Luis Núñez-Villavearán
Updated Thursday, April 4, 2024-23:26
Aguirre, Onaindia, Alberdi, Landeta, Goyado, Uriarte, Garechana and Lanetarzua are their eight surnames. It is normal that
Javier Aguirre
(Mexico City, 1958) is called
El Vasco
. This son of emigrants from two towns in Vizcaya, Guernika and Ispaster, who flew to the North American country to find a life as a merchant, his father, and a piano teacher, his mother, had enough Basque blood to play in the
Athletic Club
. Precisely, the rival tomorrow against his
Mallorca
and the team of which his family is a fan.
However, as he himself admits, as a footballer he never had the quality to reach the Basque club and in Spain he was only able to play 13 games for
Osasuna
because he later suffered a broken tibia and fibula. His replacement, by the way, was the Englishman
Michael Robinson
.
Aguirre
always expressed his intention of not becoming a coach once he hung up his boots, as he revealed in an interview in La Cope. Almost three decades and more than 850 games later, the statements of a coach who, at 42 years old, also said that he would retire at 50 and is now 65, cannot be taken very seriously.
His journey as a coach covers 14 cities and seven countries. He has rarely been offered a winning project. As he himself jokes, he has more relegations than titles, which has generated a humility in him that means that he does not consider himself anywhere close to technicians like
Guardiola
,
Ancelotti
or
Klopp
.
His history is very extensive. If we talk about national teams,
Aguirre
coached Mexico twice, once against Japan and once against Egypt. Regarding clubs,
El Vasco
has gone through:
Atlante
,
Pachuca
and
Monterrey
in Mexico,
Al Wahda
in the United Arab Emirates and in Spain,
Leganés, Zaragoza, Espanyol, Atlético
de Madrid,
Mallorca
and
Osasuna
, the team with which he achieved the most glory in our country.
In the four years he was there, he managed to qualify the rojillos for the
Champions League
qualifiers and for the UEFA Cup, finished fourth in a League and reached that Copa del Rey final against
Betis,
which they lost in extra time in the 2004/05 season. His achievements gave him the opportunity to win the award for best coach in the Spanish league for UEFA in 2006.
Fate gives him a new opportunity this Saturday. The opportunity to once again achieve the feat achieved by that Mallorca of
Eto'o, Pandiani
or
Miguel Ángel Nadal
. Who won the title against
Recreativo de Huelva
at the Martínez Valero by three goals to zero in the 2002/03 Copa del Rey.
Palmares
Aguirre
has only achieved one Mexican First Division title with Pachuca, in 1999, a Concacaf Gold Cup with Mexico in 2009, a La Liga Cup and two President's Cups with Al
Wahda
between 2016 and 2017 and a League Concacaf champions with
Monterrey
in 2021. Despite his humility, it is not a bad record for
El Vasco
either .
Whatever happens,
Aguirre
will face the result with a smile. Like the one he and his players exhibited before the penalty shootout with which they managed to eliminate
Real Sociedad
. The one that lets him know that in football you lose much more than you win and that, when he returns home, he will be encouraged by his wife Silvia, a very football fan and with whom he has been for 45 years, his children, one a lawyer, another a journalist and a representative of footballers and, recently, also a granddaughter.