Juan Carlos Osorio has been named the new head coach of the Mexican National team after leaving Brazilian club San Paulo earlier this week. The Osorio hire marks the end of an almost three month search for the fulltime Mexican head coach after the firing of Miguel Herrera in late July. Over the last two months Mexico hired Tigres coach Ricardo “El Tuca” Ferretti on an interim bases. His time will be coming to an end after Mexico’s match against Panama on October 13th.

The hire isn’t a head scratcher, but it’s an interesting one. The Mexican Federation shot high in their attempt for a new head coach. They first went after Argentine Marcelo Bielsa. Things looked promising after Bielsa left his post at Marseille. True to his word though, he didn’t leave the French club to take over Mexico and stayed away from El Tri. His under study Jorge Sampaoli was the next name Mexico wanted after Sampaoli hinted that he might want a new challenge instead of coaching Chile. Chile soon squashed those rumors and Mexico’s hunt continued.

In Europe, Mexico took their shot at trying to convince Jurgen Klopp, yet the former Borussia Dortmund coach declined. Also across the pond, Danish great Michael Laudrup expressed interest in the job. The FMF would later say they hoped to bring someone who knows the Mexican players and the Liga MX better.

Current interim head coach Ricardo Ferretti turned down the job fulltime and instead took the job through the CONCACAF Cup only. The only coach who looked willing to take over Mexico was former El Tri manager Ricardo La Volpe, who had great success during his four year cycle. The decision makers of the FMF decided not to go that route and this is where we get to Osorio.

The Colombian, Osorio doesn’t have that much experience with La Liga MX after having only coached Puebla for a year. He’s also spent time in the United States coaching New York Red Bulls and the Chicago Fire. He has expressed in the past his desire to coach at a World Cup so the Mexican opening made for a great match for him. With San Paulo going though board room troubles as well, this gave Osorio the perfect out he needed.

His attention to detail, and balance between his ability to connect to players while also holding a fine line for discipline will serve Mexico well. The search was a long one with many twist and turns but it looks that starting October 14th Mexico finally has their man to help lead them into qualifying for Russia 2018.