An Honorable Exit: Pineda Departs Atlas Seeking Best for Club and Fans

A day after the 3-0 loss to Pachuca, it was announced that Gonzalo Pineda resigned as Atlas FC head coach, saying it was the right time to let the club find the leader who can deliver the success its owners and fans deserve.

His decision to resign from the club comes from a not so ideal start to the 2025 Apertura, and from losing all three matches in the first round of Leagues Cup 2025.

Post-Match declarations:

It was Saturday, August 9, 2025, when Atlas FC came back home to their Estadio Jalisco, after playing four consecutive away games, to take on league leaders Pachuca. This match was highly anticipated as it was an opportunity for Atlas to get back on track after their less-than desired performance in Leagues Cup, and for them to put on a great performance for their faithful fans.

Atlas’ confidence however, had been affected from their consecutive losses and it showed as they fell to Pachuca in a 3-0 loss as well.

In Gonzalo’s post-match press conference vs Pachuca: he noted that Pachuca’s performance was exceptional and they “Rightfully deserved the three points.” That this loss along with the ones from Leagues Cup have left him “Anything but calm”, and that there was “A need for a bit of a break, perhaps a mental break and that from there make decisions.”

When directly asked if his earlier comments about perhaps needing a break meant that he would be leaving the team, he dismissed the assumption by stating:

“I did not talk about anything like that, all I said was that there some things to think through and reflect on collectively. There are many scenarios in situations like these, you all know this, and I know this. We have been doing this for a long time, but of course I’d like in many ways to take some time and reflect. We’ve had many days of travel and fatigue, for the players physical strain with changes in climates, and time zones and have faced off against top-tier teams. And so, we need to take some time and wait, but well, we will see what happens.”

Exit stage left:

It was the following day however, Sunday, August 10, 2025, that it was announced that Pineda actually had resigned and would no longer be Atlas’ head coach. The news of his resignation came as a bit of a shock, seeing as he had just dispelled the rumor the night before. Not even a full 24-hours had passed before the news broke about him leaving.

The most logical question to ask is why? Why now?

It was later on that it was said that Gonzalo Pineda himself would have the answers to everyone’s questions.

On Monday, August 11, 2025, Pineda was to have a press conference through the Atlas FC social channels where he would explain everything when it came to his decision to resign and would take questions from journalists and media outlets who were present.

Pineda started off the press conference by apologizing to the media for being late to the post-match conference on Saturday evening, and also for cutting it short. He stated that he spoke to his team for a long time after the match, which caused him to run late for the press conference and that he had to cut it short because he needed to meet the team at the busses to leave back to the hotel at 12:15 A.M., so that he couldn’t take as many questions as he had liked.

What was the reason?

Pineda explained that after the match vs Pachuca he was speaking to the players to which he sort of gave the notice of his decision, but not exactly. He wanted to have a proper conversation about it with his coaching staff before making anything official. He stated that his coaching staff wasn’t fully on board with him wanting to resign or why he wanted to resign, because they were trying to convince him that there was no need for it. That they supported him and that the team was behind him as well. But Pineda was strong in his choice and went to the board of directors with his notice.

“I went to the board of directors with the notice of my decision to get out of the way of the project in order to leave the path free without any demands or hesitation. I was letting go of the contract that I had with Atlas and want to clarify why. It stemmed from a moment where we had played many games where we had conceded a lot of goals, way more than we were expecting. This even though, we worked on defending our goal post extensively during our preseason. It showed during our first games: we won against Puebla, but conceded two goals, Cruz Azul scored three goals on us, then we played against Monterrey where we got three goals scored on us again, and then we take on Inter Miami in Leagues cup where again we lose, but now in penalties. Flashforward to conceding three goals again now against to Orlando and then we end Leagues Cup in Atlanta where they had four shots on target that resulted in four goals. For me it was hard to deal with the fact that we were making multiple changes and analyses, and we couldn’t fix the problem in the form with the defense. Ultimately the reason why I am leaving is because I am a grateful and honorable person. I am thankful to the ownership group Orlegi, as they have always had faith in me, treated me well, and have given me the tools to be successful. It is from that mutual respect and friendship that I have with them that I am opening the path, so that someone else can come in and hopefully rescue the season and that the institution can give them the tools so that they can be successful as well. I also understand that in the last four or five games there has been this wave of negativity directed at me, the team, and the process. I felt that it was starting to affect the team’s confidence.”

Pineda also made remarks as to when he had made his decision, seeing has how the turnaround from the end of the match vs Pachuca to the day of the announcement seemed a bit rash.

“ I made the decision a little bit after the match vs Atlanta United. I came back a bit displeased with the number of goals they scored against us, but mostly with the ease that they scored on us. They had four shots, that led to four goals in a match where we had the ball a lot at times. In a match where for me we shouldn’t have gotten scored on four times. And of course, after the match vs Pachuca I felt shame, it’s what made me reflect and perhaps later on I may think that I took this decision too quickly, but it’s out of the respect and support that I have for these people that I said to them ‘Hey bring someone else in who can give this team what they deserve.’. But yes, it was in those days in between Atlanta and Pachuca that I contemplated it, I had this idea that we were going to do so well vs Pachuca because I saw the team very: strong, united, and concentrated, but our game plan didn’t go the way we wanted it to. But yes, the final decision was made after the match vs Pachuca.”

Pineda’s Time with Atlas FC

Gonzalo Pineda shared his thoughts on how he viewed his time with Atlas FC and how he would categorize it as a learning experience that allowed him to gain more knowledge about the environment in the Mexican League.

“I categorize this time with Atlas as a learning experience. It allowed me to learn more about environment around the Mexican league, since it had been 10-11 years since I had been back. Things have changed here (in Mexico). The ways of working have changed, the media outlets have changed, the social media, press, and fanbases are very different here compared to the United States. I learned a lot, but a lot of pride also because I think that through the end of this, we were ourselves. It would’ve hurt me more to change my values and my way of thinking and to have failed.”

He emphasized that although many who have critiqued him would say that his time at Atlas FC could be considered a failure, that he does not 100% see it in that way.

“Failure is not achieving one’s goals, and my goals weren’t this, so I guess in that sense you could consider this a failure. But I do not feel like a failure, I don’t think that the attempt was made in vain, I think that in all things that are considered failures there are things that can be rescued. So, I categorize this as a learning experience. For the future, I think that we established what kind of playing style we wanted to have, one that was recognizable that pressed high, a team that was aggressive and scored a lot of goals. Because during my time here we scored a lot of goals. In the previous season we had the second-best offense that the club had seen in the last 10 years, and we had an average of almost two goals per game which is high. So, we were an offense-heavy team that looked for goal-scoring opportunities that unfortunately could not find equilibrium with defense. This is an experience that I learned from, and that has hopefully made me a better coach for the future. I, along with my coaching staff, am very happy that we stayed true to ourselves, that we did not change, though we were flexible. Every coach comes in with an idea that we try to stay true to, but you have to be flexible and willing to take other paths. Which I think that we did well.”

Pineda’s hopes for the fans and Atlas FC

If you really think about it, Pineda did the honorable thing by stepping aside to let Atlas search for someone who could help them reach their full potential and help them get better results. It says a lot about him as a person that he would care so much about the ownership group, the players and the fanbase to let go. He made it clear that he thought a lot about the person he wanted to be viewed as, because it meant the world to him that everyone around him have him so much support.

“I did have in my mind of what the fanbase would think. But in that it was mostly my concern by doing right by them. This fanbase deserves better results, and I hope that they get them. They are a great fanbase, they have given me the benefit of the doubt and I feel that I am loved by them regardless of the fact that in the last couple of matches there was a wave of negativity towards me due to the results. I appreciate it, and I hope that they know that I was in this 100% and that I gave it my all. Sometimes we don’t get the results we want, people who are soccer people understand that. As I always said, this club paid for the food on my children’s table, and I wanted to be worthy of that opportunity and worthy of them. I knew that it was time to walk away but walk away with honor, and that’s all I wanted to be viewed as honorable through my children’s eyes.”

Pineda’s arrival to Liga MX:

It was December 12, 2024, when Atlas FC announced that Gonzalo Pineda would be their new head coach. The newly minted rojinegro coach was excited to take on the challenge of being back in Liga MX since the last time he was in Mexico he was a player. Pineda made his professional player debut in Pumas, and then made his way through Chivas, San Luis, Cruz Azul, Puebla, and Queretaro.

Pineda’s first season with Atlas was a bit rough. In the Clausura 2025 tournament (from January 10, 2025- May 25, 2025) the team only ended up winning four matches, drew six, and lost seven. This led to them landing 14th in the standings and not qualifying for playoffs, nor did they qualify for the play-in spot. One the biggest issues for this team was their defense, they ranked 4th in most goals conceded, giving up a total of 32 goals in 17 matches. Not all however was bad, even though the defense wasn’t solid, Atlas did manage to have the league’s top goal scorer in Uros Djurdjevic who scored 12 goals in 17 matches.

Going into the Apertura 2025 things seemed to have started off better. Atlas won their away match vs Puebla 3-2, and then continued the following week by getting a 3-3 draw against Cruz Azul. It was in their third match in the Apertura where things took a turn for the worst. As Atlas traveled to Monterrey, and although they opened up the score line in the 25th minute with a penalty by Djurdjevic. Later in the 36th minute they went down a man when Rivaldo Lozano got a red card, Atlas played with only 10 men for about 60 minutes, and they would go on to concede three goals, losing their first match of the season.

Liga MX play took a brief pause to make way for the Leagues Cup tournament in which Atlas FC was to take on Inter Miami CF, Orlando City SC, and Atlanta United FC.

Atlas in Leagues Cup:

The Rojinegros began their Leagues Cup tournament facing off against Inter Miami. A match in which Atlas worked hard to step up to their star-studded opponents. The match was hard-fought and seemed like it was going to go to penalties as Atlas’ Rivaldo Lozano scored the equalizing goal in the 80th minute. But the chance to do so was taken away as Inter Miami’s Marcelo Weigandt scored in the 96th minute, and left Atlas with 0 points from this encounter. Gonzalo was very proud of his team, despite the result.

“It’s been a pleasure to watch the team play the way we did. With a lot of personality, playing out from the back, and disrupting the pressure of Inter Miami and creating a few good chances. It was really good to see the personality of the team in that environment. Unfortunately, at the last second of the game we weren’t able to get the win or hold the tie as well, so that I think though the result didn’t go our way the performance was better.”

Up next Atlas traveled to Orlando where they would take on the Lions in a match where Gonzalo would end up being heavily criticized by many due to his decision to rotate the line-up. Some stated that Pineda did not take this match seriously as he did others. In this match Atlas fell to Orlando City 3-1. In the days to follow this match, Pineda defended his decision to change the line-up in that it was necessary due to the heavy workload that the team had, and that there were some concerns about some of the players potentially being injured.

“Our line-up was based on the workload and some concerns that we had regarding potential injuries. We tried to give an opportunity to other players and have a fresh team against Orlando, as we know they are a group that push the fitness levels of your team. It wasn’t us seeing Orlando as less than, on the contrary, I’ve always spoken highly about Orlando, Oscar Pareja and his coaching staff. But these are decisions that we have to make while weighing out the possible outcomes and considering that we had five matches with six trips and three matches in humidity and extreme heat. To hopefully not have injuries because we also have to look forward to Pachuca. These decisions will ultimately allow us to continue to have a fresh and healthy team.”

Upon losing to Orlando, Atlas’ chances of advancing to the next round in Leagues Cup were over. They were to face Atlanta United, a team which was also out of the tournament from losing to both Necaxa and Pumas.

Atlas had done a lot of travel in a short amount of time: First to Monterrey for their week three Apertura fixture vs Rayados, then back to Guadalajara, then to Miami for Leagues Cup, then to Orlando, then Atlanta, and finally back to Guadalajara.

In the match day -1 press conference prior to the match vs Atlanta, Pineda was asked what kind of team he’d be bringing to play against his previous club, many expecting him to have a squad compiled by substitutes seeing as how both teams were already eliminated.

“For me there is always something at play, we are always playing for prestige. One does not plan on losing when one puts out a line-up , that is never the plan. Whether you are fighting for points or not you are always playing for prestige, a spot to start, for the coach to see how you work. I don’t buy into the idea that we aren’t playing for anything. When you are a professional you are always playing for something. You always have something to play for even though mathematically you cannot advance.”

The game in Atlanta was highly anticipated in that it would be the first time that Pineda would be back since the team parted ways with him a year ago. When asked what the emotions were being back at Mercedez-Benz Stadium he noted that it is a special place and that he was happy to see people he’d made relationships with, but that was mostly fixated on his team now and getting them ready for the match.

“It’s special (the stadium), I think more than the building it’s the people. You make connections and relationships and it’s a good moment to have to rejoin people here, and to say hi to friends and all that, it’s very special. Other than that, I’m very focused on the team that I have now, but seeing people that I haven’t seen for a year is very special.”

This match versus Atlanta, however, would prove to be another hard blow to the team’s confidence. As even though Atlas held the possession of the ball for most of the match and had more shots on target, Atlanta managed to get the better of them and ended getting their first win in a Leagues Cup match by winning 4-1. In the post-match interview Pineda was asked about his team’s recent results and how he felt the team did in this match and he stated that there really wasn’t an excuse as to why they lost this match except for the fact that they did not play well.

“For this game however, I cannot say that we played well at all. I feel that there were many moments throughout this game where we didn’t read the sequences properly. I think that mistakes were made and receiving a goal so early in the match also kind of messed with our confidence a bit. After that we had lots of things happened to us: one of our players gets injured and then subs out, then the player that goes in gets hurt he as well gets hit in face, then we get scored on an amazing free kick. I can honestly say we did not have a good match; we did not represent who we want to be or what we are striving for. It’s not that we didn’t take this match seriously, today we don’t really have an excuse who we have to do better because we have a very important match coming up at home on Saturday.”

Overall, in Leagues Cup Atlas FC did not have a desired showing. They conceded nine goals in three matches and only scored three. When Pineda had talked about how the statistics and results in the past and how they have not been in his team’s favor, he mentioned that at times cold numbers don’t do a justice to what’s actually going on in the team, and that there are still things that can be rescued from these instances.

“We need to focus on ourselves on a match-to-match basis. I think that if we focus solely on cold numbers, that they might be highlighting only some things and not showing us the entire picture. There are numbers that aren’t to our favor, obviously you can look at the most important ones which are whether you win or lose in that case the last couple of results were not to our favor. I do however think that there are things that can be rescued from these matches, we cannot just dwell on the negatives like most people tend to do. When in reality not everything is negative: we have improved in a lot of phases of the game, and we have created great internal dynamic which had helped us a lot especially vs these bigger rivals.”

The future of Atlas FC

Time moves fast on the world of soccer, so much so, that Atlas has already found the replacement for Gonzalo Pineda as head coach. It was announced on Tuesday afternoon on August 12, 2025, that Diego Cocca would come back to take lead of Atlas FC as their new head coach. Diego Cocca, however, is not a new face to this team. He himself played for the rojinegros back in 1999 and was their head coach for two years from August 2020- October 2022. In his two years as Atlas’ head coach, he went on to make them back-to-back champions breaking a 70-year championships dry spell.

One could speculate that the rush to find a new coach so quickly may have to do with the fact that Atlas FC is up for sale. Grupo Orlegi announced earlier this year that they would be putting Atlas FC for sale for $400 million, this after Liga MX made it known that they were going to crack down on the multi-club group ownership. In selling Atlas, Grupo Orlegi would end its term as one of Liga MX’s multi-club groups and would be left with Santos Laguna. There have not been any formal bids to purchase Atlas FC, but it is anticipated that there will be a sale within the next six months.