Bora Milutinovic asked to believe in Tata Martino and to be qualified at the end of the World Cup in Qatar

The former Serbian coach qualified Mexico for the World Cup in France 98; however, in the face of a run of poor results he was replaced by Manuel Lapuente

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Bora Milutinovic, who in his first stage at the helm of the Mexican football team participated in the World Cup Mexico 1986, asks that Gerardo “Tata” Martino's process towards Qatar 2022 be respected next November

In an interview with ESPN, Bora avoided saying if it is risky to change national coach at this point, when the incumbent led the tie and won the World Cup ticket and stressed that “in that kind of thing you have to be very analytical” and said that the ideal “is that when everything ends (with the World Cup) you will see the result”.

The former Serbian coach, who was already dismissed before France 1998 with the World Cup ticket on the stock exchange, points out that if you already qualified you should be very respectful “and believe in the work of the coach; that's what you should do: believe in the people you hire”.

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File photo of Gerardo Martino giving directions in a training session of the Mexican national team. Mexico City, February 11, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Romero

After relieving Miguel Mejía Barón in the technical direction in 1995, Bora led the Mexican National Team for two years and in his opinion “we did a successful tie”; however, that national representative was criticized for his game and although he got the ticket early, the federatives decided cease the Serbian-Mexican coach and hire Manuel Lapuente, who had to lead the team to the World Cup in France reaching the round of 16, being eliminated by Germany 2-1.

Bora says he left Tri with great pride, since he left him in fourth place in the FIFA ranking “in the month of January”, although he did not mean the way the national team qualified France, because “what others say; but I was happy because in my second stage in the National Team we made a good team that qualified for the World Cup and we were fourth on the FIFA list; I'll stick with that.”

When questioned whether he likes the style of play that Martino has implemented, the five-time coach in the world championships said:

The CONCACAF Qualifiers are red hot and this Sunday, March 27, will be defined as World Cup qualifiers. | Photo: FMF
The CONCACAF Qualifiers are red hot and this Sunday, March 27, will be defined as World Cup qualifiers. | Photo: FMF

Finally, he said that apparently there is a lot of time ahead to work and get as well as possible to the World Cup event, “but it's not important how much time there is; it's important what you do. My experience tells me that time is not important, but how the National Team is prepared in every way: technically, tactically and mentally.”

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