Report: Club Tijuana to name Óscar Pareja next head coach

According to Ives Galarcep of Goal.com, FC Dallas manager Óscar Pareja is expected to be named Club Tijuana’s manager. There was no timetable given, however it would most likely be after the end of the current Liga MX season. Tijuana has already been eliminated from the Liguilla, and their season ends after the final whistle next Friday evening.

The 50 year old Pareja has spent almost his entire managerial career inside Major League Soccer, first managing the Colorado Rapids during the 2012 and 2013 seasons before heading to FC Dallas at the start of 2014, where Pareja had been a player and served as assistant coach and as a coach in their academy system, which is largely hailed as one of the best in the United States. He also had a brief stint as an assistant with the United States U17 team in 2007-08.

On the surface, Pareja sounds like a great fit for Tijuana. He speaks both Spanish and English, and the club is one of the few in Mexico with an English-language presence. Pareja will have Tijuana’s academy at its disposal, which has had players such as Luis Chávez, Antonio Nava, Fernando Arce, Jr., and Alejandro Guido in its ranks.

Pareja has a special bond with Xolos forward Fabián Castillo. Castillo lived with Pareja when Pareja was an assistant coach with FC Dallas. A 19 year old playing for his first team outside of his native Colombia, Castillo had just joined the club from Deportivo Cali and moved in with his countryman while he got acclimated to life in the United States. Pareja was able to get goals from Castillo while Dallas won the Supporters Shield (most points during the regular season) and U.S. Open Cup in 2016 and were the Supporters Shield runners-up in 2015, missing out to the New York Red Bulls on goal differential.

Pareja would replace fellow Colombian Franky Oviedo, who was named interim manager on October 31 after the departure of Diego Cocca.