Diego Cocca – Club Tijuana Xolos’ New Head Coach – Runs First Training
Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles has a new head coach. Diego Martin Cocca will manage the team starting in the upcoming LIGA MX 2018 Apertura season. Argentine coach led first practice as a Xoloitzcuintle.
Soccer News: Diego Cocca arrived to Estadio Caliente and on Thursday led his first practice as Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles manager. The new head coach led the training session and after spoke about his arrival and his thoughts on being the head coach.
“We want to be part of the club’s history, be part of its identity.”
“We are hardworking people and we know fans want a team that represents them, that leaves everything on the field and one that is a contender”, Cocca said.
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Cocca, 45, talked about how he became in contact with the club and its president Jorge Alberto Hank leading up to the days he signed.
“Jorge Alberto Hank is a very accessible person,” Cocca said. “He told me he wanted us to be the Xolos coaching staff soon after I had finished coaching Racing in Argentina.”
Jorge Alberto Hank is Club Tijuana’s President.
“We had to move fast”, said Cocca. “There wasn’t much time to fix logistics and prepare everything that went with being able to bring family here. [Hank] helped us a lot.”
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Cocca from Buenos Aires, brings with him Mauro Gerk as his assistant and Leonardo Bustos and Renso Valinoti as his fitness coaches. Gerk is familiar to Tijuana.
He was part of the Xoloitzcuintles squad that played and earned promotion to the first division from the Liga de Ascenso in 2011. Cocca has had these three coaches at his side since he made his debut as a manager in 2007.
“Mauro Gerk is well known here, he’s at home,” Cocca said. “He also knows how the daily grind goes within the club. That makes this so much easier for us that he knows everyone and that he played here.”
“We also have coach Renzo Valinoti, a fitness coach who we consider to be very important to the upcoming phase of preparations in Mexican soccer”, said Cocca. “It’s the four of us here but we know that the club has very capable personnel who will surely give us a hand.”
Cocca has clear goals for his first season with Club Tijuana but he wants to take things day-to-day.
“We must take it slowly, goal by goal.”
“We can’t think about a final when we haven’t qualified (to the playoffs). We know that Mexican soccer is very difficult that in we need to demonstrate in every game what we work on every week”, Cocca said.
“We need to understand that we are a team and we need to do things collectively, sacrifice for the team”, said Cocca. “We have some time to be able to adapt and help the players an important process that requires to leave everything on the field.”
The new Xoloitzcuintles manager will continue leading the preseason training over the weekend at Estadio Caliente before leaving for Puerto de Mazatlan.
That is where the team will set preseason camp Dec. 10 through Dec. 20.
Source: Xolos Press Release
