Ricardo Gareca, an Argentine coach with a regular campaign in Peru as the coach of that country, will not come to lead Ecuador. A few days ago, he agreed to take over the depressed Vélez Sarsfield from Buenos Aires, a club he has a romantic relationship with, having been a player between 1989 and 1992, and successfully managing the team between 2009 and 2013.

When there was talk of the possibility of Garec replacing Gustavo Alfaro, journalism dependent on the Ecuadorian Football Association and some uninformed people applauded the talks and presented the Argentine as Josep Guardiola. Gareca is no doubt a serious and capable coach, but his role in seven years in charge of Peru has not had the brilliance that is attributed to him. First of all, due to the lack of quality footballers, and then due to the excessive seniority of figures like Jefferson Farfán and Paolo Guerrero, who contributed little in two periods.

“Gareca took Peru to the 2018 World Cup,” say his eulogists; Yes, but he was only fifth in the tie with a discreet performance. He reached the playoffs thanks to goal difference when he was tied with Chile. He won the quota thanks to the victory against New Zealand. In the pre-World Cup for Qatar 2022, Peru was a disappointment. He finished fifth again and lost his penalty shootout against Australia. That is the reality, although it is worth noting that he led Albirroja to the final of the 2019 Copa América.

Several factors conspired for the failure of Garec’s engagement. The economic one was fundamental, since the Argentine coach earned $3.7 million in Peru and wanted $4 million to sign for Ecuador. The Federation could not cover that claim. Alfaro charged $1.6 million, late and wrong. This was revealed following a claim by Alfaro, who claims that Ecuafútbol owes him close to $4 million, although details of that figure are not yet known. This organization said he owed her only $290,000, and the distances are astral. On the other hand, FEF owes a lot to people and institutions, including the judges. His reputation as a bad payer has already gone beyond what Gareca – presumably – must have thought: “if they couldn’t pay Alfaro, it will be worse for me, because I’m asking for twice as much”.

Francisco Egas said that talks with the Uruguayan Guillermo Almada are continuing, which remains to be seen. Almada is a coach who has built a solid reputation in Mexico. Earlier in Santos Laguna, and today in Pachuca, he had a great performance. He was runner-up with Pachuca in the Clausura and champion with that team in the Apertura in 2002. In Ecuador, we know him well because he led Barcelona, ​​where he won the tournament in 2016 and was a semi-finalist in the Copa Libertadores in 2017. Alfaro’s reverse is a bold chariot, bold without losing order. The portal FourFourTwo ranked him 45th among the world’s best technicians last year.

Unfortunately for FEF, Almada has a contract with Pachuca until June 2025, and his salary is close to $3 million. Although the parent national football company assures that it can offer the coach up to 2.5 million dollars, the question is where are the resources when they could not cover their debts with Alfaro, and their obligations are growing more and more?

Rejected negotiations with Alfaro, and given the proximity of the FIFA date, the FEF is at the stage attributed to Pol Baqueriz in its program do business with meor: Grab what you can! And a low-profile coach like Sebastián Beccacece got on this plane. The Argentine, who has never played professional football, was an assistant to Jorge Sampaoli in the Chilean national team and various clubs and was part of the leadership of the Argentine team as Sampaoli’s assistant in the tumultuous failure of Russia 2018.

Beccacece debuted as the head DT at the University of Chile in 2016 and was a resounding failure. Out of 25 games they won 5, drew 10 and lost 10 with a performance of 33%. Independiente de Avellaneda and Racing had similar results. His best performances, not really brilliant ones, came with Defensa y Justicia (they won the 2021 Cup Winners’ Cup). Beccacece stands out on the edge of the field with his hysterical running, shouting and gesticulating towards players and his outrageous reactions that earned him several expulsions and suspensions.

TikTok and a rock concert

Improvised ‘journalists’ of the TikTok generation, submissive lovers of everything foreign, which is not always the best, were fascinated by the arrival of the mediocre Beccacece. He is a foreigner, young, blonde, with long hair and a “balanced coach”, as they call those who take the piss in important matches and rather throw the team than defend. FEF already gave them a taste when they brought in Jordi Cruyff, who was only at the unforgettable rock concert where he was introduced and where Egas excelled with that speech in which he promised this, about the European: “he will make us a football world power .

I will embarrass them all on Sunday by suggesting that they give the coach a chance this time, and appoint Dušan Drašković as sports director. At this point, one question is worth asking: is the histrionic Beccacece a better DT than Octavio Zambrano, Carlos Torres Garcés or Álex Aguinaga, to name three of our own? The beardless microphone already disqualified them once. “They are out of date,” they concluded after three years of watching football and three months since Dad bought a smart phone.

Octavio Zambrano. Photo: File

Dušan is a world-famous character. Aguinaga and Torres Garcés are among the best in our history. Dušan also trained Otto Morcillo and Alfredo Encalada, to name two DTs. Football was well on its way when Luis Chiriboga Acosta, our sports leader in history, came, and everything rotted. Not only in football, but also in journalism. Čiriboga erased Drašković from the map solely because of the hatred that Carlos Coello awakened in him. He expelled all the coaches that Dušan trained and took revenge on the clubs that signed them.

Octavio Zambrano, a Unión Deportiva Valdez player who went to Barcelona and had to leave the club to travel to the United States on a scholarship, where he trained as a coach, was saved from them. Today, the Ecuadorian has a type A license from UEFA (he has directed in Europe). He was in MLS and is one of the most successful managers in MLS (Major League Soccer). His 70% winning percentage ranks him second behind Bruce Arena, the former coach of the United States national team. In 2000, he directed Metrostar in New York, replacing the famous Boro Milutinović. He worked in Moldova, Hungary, Colombia and Canada. His expertise and personality were recognized in all these countries.

But he has a disadvantage: he is Ecuadorian, moreover, he is from Guayaquil. (OR)