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Mexico National Team coach Juan Carlos Osorio has been around. He's managed in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and the USA, but he cut his teeth in coaching as a young man in England. And he had a very peculiar strategy.
While studying for a science and football degree at John Moores University and living in Liverpool, Osorio tried everything he could to watch Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier's training sessions. The only problem was Houllier wouldn't let him watch.
So, he resorted to trying to find a room in a nearby house with a view of Liverpool's training grounds.
“I saw there was a crack in the brick wall so I walked up to the house opposite and demanded to live there. I explained what I wanted to do and the owners organized a meeting in which they allowed me to stop there. I spent almost two years in that house, and was very happy,” Osorio told The Guardian last year.
Clearly Osorio cares about soccer.
“If it was raining I had to watch from the window, but if it was a nice day I would drag a table out and watch from outside and over the brick wall. At night I would do the same or go and watch the academy,” he told The Guardian.
One of the key things Osorio said he learned from England is squad rotations, which is why it wasn't particularly surprising to see two different lineups fielded against El Salvador and Honduras this international break. His rotation strategy seems to have worked, as Mexico came away with all six points this international break, beating El Salvador 3-0 and Honduras 2-0. His players' club coaches will probably like this policy too.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus @The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
