In a city where soccer is a religion, where the local team is known as the Holy Herd and its stadium is the Grand Temple, people sometimes talk about Jorge Vergara as if he were the messiah.

Since taking over the troubled Chivas soccer team in 2002, Vergara has resurrected Mexico’s most storied franchise and launched a crusade to expand the Chivas brand worldwide, including in the United States.

Vergara also touches on something deeper in Mexico’s psyche, by his rags-to-riches story and evangelizing of self-help ideology. The taco vendor-turned-millionaire believes that Mexicans’ greatest need is a can-do attitude.

Image via Manggus