Mónica Vergara named México Women’s National Team manager

The Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación (FMF) has announced Mónica Vergara will be the new head coach of the México Women’s National Team. Vergara takes the reigns one day after Christopher Cuéllar stepped down from the job. In addition, the U20s will be lead by Maribel Domínguez and Ana Galindo takes over the U17 team.

Vergara has worked her way through the ranks of the women’s coaching structure, starting out as an assistant in 2014. She’s worked as an assistant U17s and U20s as well as leading the U15s, U17s, and U20s. Her México U17s finished second in the 2018 Concacaf U17s Championship, beating Canada 2-1 in the Semifinal Round before losing the Final 3-2 to the United States. They then went on to the 2018 U17s World Cup, where they beat Canada 1-0 in the Semifinal Round before losing to Spain 2-1 in the Final.

She also took the U20s to the 2020 Concacaf U20s Championship Final, where México was beaten 4-1 by the United States. They did however qualify for the 2021 U20s World Cup before the global pandemic forced the cancellation of the tournament.

The good news is that Vergara has worked with most of the current crop of Senior National Team players through her work with the U17s and U20s, who many consider something of a Golden Generation. She’ll have their trust, and that’s a powerful thing. The bad news is she’s inheriting a team that has struggled when it counts most, especially against regional rivals Canada and the United States, and they didn’t play many games as a selection even before the global pandemic.