One of the names constantly rumored with the U.S. Men’s National Team job is Juan Carlos Osorio, and on Thursday he picked up some praise from a Mexico National Team legend.
Although he never played for him, Pavel Pardo said in an interview with Metro New York that watching from afar, he felt Osorio would be a good fit for the USMNT.
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“I think so, 100 percent. He has the mentality,” Pardo said in an interview as part of a promotional tour for Panini, the famed World Cup sticker company. “I think, in my opinion, he could be a great coach for the US National Team. He was doing it in Mexico – of course in Mexico he has a lot of critics. They talk about his teams, his rotations. When you see the results, the performance, the most important thing, qualifying and getting to the World Cup, he certainly understands the game and has had success. He also understands the American player too and certainly MLS. I think Juan Carlos would be a great coach for the US.”
As Pardo mentioned, Osorio has earned his fair share of criticism since taking over the El Tri job in 2015. He’s constantly rotating his squad and challenging his players, and when things have gone wrong, it’s been very wrong - i.e., the 7-0 defeat to Chile in the 2016 Copa America and the 4-1 defeat to Germany’s B squad in the FIFA Confederations Cup semifinals.
But on the other hand, Osorio has succeeded in ways his predecessors hadn’t. Under his leadership, Mexico has re-taken its place at the throne of CONCACAF and many of his young players have made the difficult move overseas, including the likes of Jesus “Tecatito” Corona and Hirving “Chuky” Lozano.
And all of that, plus his knowledge of MLS and the American soccer player, has made Osorio one of the most intriguing prospects to coach the U.S., should he become available after the 2018 World Cup.