ALMERIA, Spain // Almeria have signed the former Mexico coach Hugo Sanchez to lead the Spanish club. Sanchez takes over for the remaining 22 league games this season, with a contract option for the 2009-2010 season should he keep the struggling club in Spain's top-flight. Sanchez replaces Gonzalo Arconada, who was fired on Sunday following Almeria's fifth straight loss, a 1-0 defeat at Sporting Gijón, to see them drop to 16th in the Primera Liga, only three points clear of the relegation zone. Arconada was the fifth coach to be fired since the start of the current Spanish campaign.
"Almeria has bet on a coach that, like a player, has done it all, who has great charisma and now wants to triumph in Spanish football as a coach," an Almeria statement said on its website. Sanchez, 50, will arrive in the Andalusian city over the weekend before leading his first practice on Monday. Sanchez, who led the Spanish league scoring charts five times while playing for Real Madrid, won Clausura and Apertura titles with the Mexican club Puma in 2004.
Sanchez was fired by Mexico in March after a 16-month stint having failed to deliver on promises of regional titles and an Olympic medal. *AP