Javier Aguirre, Japan’s Mexican manager, enjoys telling friends that he has been in top-level football as a player and coach for 35 of his 56 years.
Since breaking into Club America’s first team in 1979, the midfielder and 59-time Mexican international played in Spain, the United States and Mexico.
He retired in 1993 but was a coach within two years.
Within five years he was Mexico manager, the first of two stints in charge, both involving the World Cup finals.
He also managed with distinction at Osasuna, leading them to a first Uefa Champions League appearance.
He coached with success but no trophies at Atletico Madrid, Zaragoza and Espanyol, where he oversaw a significant improvement following the departure of Mauricio Pochettino in 2012.
Aguirre would seem to have an unquenched appetite for football, but he prefers baseball. He says he was not good enough for the stick-and-ball game, but he still supports the Oakland Athletics.
“Javier also tells people that his wife is more interested in football,” says Manolo Marquez, a Spanish coach who worked with him at Espanyol until last year.
“Javier is just a very good football coach. He’s a cultured man, fluent in English and Spanish. He’s well read and has varied interests outside football.”
What makes him a successful coach?
“It’s all about the group with him,” Marquez says. “Players want to play for him, want to confide in him.
“He’s like a father, and they warm to him because he’s smart, ironic and funny. He’s also stable. He has an image of using strong language with journalists and referees, but his methods work.
“He insists that your average player has the ball for only two minutes a game, so the most important thing is to work on the other 88 – like fitness.
“He’s had the same fitness trainer at every club since Osasuna.”
Aguirre’s motivational techniques are well-known, and he uses a range of tactics to engage with players.
In one case at Zaragoza, he surreptitiously called all his players’ wives and got them to record a message, which he played back in the dressing room ahead of a vital match against Real Madrid.
They won that game at the Bernabeu and avoided relegation, a remarkable turnaround, for he had arrived at the Romareda in November 2010 when his side were seven points away from safety.
Zaragoza were desperate, in debt and did not pay his wages on time, but using youth team star Ander Herrera, now at Manchester United, he led them to safety – though not without controversy.
The Mexican, who has Basque parentage, is one of 41 people who are being questioned about a 2011 match-fixing incident in a game between Real Zaragoza and Levante.
Aguirre’s side won the game 2-1 to secure their Primera Liga status, but the game was subsequently one of nine to be investigated by the Spanish league.
He denies any involvement, saying: “I worked in Spain for 12 years and I have never done anything unethical or unprofessional. The only thing you need to win is effort.
“I don’t give anyone presents and I don’t go looking for any. I will cooperate fully with the prosecutors and defend myself until the end.
“The players involved in the match are still playing every weekend and the Zaragoza directors are still doing their jobs. The referee from that match is still blowing his whistle.
“Why shouldn’t I be allowed to carry on with my job? I am innocent until proven guilty and I have the right to work.”
Aguirre is adamant that the inquiry will not affect his current work, and leading Japan players have defended their manager.
“He has said he didn’t do it, so he didn’t do it,” says Japan’s most-capped player, Yasuhito Endo.
"We have to believe what the coach has told us and follow his lead," Shinji Kagawa says.
Aguirre has been in charge since July, following Japan’s poor World Cup showing in Brazil, where they scored twice and drew once in three matches and were eliminated at the group stage.
Japan have shown excellent form in post-World Cup friendly games, and their manager says that Japan "have everything we need to win" in the 2015 Asian Cup.
The most successful team in the tournament’s history with four championships, Japan, who beat the 2015 hosts Australia in the 2011 final and also in a recent friendly, begin their campaign against Palestine in Newcastle next Monday.
They then face Iraq in Brisbane on January 16 and Jordan in their final group game in Melbourne four days later.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
