FBC Melgar has a new coach, after Pablo Lavallén was fired after a poor start to the season. This is Mariano Soso, a 41-year-old Argentinian coach who was on the loose after a rather forgettable season at O’Higgins in Chile’s first division.

Soso has experience in the First League, which is one of the characteristics that the Board of Directors of Melgar was looking for when choosing a new strategist. The Argentine knew how to be a national champion with Sporting Cristal in 2016, after a successful experience the previous year at Real Garcilas (now Cusco FC). After winning Liga 1 with Nebesi, he managed Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata, Emelec, Defensa y Justicia, San Lorenzo and O’Higgins.

A specialist in training players from the lower leagues, Sosa’s style is marked by some of his teachers in the technical direction: he worked for Claudio Vivas and Javier Torrente, among others, for whom he developed a vertical and pragmatic football, quite oriented towards the development of footballers from youth schools.

This last section was also attractive for the sports administration of the club from Arequipa, which in recent years has invested a lot of money in improving its lower leagues, led by Marco Valencia. Sosa’s first goals will be to correct the direction of Melgar in Liga 1, a tournament in which he has not yet won a single point, and to prepare the team for the Copa Libertadores, for which he will play from the group stage.

The coach arrived in Arequipa this Thursday, and next Monday, March 20, he will be presented to the press. (D)