Enrique Meza |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Enrique Meza Enriquez | ||
| Date of birth | March 3, 1948 | ||
| Place of birth | Mexico City, Mexico | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Cruz Azul | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 1982–1983 | Cruz Azul | ||
| 1992–1995 | Cruz Azul | ||
| 1995–1996 | Monarcas Morelia | ||
| 1996–1997 | Toros Neza | ||
| 1997–2000 | Club Toluca | ||
| 2000–2001 | Mexico | ||
| 2002 | Club Atlas | ||
| 2003 | Cruz Azul | ||
| 2005 | Club Toluca | ||
| 2006–2009 | Pachuca | ||
| 2009– | Cruz Azul | ||
| 2010 | Mexico | ||
Enrique Meza Enríquez (born March 3, 1948 in Mexico City) is a long-standing Mexican football coach and technical manager. Prior to being coach, he was a professional footballer, playing as the goalkeeper for Cruz Azul, retiring in 1976. Popularly nicked-named "Ojitos" because of his sharp eyes, he was the substitute for Miguel "Superman" Marin, the superstar Argentinean goalkeeper. His son Enrique Maximiliano Meza is a rising coach in Mexico and globally.
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Notably, Meza has been the coach of several professional soccer teams in the Mexican premier league and the National football team of Mexico. His career has been full of great successes and big disappointments. Meza started his coaching career in the first division Mexican league by coaching Cruz Azul from 1982 to 1983 initially; and again from 1992 to 1995. He led Cruz Azul to the Mexican league final in 1994, but lost. The next year he moved to coach Monarcas Morelia. Crucially, it was not until 1996 that his coaching truly started showing its capturing potential. His new team, Toros Neza, had a very offensive style of playing football - resulting in their scoring numerous goals. Interestingly, during that 1996, his Toros Neza team made it to the final, but lost to Chivas de Guadalajara by a high score.
Soon after losing the final, he announced that he was leaving to coach Club Toluca. His coaching proved to be very successful and spectacular. Meza was what Toluca needed, and the club became champion on three occasions: Verano 1998, Verano 1999 and Verano 2000, in just two years. In 2000 Meza left Club Toluca to coach the Mexican National Team. The performance of the team was below expectations, and he resigned after only few months of accepting the appointment. In 2006 Meza took the coaching position at Club Pachuca.
After a very bad start, Meza slowly transformed the team, leading C.F. Pachuca to its first Copa Sudamericana championship. This made C.F. Pachuca the first Mexican team to win a CONMEBOL title. In 2007 Meza took C.F. Pachuca to their second CONCACAF title, which entitled the team to participate in the World Club Cup, and lead C.F. Pachuca to its fifth league title. On 29 August 2007, his team won its first Superliga title, after defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy at the Home Depot Center. In April, 2008, Pachuca reclaimed the CONCACAF Champions Cup and secured a berth for the Japanese hosted 2008 FIFA Club World Cup held in December 2008. Pachuca finished fourth after winning 1 match with 2 losses. Meza managed Pachuca to a second final in Clausura 2009, but he lost his second final against Ricardo Ferretti of Pumas UNAM (first loss against Guadalajara while coaching Toros Neza) by aggregate score 2-3.
On June 1, 2009 Meza finished his contract with Pachuca; and some members of the media linked Meza to Cruz Azul. Meza's results have made him one of the greatest coaches in the Mexican League, making him the fourth most successful coach in the league's history.
Cruz Azul's president, Guillermo Alvarez, Confirmed that Enrique Meza and Cruz Azul had reached an agreement - for what would be his fourth time as coach of Cruz Azul five years later. Enrique Meza returned to Cruz Azul with a new challenge and determination of giving Cruz Azul a title. Since the 1997 Mexican League Winter Tournament Cruz Azul have not won a title.
On July 28, 2010 he was selected as interim coach of the Mexican national team, after Javier Aguirre left the position. He gained new, endearing wide appeal for his only game as interim coach on 11 August 2010 at Mexico's hallowed home of footbal - Azteca Stadium - because he tactically got a 1-1 draw against the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship and 2010 FIFA World Cup winners Spain.
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