Soccer-Mexican media clamour for Sanchez's head

By Jason Lange

MEXICO CITY, March 17 (Reuters) - Beleaguered Mexico coach Hugo Sanchez came under pressure to quit on Monday after the country's under-23 team failed to qualify for the Olympic Games.

Sanchez's team failed to beat Haiti by a big enough margin on Sunday to advance to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament being played in the U.S..

Mexico's leading sports newspaper Record published a brief but scathing front-page editorial deriding Sanchez.

"Hugo, have some dignity and quit. Don't bring on any more shame," the paper said.

Sanchez, one of Mexico's greatest players, said the country's recent performances were a disappointment but hinted he would try to hold on to his job. His contract runs until the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

"We couldn't pull it off. We failed," Sanchez said after the game against Haiti, which Mexico won 5-1 when they needed a bigger victory to finish above Canada in second place in their group.

Group winners Guatemala and Canada advanced to the semi-finals, with the U.S. and Honduras going through from the other group. The winners of Thursday's semi-finals go to the Beijing Games in August.

"What I would like to do is finish this process," towards the World Cup, Sanchez told Mexican television.