Marquez breaks the spell of Mexico/ Barca legend looking to upset his country's national team
Rafael Marquez says he is determined to break the spell of his country's failures in the knockout stages of the World Cup.
According to the third wind, Rafael Marquez, the head coach of the Mexican national team, announced that he is looking for a fundamental change in the football culture of this country to pave the way for achieving greater goals on the international stage by changing the mentality of the players.
The legendary captain of Mexican football, who took the helm of El Tri after the end of the 2026 World Cup as a replacement for Javier Aguirre, has returned to the national team camp in a different role this time after more than two decades of a brilliant career as a player of the Mexican national team. During his playing career, despite participating in five consecutive World Cups, Marquez tasted the bitter taste of elimination every time in the round of 16 and could not break the historical spell of this team in the final stages.
"I played for the national team for many years and experienced five World Cups, but we did not achieve a different achievement than what was achieved before us," Marquez said during the FCC International Forum about the need to change the approach of the Mexican national team. But football always presents short-term challenges and today there is an opportunity to look for a different path for the national team. I hope that my record and professional background will help to convince the Mexican players and by changing the culture of the team, we will reach new achievements."
The head coach of Mexico also pointed to the importance of mental health in professional sports and emphasized that every technical staff should benefit from the presence of a psychologist in the team: "These days, the presence of a psychologist or mental coach in the technical staff is an undeniable necessity. The evolution of football has undergone significant changes, and today a large amount of information must be processed, along with the complications caused by social networks. "Mental support for players is vital so that they can focus on their performance on the field, make rational decisions and not allow peripheral factors to adversely affect their psyche."
Referring to his personal experience during his time at Barça, he said: "Currently, most clubs and national teams use psychologists. A tool that a head coach must seriously rely on. In a team with twenty-five or twenty-six players with different personality traits, the coach must know the characteristics of each individual in order to find a way to penetrate their minds and how to motivate each person. During my time playing in Barcelona, I personally used the help of a psychologist. "There were extremely heavy pressures and certain personal circumstances that affected my performance, and by taking advantage of these consultations, I prevented mental concerns from hindering the quality of my play on the field."
The former defender of Barcelona mentioned that he continues to use the experiences of his time as the director of Barca Athletic for the development of young talents: "We were training on a field that was only a few tens of meters away from the training field of the main team. I played the role of a psychologist there and constantly reminded the young players that you are less than a hundred meters away from realizing your dream. What will you do in training today to get one step closer to the first team pitch? They respected me because they knew that I myself once played on the other side of the club. A coach should take on the role of psychologist to bring out the best version of the players. I showed them attention so that they gave their all when it was necessary and now we are seeing the result of that approach, because many of them have reached the first team of Barcelona."
Marquez and the Mexico national team will return to action in the November international window to face Jamaica in the CONCACAF Nations League quarter-finals. This match will be the first practical step of this coach in the way of implementing new ideas in the structure of the Mexican national team.