Óscar Cortés Murillo has been the sports director of Club Sport Emelec since last October. The Colombian was a soccer player for Deportivo Cali and Paso, and he already held the position he holds today in América Cali. His compatriot Hernán Torres has been confirmed as an electric coach for the 2024 season, and the first foreign reinforcement he has recommended comes from the country of Cumbia: midfielder Andrés Ricaurte, 32 years old and from Deportivo Independiente de Medellín (DIM).

Cali midfielder Stiven Tapiero, a 31-year-old who played 106 first division games in Ecuador (79 for Técnico Universitario and 26 for Aucas, scoring twelve goals, all for Ambateños), says he is close to signing a contract with Emelec. Will the Blues import more Colombians?

The last players to arrive at Emelec from García Márquez’s country were absolute failures. Probably the Colombian with the best performance in the jersey of the Astillero team so far is the central defender Jesús Montaño, who stood out for his defensive strength, and because of his physical strength he was also nicknamed mole. However, Montaño played like an Ecuadorian without being one.

Fake Ecuadorian

Montaño made his debut at Emelec in 1978, and the following season he established himself as the team’s starter; He formed a notable central duo with Argentine Juan Manuel Sanza. Montaño won the Ecuadorian championship in 1979, but in 1980 his true nationality was revealed and he never played in the tournament. Mole After that incident, he left the country.

Recognizable Colombians, two players arrived in Emelec who, with their games, goals and efforts, left pleasant memories in Emelec in the first decade of the 21st century. One is Hamilton Ricard, who reached the group of millionaires in 2004, when he was 30 years old and had a brilliant past.

Ricard was unfortunate to join a weak version of Emelecista, but the strength and nose for goal that distinguished them in the Premier League made him a key striker for Emelec. In August 2004, he was suspended for a year after being accused of assaulting a referee in Riobamba, during a fight against Olmedo. Then the Colombian scored thirteen goals in 18 games played.

Image in the Premier League

The appeal of the Emelecista leadership to the Ecuadorian Football Association resulted in a reduction of the penalty to three dates of disqualification. Ricard scored 17 goals, including one against Barcelona SC, in 24 games (0.70 goals per game average).

In the previous February, the chain Antenna 2 He remembered Ricardo like this: “he was one of the best Colombian attacking players between the mid-90s and early 2000s; remembered in England, as his performance in the Premier League was striking. Ricard spent between 1997 and 2001 in Middlesbrough. And his minutes were more than good, because despite being in the middle of the table, he scored 56 goals in 115 games, which left him close to the goalscoring average of 0.50″.

In the 1998-1998 campaign. for six months he was on the list of scorers in England. Ricard played for his country in the 1998 World Cup in France and the Copa América in 1997 and 1997. He was a football gypsy: he played in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Spain, Japan, Uruguay, China and Chile.

Hamilton Ricard was the scorer for Emelec. Photo: Archive

Luis Guillermo Rivera

Another coffee farmer with a remarkable career at Emelec is midfielder Luis Guillermo Rivera. In Colombia, he played for Pereira, Millonarios, Deportivo Cali, Cortuluá, Deportivo Pasto and Deportes Tolima, before arriving in Ecuador. Rivera was part of Liga de Loja when this club made its absolute debut in Serie A in 2005. The actions of the native of Bogotá, born in 1975, attracted Emelec.

In 2006, Rivera had a sensational season with the Electricians as the engine of a notable midfield he shared with Michael Arroyo, Armando Paredes and Christian Nobo and in which José Luis Quiñónez rotated. Above, two young Argentines were instilling fear: Luis Miguel Escalada and Marcos Mondaini. The former scored 29 times and was the top scorer in 2006, the latter scored twelve, as many as Rivera (53 goals between the three of them). Emelec was second, behind El Nacional.

On September 24, 2006, Rivera scored his most memorable goal for Emelec. It was at the Monumental Stadium and the Colombian gave his side a 2-1 victory in the Clásico del Astillero (Escalada did the same). He was in the shipyard until 2009.

Various packages

Other Colombian footballers who came to Emelec experienced fiascos and the opposite of the meaning of the word reinforcement. Marino Aguirre’s stay in 1967 was anecdotal, after discreet visits to Macara and the Polytechnic of Quito. Likewise, Luis Escobar, 1997.

In 2002, Luis Arango and Juan Carlos Jaramillo were part of an electric team that was crowned double champion, but with such mediocre tracks that they were both forgotten. In 2007, nothing happened with Sebastián Hernández, Luis Asprilla and Wilson Segura. The latter arrived as a scorer in the Loja league, but he never adapted and in August of that year he suffered a serious injury against Deportivo Cuenca (broken tibia and fibula) and on Wipe it off The tournament is over.

In 2018, Estéfano Arango was a fraud: he played only five games with Emelec and did not feature in any of them. Alexis Zapata was signed in 2020 and until 2023 it was not known for sure what position he would play in after four bad seasons. Also in 2023 there was a double case of fiasco with two coffee growers dressed as electricians: Juan José Hernández, sent mid-season, and Bleiner Agrón. Who recommended them? (D)