“Ricardo Gareca will lead Ecuador,” says the newspaper AS, from Spain

While last Tuesday night Francisco Egas said in an interview on the network DirecTV that “it would be an honor if Ricardo Gareca considered joining the Ecuadorian team”, a foreign media outlet took this Wednesday one step further than the president of the Ecuadorian Football Federation. It is stated emphatically that the 64-year-old Argentine is already the coach of the Tricolor.

Also from abroad came the previous Thursday, in the morning, the news about the definitive separation of Gustavo Alfaro and four hours after that announcement the FEF recently spread through its social networks that there would be no renewal of the contract with the trainer.

On that occasion the newspaper ACE, from Spain, thus titled his note about what would be the new coach of the National Team: ‘Gareca will lead Ecuador’. According to Egas, the leadership is just in a stage of analyzing applicants. “The first step in the process is to define a bit what we want. I think that with the experience of four years and with what we have lived, I think the profile is more or less clear”, declared the head of Ecuafútbol in the aforementioned interview.

To ACE “The Argentine coach and the Ecuadorian Federation have reached an agreement to officially assume the position of coach of the National Team at the end of January. After the departure of Gustavo Alfaro de la Tri, the FEF has accelerated negotiations with the former coach of Peru.

Gareca’s collaborator

The Madrid newspaper even advances the name of who would be Gareca’s main assistant. The Tiger I would arrive with (Rodolfo) bocce Santín, his former (Uruguayan) teammate from América de Cali and the Peru team, as his right hand. There are only a few last economic fringes left to make his arrival in Ecuador official ”.

The information about the alleged hiring of Gareca by the FEF is completed as follows: “His previous stage as coach was with Peru and he qualified the Blanquirroja to the World Cup in Russia, in 2018, and he was close to repeating the feat in the World Cup. Qatar 2022, but did not succeed after losing to Australia in the playoffs. Nor should we forget the Copa América final, which he lost to Brazil in 2019. Without a doubt, Gareca’s cycle with Peru was remarkable. He will now have to take on a new challenge with a team that failed to get into the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar ”.

In another order, the Ecuafútbol leadership established that the salary of Alfaro and his team of collaborators was $1,735,102.08 in 2021. That amount appears in the economic report that the entity delivered in January 2022.

113% higher salaryIt would be understood that the FEF does not have the resources to commit to Gareca, a strategist who charges more for his work, for still owing money to Alfaro (for salaries, plus an item for the prize for qualifying for the World Cup).

According to the magazine Management, from Peru, specializing in economics, “Gareca arrived in Peru in 2015 to lead the soccer team and qualify for the World Cup (Russia 2018). The salary of the Argentine DT was a little more than 308,000 dollars a month, approximately, which added up to the great figure of 3.7 million dollars a year.

That is, 113% more than what the Federation paid, with difficulties, to Alfaro. (D)