Tuesday Hoddle of Coffee, Soccer News and Links, November 29, 2016

We’ll have Tactics Tuesday going up in a few hours, so the Hoddle today will be focused on other news in the footballing world. The story that most caught my eye yesterday is this one: Attacking guru Paco Jemez, most recently managing relegated Spanish side Rayo Vallecano and then La Liga stragglers Granada, has taken the managerial job at Mexican club Cruz Azul.

The Liga Bancomer continues to get more and more interesting: The league has already started attracting some elite European talent, most notably French striker Andre-Pierre Gignac, and now they attract a La Liga manager who, if somewhat lacking in top job credentials, certainly is known for an entertaining, attacking style. (If you think of him as Spanish Zdenek Zeman you’re not a million miles away.) With the Liga gearing up for the Clausura starting in January, it will be interesting to see how Jemez’s new club fares.

On to the links:

Tragedy strikes in Colombia as the plane carrying a Brazilian club flying to the Copa Sudamericana final crashed.

Life isn’t great for players outside the top domestic leagues in world football. A recent survey of over 14,000 footballers tells the often sad story.

Speaking of which, it looks like the New York Cosmos, the flagship team in the USA’s second-tier soccer league, the NASL, may be shutting down.