Reinaldo Rueda was not only noted for his inability to lead the Colombian team towards its third consecutive world championship, but also by the time he was in charge of the Chilean team, another of those who ran out of a ticket for the top football contest.
Although the Australs were only directed by four qualifying matches, with two defeats, one draw and one victory, his fourth place in the 2019 Copa América, a tournament he arrived at questioned by his little preparation, and his departure stepped to the side to lead the Tricolor, led him to be questioned by the Chilean press.
One of the media that dedicated publications to the Colombian helmsman was La Tercera, which, in addition to condemning him for leaving Chile to arrive in Colombia, but without giving up to supposedly reach an economic agreement, which involved a financial blow to the ANFP, interviewed some former La Roja footballers to give your opinion.
Leon Astengo, central defender of the Chilean national team in the 1980s, questioned the internal problems with the team, as well as their false starts during press conferences.
The criticism for La Tercera was joined by the captain of La Roja in Chile 1962, Sergio Navarro, who does not see Rueda and Martín Lasarte — who replaced him with the coffee coach on the bench — as hierarchy coaches. He stated it bluntly:
“Lasarte and Rueda? They're not top notch. They are good people, gentlemen, they do the same thing that Chilean coaches do. But they send each condore. With Brazil we were losing 2-0, changes were made and two more were made. Chile needs a Chilean coach, who I know Chileans, who demands a little humility and sacrifice from the players,” he said.
Vallecaucano, who had already had the opportunity to lead Colombia on the way to the 2006 World Cup Germany, in whose qualifiers he was one point away from qualifying, just like this time, did not do in the best way leading since February 2021. At least that's what the figures show.
This time, leading the Tricolor, he scored 5 losses, 7 draws and 10 wins. Of the 22 matches, 14 were for knockouts, 7 in the Copa America Brazil 2021 and a friendly (against Honduras). His performance, of 46.9%, was below that of Carlos Queiroz, who led 18 matches and had a percentage of 59.26.
KEEP READING: