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Reinaldo Rueda made his debut as head of the Chilean national team on March 24, 2018. And he did so with a win as a visitor against Sweden. La Roja won again in Europe and put hope in the replacement of the Golden Generation. Yes, the promise of “Preserve an attractive and colorful soccer DNA” he was very much in debt not only in that game, but throughout the entire process, something that was shamefully revealed yesterday in the historic 2-1 defeat against Venezuela in Caracas.
The Colombian inherited a fractured dressing room after the well-known dispute between Claudio Bravo and Arturo Vidal after the accusations of the former’s wife on the day that Chile was out of the possibility of qualifying for the World Cup in Russia. In fact, in that meeting in Stockholm, the coach could not count on the goalkeeper, who claimed that he had been nominated the same despite his refusal to accept the call due to his public disagreements with Arturo Salah and the board that at that time led the ANFP .
Finding internal peace and the aforementioned change were the main tasks that were given to the Caleño. An enormous amount of microcycles, hours of videos of such remote league games like the Norwegian second division, where Niklas Castro came from, one of the reflections of the coach’s desperate search to find alternatives in an attack. But not only in that area, but also in defense, where he has had to face the injuries of Gary Medel, the captain after the break of Bravo, and a change in the biotype of the defenders and have very tall players, like Francisco Sierralta or Guillermo Maripán.
The injuries, suspensions and low football moments of some that were fixed in the calls and The fact that the National Team was a year without playing due to the Social Outbreak and the pandemic made Rei explore the local league with greater emphasis. Thus, for example, yesterday two more players ended up making their debut in Qualifying: Andrés Vilches and Carlos Palacios. The latter had its absolute debut with La Roja, just when Rueda was trying to shake up the team’s bland performance in some way. As data, 26 players have made DT debut in his process. However, none manages to convince or less to consolidate as stellar, remaining only as circumstantial and emergency elements to make up for any casualties. In fact, none of the three that debuted against Peru played yesterday. Even Niklas Castro did not even go to the bank.
Also the inconsistency in the DT’s speech draws a lot of attention. From pointing out that he does not nominate some players due to lack of filming in their clubs, he goes on to do the opposite. A reflection of that was Maripán, who has only played 33 minutes this season at Monaco and that in the Venezuelan capital he was one of the worst on the field.
The defeat in Caracas was a bucket of cold water for a process that seemed to rebound after the solid victory against Peru, which left as a memory the symbolic clash of the hands of Bravo and Vidal. Nobody had in his calculation not to get the three points against Vinotinto, which until Before the match against La Roja he had not won and had not even scored goals in the three preceding dates, which further aggravates the significance of this defeat.
Fortunately for Chile, the results of the date allowed direct rivals not to stray too far and the option of entering the advanced group is still not lagging behind. But the figures do not lie and the performance of Reinaldo Rueda at the head of the National Team is absolutely poor. Of the last four technicians who have directed the national squad, the current one is the one with the worst performance. Of 27 games played, it has nine wins, eight draws and 10 losses. That is, 35 of 81 points disputed, with a 43% performance. If that is taken only to official matches, the result is worse: just 37% effective. In addition, under his wing the National Team scored 35 goals and received the same number.
The second worst performance is held by Claudio Borghi, who ended up being fired in the middle of the process for Brazil 2014. Bichi also reached 27 games, of which he won 11, drew five and lost 11, with 38 units out of 81 possible, which gives him a performance of 47%, which in duels for points rises to 49%. Even, Juan Antonio Pizzi, who won the Copa América Centenario, but did not take La Roja to the World Cup, had a better performance, with 13 wins, 12 losses and 7 draws, achieving a 48% performance (51% in official lawsuits).
Rueda’s numbers are very far from those of Marcelo Bielsa (whom he calls Maestro and calls a conference in between). Rosario was the one who led the most games in recent years, with 28 victories, eight draws and 15 defeats, obtaining 92 of 153 points at stake, with a 60% performance (59% in games for points), with 69 goals in favor and 49 against.
However, the one who takes all the statistical laurels is Jorge Sampaoli. The former University of Chile technician achieved a 68% performance (70% in official appointments), thanks to 27 wins, nine draws and eight defeats, with 89 goals in favor and 44 against, being the only one to achieve an average higher than two goals per game (2.02), which makes him the most successful coach, which is also confirmed with milestones, as he achieved tickets to Brazil 2014, where he reached the round of 16, and won the 2015 Copa América.
Until now, in terms of objectives, the most important thing about Rueda at the helm of La Roja has been the Fourth place achieved in the Copa América in Brazil 2019, with a game that almost three years after his arrival still leaves many doubts, beyond that it took the team in a very tough moment in its history and with the need to dig in all the places to start the replacement for the next few years. However, it is up to the ANFP to decide whether the process continues.
