In Sánchez, Mexico takes step to ensure bright future

	Hugo Sánchez is arguably Mexico's best player ever. Now he'll have his chance to become the national team's best coach, too. AP
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Over the past decade-plus, the Mexican national team has taken major steps toward joining the world's upper crust.

El Tricolor has been nothing if not consistent in international tournaments. Its top players have had success abroad as several Mexicans now dot the European landscape.

But the final piece of the puzzle may have finally been added. The Mexican Soccer Federation tabbed Hugo Sánchez as its next coach on Thursday, and the former Real Madrid star will instill a winning mentality on a team that desperately needs it.

In his first day on the job, Sánchez came out with guns blazing.

"I want us to be world champions," he said in his introductory press conference. "I don't want to limit us to a quarterfinalist. What I desire and we want is to be champion."

Mexico has shown it can play with any team in the world. Between 2003 and '05, El Tri beat '06 World Cup teams Argentina, Brazil (twice), the U.S., Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Japan. But what Mexico has not shown is that it can reach the latter stages of the World Cup. In each of the last four Cups, Mexico has bowed out in the second round.

On paper, Mexico's '06 team was far better than the '94 version. More players on this year's World Cup team had more international experience and the national team had more success in the years leading up to Germany '06 than it had in the early 1990s. Yet the results were the same. In '94, Bulgaria ousted Mexico on penalty kicks. This summer, Argentina beat Mexico in extra time.

The quality has increased but the mentality had stagnated. Without a proven winner at the helm, the '06 squad was doomed before it ever stepped on the field in Germany.

Now, however, that has changed. Sánchez will wipe the slate clean. As a player, he knew nothing but success; as El Tri's coach, he will stand for nothing less than that.

"I prepare myself to win and to always come out as champion," he said. "I will not have room for those who do not think like me."

Sánchez is far and away Mexico's best player player. As a teenager, he won a scoring title with Pumas. By age 20, he had started three World Cup games. He triumphed in Spain, notching five scoring titles and earning the nickname Pentapichichi, which he still carries today. He left Spain as the second-most accomplished scorer of all time with 234 goals, second only to Zarra's 251.

As coach, Sánchez guided Pumas to consecutive titles in '04, the only time a club has successfully defended its title since the Mexican league went the to the current split-season calendar.

"Every team he becomes involved with, he turns into a winner," Chivas and Mexico midfielder Gonzalo Pineda told Mexican publication El Universal.

A World Cup veteran, Pineda's first cap came under former coach Ricardo Lavolpe, but his first game in the Mexican league was with Pumas under Sánchez. Pineda was a key member of Pumas' title-winning sides.

"I don't need to talk about it or put it any specific manner. His results speak for themselves," Pineda said. "Now, we just have to continue working hard because the national team will take a new path now."