B and just one goal scored in 270+ minutes of play. It was just the third time Mexico did not quallify for the knockouts in their last four appearances.
Mexico sporting director Duilio Davino said after the Copa that "the project continues" under Lozano, but also highlighted that the coach would soon be evaluated. ESPN Mexico recently reported that there was a lack of unanimous support for Lozano within the FMF, leading to the offer of a demotion as assistant.
With just over a year in charge, Lozano closed out his tenure with a 10W-4D-7L record.
Prior to his role at the senior national team, Lozano managed Liga MX's Queretaro and Necaxa. At Mexico's youth national team level, the former Pumas midfielder gained notoriety thanks to a bronze medal for El Tri's Olympic squad at Tokyo 2020.
Mexico's next scheduled games are U.S.-based friendlies against New Zealand on Sept. 7 (at Pasadena, California's Rose Bowl) and Canada on Sept. 10 (at Arlington, Texas' AT&T Stadium)
Aguirre, who helped Mexico qualify for the 2002 and 2010 World Cups, recently closed out a two-year run as coach of Mallorca in Spain. The 65-year-old made headlines earlier in 2024 with a Cinderella run to the final of the Copa del Rey, where Mallorca narrowly lost 4-2 on penalties to Athletic Club.
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