Venezuelan coach will be Club Tijuana manager starting 2014 Clausura
TIJUANA –Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente announces today the hiring of Cesar Alejandro Farias Acosta, 40, of Venezuela as its next head coach heading into the LIGA Bancomer MX-2014 Clausura tournament and the ongoing 2013-2014 CONCACAF Champions League.
Cesar Mathias (assistant coach), Cesar Baena (goalkeepers) and Fabian Bazan (fitness) join the Farias’ coaching staff.
Farias comes to Tijuana with plenty of soccer experience. He formerly was the Venezuelan national team head coach from 2008 through 2013. His coaching experience includes taking Nueva Cadiz Futbol Club Under-17 from the Third Division to the First Division in Venezuela in just two seasons (1996-1998).
Farias also coached in the Venezuelan First Division with Trujillanos (2002-2003), Deportivo Tachira (2003-2005), Mineros de Guayana (2005-2007) and Deportivo Anzoategui (2007). He led Deportivo Tachira to a second place finish in 2003. He led that same team to the quarterfinals in the 2004 Copa Libertadores. His teams were always amid the top squads in Venezuelan soccer. That led to Farias being hired as the Venezuelan national team coach in 2007. He helped make history for his country leading “La Vinotinto” to the FIFA Under-20 Egypt 2009 World Cup and advanced to the second round only two years after taking the job.
Farias was also the head coach for the senior national team during the 2010 South Africa and 2014 Brazil World Cup CONMEBOL qualifying periods. His 2010 team was two points shy of moving on to a World Cup qualifying playoff after playing to a 0-0 draw against Brazil, becoming the first Venezuelan team to not allow a goal in Brazil during an official match. That same Venezuelan squad was the first to make it to the final date of qualifying with a chance of reaching the World Cup with 22 points in the standings. Under Farias, Venezuela finished as the sixth place team in the 2014 World Cup qualifying tournament with 20 points just behind Uruguay who clinched the final World Cup berth from that region.
Farias now enters a new challenge as the new Club Tijuana head coach. Farias joins the Xoloitzcuintles to begin preseason preparations Dec. 6.