Mexico City, Sep 26 (IANS) Brazilian Ricardo "Tuca" Ferretti will continue as the Mexican national football team's interim coach for four more matches and will then focus on managing his team, the Tigres UANL, the Mexican national football federation said.
The federation said in a statement released on Tuesday that the Tigres management notified it that although Ferretti would be available for the friendlies on October 11 in Monterrey against Costa Rica and October 16 in Queretaro against Chile, he could not be the national team's permanent coach, reports Efe news.
Ferretti will also coach Mexico in the two November friendlies to finish the cycle he started in September with losses against Uruguay and the United States in FIFA-sponsored friendlies.
The national team has been without a permanent coach since Colombian Juan Carlos Osorio, who led the squad to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, turned down a contract extension.
The federation said it would study the candidates and name an ideal coach to lead Mexico on the road to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
"We're in the home stretch of the process, we've interviewed several important candidates, and we will surely come to a conclusion soon," the federation said.
The federation thanked Ferretti and the Tigres for allowing the Brazilian to step in until a new national team coach is chosen.
Mexico advanced to the round of 16 at the World Cup but lost to Brazil.
Mexico, the United States and Canada will host the 2026 World Cup, but the soccer federation hopes to see the squad in the final eight of a World Cup before then.
