Los Colombian technicians keep ringing outside and, above all, the World Cup players. Now that Peru was left without a coach after the departure of Argentine Ricardo Gareca, Reinaldo Rueda, Hernán Darío “Bolillo” Gómez, Jorge Luis Pinto and Juan Carlos Osorio appear in the deck of options.
Although the four strategists are currently inactive, they continue to prepare and their experience at the national team level, added to their international career, makes them an option to be considered.
It would not be the first time that a Colombian coach is at the head of that team, since Francisco Maturana directed it in the qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup.
Increasingly, national technicians are valued abroad, while here they are branded as outdated. A clear example is that of Luis Fernando Suárez, who will be the only Colombian representative in Qatar, directing Costa Rica.
The Matura experience
Although in his process the Incas finished eighth and did not achieve the objective, Francisco Maturana had the support of a sector of the leadership and of the then president of that country, Alberto Fujimori.
The national strategist said that the time has changed. “It is very risky to make a comparison between what was my passage 20 years ago to what Peru is today,” he said.
“I arrived in Peru after winning the Uncaf Cup with Costa Rica and then there was a break between the businessmen who took me to Costa Rica and the leaders. They left and the Federation had no way to manage my salary. They gave me permission to go, but not to Peru, but to Paraguay, because that team was the first that wanted to have me. I even reached an agreement and was going to sign the contract in Miami, but on the plane I met someone very important from Peru, and he made me feel that my football sensibility I used to spend more time in that country,” Pacho said.
Immediately, Maturana felt seducedAlso because in his mind were images of players like Héctor Chumpitaz, César Cueto, Guillermo La Rosa, Julio César Uribe, Teófilo Cubillas, José “Chemo” del Solar.
“That seduced me because Peruvian soccer captivates and excites. I dreamed and went to Peru, two decades ago. Historically they have always had very good footballers”.
Maturana explains that if a Colombian coach happens, he will find complicity.
with the player peruvian easy to get attached. I still have contact with those I directed, adoptive children confess and one feels that reciprocity. That human condition is a guarantee for any of the technicians who are playing”, he concluded.
there are other options
The director of the newspaper Líbero of Peru, Carlos Salinas, indicated that for now the most popular Colombian is Reinaldo Ruedabut there is nothing concrete.
“The one that sounds like a possibility is Rueda, but only as a candidate. Those who have more strength are Juan Reynoso, a Peruvian who directed in Mexico and was champion with Cruz Azul, and the Argentinian Sebastián Beccacece, who was Jorge Sampaoli’s assistant in Chile and Argentina”.
According to the communicator, the balance has not tipped towards either and much more has not been said about the subject. “The option of Colombian coaches is not ruled out.”
Paradoxically, whenever a team from the American continent is left without a coach, coffee growers appear as possible candidateswhile in the country they are criticized and belittled.
.This situation does nothing more than validate the famous phrase that says that no one is a prophet in their land.
