[ad_1]
Everything seems to be given so that Reinaldo Rueda be announced in the next few days as the new coach of the Colombian National Team, replacing Carlos Queiroz. In Chile they are already looking for a replacement and the terms of his departure have already been practically agreed, with a compensation that fell from the 2.3 million dollars that were initially agreed in his contract to about 500 thousand dollars
However, Rueda assures that there is still no arrangement for him to take office. “Many friends have called me to congratulate me, but I must say that it is not true that I am the coach of the National Team. The Colombian Federation has not confirmed anything yet and I don’t know why some journalists lend themselves to say that I am already the coach ”, assured the Valle del Cauca to the newspaper El Colombiano. Details are still missing to close the negotiation.
(Read also: Great game: this is how the first classic of 2021 between Boca and River came out)
If his arrival is confirmed, it would be the third time that Rueda takes charge of the Senior National Team. The previous two had arrived as manager and in the second he did an interesting job from the numbers, but with a burden that was impossible to lift: he could not qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and his departure was controversial, amid versions and lack of clarity from the Colombian Soccer Federation.
Valle del Cauca’s relationship with the FCF dates back to 1993. At that time, Carlos ‘Piscis’ Restrepo had classified the U-20 National Team to the World Cup in Australia, but then he accepted an offer from Once Caldas. Rueda, who at that time directed the Valle del Cauca national team, was named in his replacement and directed in the category’s World Cup. It did not go beyond the first phase.
Later, Rueda went through Cortuluá and Cali until in 1999 he joined the Federation again. He was appointed to lead an Under-21 team that later ran out of tournaments to compete in, so Javier Alvarez, the then coach of the Senior Selection, asked to be left as an advisor.
After the departure of Álvarez, after the disaster of the Pre-Olympic of Londrina, in which Colombia was eliminated after losing 9-0 to Brazil, Rueda began to prepare the team that played, and won, the Esperanzas tournament in Toulon in 2000, and remained as a kind of advisor in the Federation.
(Further: Libertadores: equal quotas or put coefficients? (opinion)
In that condition, Colombia, which had been eliminated from the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, agreed to some friendly matches that year and ordered Rueda to direct them. There were initially three matches: a draw with Venezuela, on May 7; a 1-2 victory against Costa Rica, two days later; a loss to Mexico, on May 12. Before that, a match against Brazil had been scheduled, which the coach himself recommended canceling.
However, Rueda accepted an offer to lead Medellín and left office, but he barely lasted four months at that club, because the Federation appointed him coach of the U-20 again. And as there was still no coach appointed in the senior team, they commissioned him for a match that ended with a defeat against Honduras, on November 20.
From manager to owner
While preparing the team for the South American Youth, Francisco Maturana was designated again like DT of majors. But it wasn’t long before they got their hands on Rueda again.
Colombia got off to a fatal start in the 2006 qualifying round for Germany: a point of 12, including an unprecedented and painful loss to Venezuela in Barranquilla. Before the game against Argentina, in November 2003, Maturana’s departure was determined and Hernán Darío Gómez, who at that time was directing Ecuador, was to be the replacement. The name was leaked to the press and the negotiation was damaged.
The Federation commissioned Rueda, who had just made the best performance of a Colombian National Team in a Fifa tournament, finishing third in the U-20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. On February 18, a friendly against Honduras had been scheduled and there was Reinaldo: 1-1 draw.
But the result that finally convinced the managers was a 0-2 victory against Peru in Lima, with just two training sessions with the full group, in which there seemed to be material to work on and a DT to take advantage of it.
In addition to the tie, Rueda directed the America Cup of Peru 2004, to which an alternate team led, and the gold Cup 2005. In both tournaments he reached the semifinals. But he was out of the World Cup by just one point. And there the doubts began again.
The Federation changed its visible head. He went Oscar Astudillo and arrived Luis Bedoya. And Rueda had his future postponed. He ended up playing six friendlies before the World Cup, more to test his rivals than anything else, and it was even thought that he was going to continue, when they scheduled a game against Chile in Santiago in August, which they won 1-2.
(You may be interested in: See here all the goals of the superclassic Boca vs. River)
But the story was different. Rueda was given an unpaid leave of absence for three months, so the DT left the door open to continue, while the new executive committee sought his replacement.
In public opinion and in the press, the figure adopted by the directors and accepted by Rueda was not seen with good eyes, under which what was woven was a waiting period in favor of the FCF while it obtained its replacement.
The coach was absent from his position between September 15 and January 15. “The team has no competition from here until the end of the year, so there is no reason to hire a technician at this time”, Bedoya said.
“In this whole episode there is unnecessary handling for Rueda, who is being belittled as a professional and reducing as a person in front of the fans. If they want to have it, even if it is to direct the minor teams, what authority and credibility are they leaving him when they talk about finding him a replacement, if they manage to get it? ”, Gabriel Meluk wrote in October 2006 in his column in this newspaper.
The unofficial version of Rueda’s departure went further: the new Colombian soccer leadership, led by Bedoya, did not support him and the main reason was the pressure from the soccer leadership, who could not support the DT letting ‘infiltrate’ into the Selection to the nascent Colombian Association of Professional Soccer Players (Acolfutpro), that it was seen by the FCF as an enemy, and that it was led by Iván Córdoba, Mario Yepes and Juan Pablo Ángel, the coach’s trusted men in the National Team.
(In other news: What happened to Falcao? Galatasaray’s assistant gives first part)
One of those meetings took place just before the game against Chile, in October 2005, which ended 1-1 and practically sentenced the elimination of the World Cup. Executives and some radio journalists described Rueda as “unworthy” for allowing such contact.
On December 16, 2006, when Rueda’s license had not yet finished, the Federation appointed as coach of the National Team Jorge Luis Pinto. Soon after, Rueda signed with Honduras, which he qualified for the World Cup after a 28-year absence. From there he went to Ecuador: he also reached the World Cup, in 2014. And now, after passing through Chile, he continues to be the first option for Colombia to straighten the path to Qatar 2022.
SPORTS
