Small Folding Step

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 Tuesday. Lozano turned down a demotion to stay on as staff for a new head coach, the FMF said in a statement.

"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 is 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 coach last June before going on to win the 2023 Gold Cup title, which helped him secure the permanent position in August. By November, the first signs of pressure began to emerge after the team narrowly qualified for the Copa through penalties in the quarterfinal stage of the 2023-24 Concacaf Nations League.

In March 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 from his squad.

Foreshadowed by losses to Uruguay and Brazil in tournament warmup games, the two-time Copa finalists failed to qualify for the knockout stage thanks to a third-place finish in Group B and just one goal scored in 270-plus minutes of play. It was just the third time Mexico did not qualify for the knockouts in their past 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 attention 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 the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California) and Canada on Sept. 10 (at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas).

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 lost 4-2 on penalties to Athletic Club.