Thoughts on Pumas' debacle

TUDN’s Linea de 4 show was able to conduct a rare interview with Pumas yesterday, bringing head coach Jhonathan Lazcano and midfielder Natalia Macías Valadez together with interviewer Rodrigo Celoria to discuss a video of Lazcano appearing to push Macías Valadez as she came off of the pitch during Pumas’ match against Cruz Azul. The video had gone viral in the days leading up to the interview, and the interview was an attempt to move on from the incident.

The only thing on display during the interview however was the imbalance of power between a coach and a player. Even if Macías Valadez was upset or angry, she couldn’t have shown that while wearing the clothes of her employer, at the place of her employment, and with the single person who on a daily basis determines her professional fate on the other side of the commentator attempting to defend himself. What could she have possibly said that wouldn’t have had professional repercussions?

During the interview, a lot was said to couch the interaction at La Noria. It was during the middle of an intense game, “the adrenaline was high,” as both Lazcano and Macías Valadez said, but it’s especially during those moments where abusive behavior presents itself. Soccer is a highly emotional game filled with pressured situations. What wasn’t said however was an apology from Lazcano.

In the greater context, Pumas as an institution is failing at doing the right thing. This incident comes on the heels of the club failing to terminate Dani Alves’ contract for three weeks after an official complaint was filed alleging he committed sexual assault, only terminating his contract after he was arrested and jailed in Spain.

It’s also impossible to ignore the greater context of the global reckoning of abuses in women’s soccer that was started by Meg Linehan’s article in The Athletic in 2021 detailing widespread sexual abuse in the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States. While the interaction between Lazcano and Macías Valadez was not sexual assault, we have seen aggressive coaches in Liga MX Femenil before, with former América coach Craig Harrington being suspended for verbally abusing Monterrey players during a game in 2022.

To be clear, Lazcano’s interaction deserves attention and he should face discipline. While it does not however raise to the same level as some of the abuses detailed in the article in The Athletic nor does it show a clear pattern like Harrington, it doesn’t need to. It should however serve as a wake-up call to him, to the institution, and to Mexican fútbol in general that this behavior is unacceptable.