Juan Carlos Osorio officially stepped down from his post as head coach of the Mexico national team on Friday after a polarizing but at times very successful tenure.
Osorio, who previously served as the coach of the Chicago Fire and New York Red Bulls about a decade ago, leaves after a mixed World Cup for Mexico. The Colombian native guided El Tri tp a famous victory Germany in group play. But El Tri were ultimately eliminated Round of 16 for a seventh straight tournament after losing 2-0 to Brazil.
Under Osorio, Mexico dominated opponents in Concacaf 2018 World Cup Qualifying play, easily snagging the top spot in the final Hexagonal round with 21 points. That performance came one cycle after Mexico finished fourth and required a 9-3 aggregate victory over New Zealand in an inter-confederation playoff to qualify for the 2014 tournament.
But Osorio also had some rough moments in charge, most notably a 7-0 defeat to Chile in the 2016 Copa America Centenario. He also saw Mexico defeated 1-0 by Jamaica in the 2017 Concacaf Gold Cup semifinals, though that was largely a second-choice squad since El Tri also played in the FIFA Confederations Cup that summer.
