Hugo Sanchez has called for Rafael Marquez to be backed as Mexico head coach for three World Cup cycles, and he laughed off the debate over Henry Martin missing out on the squad for the Nations League quarterfinal against Jamaica.
Sanchez spoke to reporters on the red carpet ahead of the International Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Pachuca on Tuesday night. His message was simple: stop second-guessing the coach.
“Let’s back Rafa, and hopefully he gets the backing of three World Cup cycles,” Sanchez said, in remarks reported by Record and El Universal.
Sanchez coached Mexico himself from 2006 to 2008, and he reached for a story from those years to make his point about how everyone in the country has an opinion on the squad.
“When I was head coach, I went to all the restaurants in Mexico, and every chef and every waiter had a list of selected players,” he said. “We all see ourselves as national team coaches.”
A Laugh at the Martin Debate
The sharpest exchange came when Sanchez was asked about Martin. The Club America captain has scored 11 goals in the Apertura 2026, but Marquez left him out of the squad to face Jamaica.
Put to him that Martin is tearing it up this season, Sanchez laughed. “It sounds amusing,” he said. “You will have to ask Rafa.”
The former Real Madrid striker backed Marquez to keep testing new attacking options in this window, saying the coach is right to explore different paths with the limited player pool available to him.
A Striker Problem Bigger Than the Coach
Sanchez argued that Mexico’s shortage of forwards is not Marquez’s fault. He blamed the number of foreign players in Liga MX and said the country no longer produces young Mexican strikers the way Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay do.
He also urged Liga MX club owners to think more about the sporting side and less about the economic side, so that more Mexican forwards get the minutes they need to develop.
The three-cycle call is not a new position for Sanchez. He said the same when Marquez’s tenure began in September, and he repeated it on Tuesday, three days before the first leg in Kingston.
In the same media session, Sanchez praised Tijuana teenager Gilberto Mora, singling out the youngster’s growth and mentality.
Mexico face Jamaica at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday, November 14, in the first leg of their Nations League quarterfinal. The return leg is at Estadio BBVA on Tuesday, November 17.
