Mexico vs. New Zealand: Miguel Herrera's Tenure Will Be Doomed If El Tri Fails

Miguel Herrera is not going to fail at his post as the coach of the Mexican national team because he is timid. The fresh coach is already making bold moves. 

Herrera took over coaching duties for Mexico after an awful summer of performances by Mexico under former coach Jose Manuel de la Torre. That led to his firing and the hiring of Victor Manuel Vucetich. Vucetich took over in September, but with performances not improving, his tenure was short.   

This all led to El Tri missing out on a golden opportunity to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. 

However, El Tri has a two-legged playoff against New Zealand on Nov. 13 and Nov. 20 with the winner advancing to Brazil for the World Cup. 

Obviously, this is a wildly important two-leg affair for Mexico. So Herrera will be leaning heavily on his stars like Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and Giovani Dos Santos, right?

Wrong!

Those two aren't even on the roster as Herrera opted to go with domestic players. The surprise of this move can be felt in this tweet by Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated: 

The roster moves are not without their strategy. 

As Fox Sports' Kyle McCarthy points out, Herrera intends on shifting Mexico to a 5-3-2 system. Considering that de la Torre preferred the vastly different 4-2-3-1 formation and Vucetich a 4-4-2 setup, the move will take some adjusting for the national team. 

That adjustment period will not be as severe with Herrera's roster. 

As Goal.com's Keith Hickey tells us, the roster includes 10 of Herrera's former players with Club America. The addition of these guys will help facilitate the move to Herrera's style.

Herrera had good success with Club America, and his guys will be comfortable under his coaching tutelage and while running his system. 

This will help the team gel as it adjusts to the new style. The 10 carryovers from the Club America squad can act as teacher's aids while also adding their competent play. 

Still, despite the merits of this move, it takes serious confidence in one's ability to name a roster like this ahead of what is one of the most important set of matches in El Tri's history. 

If this roster can't muster a victory in a two-legged playoff against a New Zealand team ranked 79th in the world, Herrera is going to be wide open to criticism. 

It is easy to second guess leaving the likes of Chicharito off the roster. 

And as we saw with the quick dismissal of Vucetich, there is not a lot of margin for error for the manager of this team. 

Of course, the rewards are also there for Herrera. If he can guide his team to the World Cup and then muster improved performances in his new system, he is setting himself up to be a national icon. 

This is a boom-or-bust gamble for Herrera—one that has a clear path towards success but certainly left the door open for an unmitigated disaster in Herrera's career.