Mexico fires coach after `shock` World Cup qualifying loss to Honduras

Washington: The coach of the Mexican national football team, Jose Manuel de la Torre has been sacked after the side faced a home defeat by Honduras, as the team still struggles to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

According to CNN, the 47-year-old``s assistant Luis Fernando Tena will take charge for Tuesday``s crunch clash with the United States in Ohio, following Friday``s 2-1 home defeat by Honduras. The reverse, just Mexico``s second in 77 qualifying matches at Estadio Azteca, left the Olympic champion in fourth place in the CONCACAF group and struggling to earn an automatic place at the showpiece tournament in Brazil next year, the report said. Only the top three teams have direct qualification and the fourth finisher must play Oceania winner New Zealand in a playoff, the report added. De la Torre expressed after the Honduras match that he would not resign, but the Mexican football federation announced on Saturday that his two-year tenure was over, in a brief statement on its website, the report further said.