Club Tijuana’s New Leader is Chosen
Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles has a new head coach — stepping up to take the responsibility and leadership of the famous Mexican team is bilingual Oscar Pareja.
The new Club Tijuana head coach arrives after much speculation and taking the position left empty by Argentine Diego Cocca is the former FC Dallas coach Oscar Pareja.
Colombian born Pareja played as a pro in his home country as well as in the MLS predominantly for FC Dallas from 1998 to 2005. After hanging up his pro cleats, he stayed on at the club, becoming a youth coach at the club and quickly moved up the ranks to head coach of the Colorado Rapids in 2012 and then returned to his MLS home of FC Dallas as the sixth head coach in franchise history on Jan. 10, 2014. The former pro midfielder served as head coach until now.
Pareja told the MLS Soccer, “I think the decision to come has been based on the opportunity to experience a different league,” he said. “I have been grateful with the opportunity that Major League Soccer and all the US soccer organizations have provided to us as a way to grow beyond the moment, and we have accepted to come to a different league.”
After being in Dallas for a total of twenty years, Pareja is seeking new challenges with Club Tijuana in Liga MX. FC Dallas ranked 4th in the MLS Western Conference with 57 points, trailing LAFC, Seattle Sounders and Sporting Kansas City which topped the rankings with 62 points.
There was once speculation that Pareja might have been in the running for the head coaching position of the U.S. Men’s National team. Although he reached his 100th win in the MLS after 228 games, perhaps not winning any major trophies since the 1997 U.S. Open Cup has encouraged him to go south of the border looking for new opportunities.
