The Peruvian national team achieved a big step by entering the repechage prior to the Qatar 2022 World Cup. He won this achievement after beating Paraguay on the last date of the South American Qualifiers, leaving other important teams such as Colombia and Chile out of the World Cup. In that sense, the great architect was Ricardo Gareca, who is currently in his country and talked with Oscar Ruggeri about a topic that surprised everyone.
This is the interest that the 'Tigre' received from Mexico's America to sign him, although the 'Cabezón' argued that he did not mention it at the time because the 'bicolor' was fighting for World Cup qualification and did not want to distract him. In addition to the fact that he does not want him to lead any more when his contract with the FPF ends, which is until the end of the participation of the 'bicolor', be it in the repechage or in the world championship event.
The talk was held on the program 'ESPN F90′, which is hosted by Sebastián 'Pollo' Vignolo'. Precisely, Gareca started with the subject. “He (Ruggeri) tells me: 'This is the last year you lead. And then you quit, you retire and you don't work anymore. From there you come here (Argentina) ”, he commented.
Then, the former footballer and current commentator responded. “They called me to talk to him to take him somewhere, to teams,” he said. This generated a surprise on the television set. “Yes, they called me. And if Peru didn't qualify, it already had a band of places,” he continued.
The 'Pollo' Vignolo was taken aback by this news and asked: “But where to? You never told us anything.” Ruggeri replied: “To America from Mexico, for example. He didn't know. Why am I going to tell you if you are qualifying? If I had been left out of, what do I know, Colombia and Chile, they were the technicians who stayed out.”
Again the 'Pollo' insisted on the matter with Oscar. “Did you have an interesting future too?” . To which he assured: “Yes, I didn't want much. I don't want him to lead. I want us to live, to live, to be together,” he said.
PRIOR INTEREST OF AMERICA
Recall that in February of this year there was also speculation with this possibility that the 64-year-old strategist would move away from the national cast and take another direction. Precisely, at FOX Sports Mexico, journalist Rubén Rodríguez spoke that the 'Tigre' was one of the options of the 'Águilas' to replace Santiago Solari, who at that time was still in charge of the team. “I say it here openly. A (Santiago) Solari has not been taken away because plan A is leading Uruguay, plan B is directing Necaxa and plan C is directing 'Gallos'. That's why Solari keeps his work at this point. And plan D, I don't doubt that if he loses to Pumas, there's an interim. And then wait to go by (Nicolás) Larcamón. If (Ricardo) Gareca does not go to the World Cup, it may also be an option for America. They will remember me”, warned the communicator.
And it is that the Mexican team had not been going through a good time in the Liga MX. In the current season he had played 8 games, but had lost 4 times, tied in 3 other games and barely scored 1 victory. For a club of the stature of America, it was a terrible start and, for that reason, they decided to take Solari out at the beginning of March. Back then, Gareca was still leading Peru in the qualifiers, although they would have waited to count on him if the national team didn't achieve the goals. Now the 'Aztec' entity has Fernando Ortiz as interim coach, so the 'Tigre' option was more than appealing thinking about the next campaign.
FRIENDSHIP WITH RUGGERI
It should be noted that the friendship between Ricardo Gareca and Oscar Ruggeri dates back to the 80s, when they played together for Boca Juniors, River Plate, Velez Sarsfield and the Argentine national team. As a result of these experiences, both forged a bond that has been maintained so far. Even the 'Cabezón' was the world champion with the 'Albiceleste' in Mexico 1986 and runner-up in Italy 1990.
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