Mexican national team players came to defense of their coach, Javier Aguirre, after he was widely criticized for remarks he made about the state of affairs in Mexico to a Spanish radio station.

Aguirre, who returned from Spain to take over the Tri last year and lead it to the World Cup 2010 finals, said Mexico was "damned" because of the violence caused by narco-traffickers and planned to return to Spain.

"He is our coach, our leader, and there is nothing more to say," Mexico captain Gerardo Torrado said. "I did not hear the remarks, but perhaps he made a small mistake and it has been magnified too much." Aguirre, who also led Mexico to the 2002 World Cup finals, apologized for "having made a remark in a forum and a manner that were not the correct ones." Mexico faces Bolivia Wednesday in San Francisco in its first game of 2010.