The South American Qualifiers to qualify for the World Cup are among the hardest to beat. Unfortunately, only five out of ten countries competing in search of the dream of appearing in the top sporting event manage to pass the filter, thanks to the four direct spots and a playoff held by Conmebol. Among those left on the road is Colombia, with a large group of footballers who are currently without a coach because of the dismissal of Reinaldo Rueda.
The coffee team scored a total of 23 points, with a balance of five wins, eight draws and five losses to finish in sixth place, one unit below Peru, who will play against the winner of the United Arab Emirates and Australia a match to define who will go to Group D that make up France, Denmark and Tunisia.
Rueda had taken over in early 2021 after the departure of Carlos Queiroz for the 3-0 routs against Uruguay and 6-1 against Ecuador. A third place in the Copa América 2021 and the failure to qualify for the World Cup were sufficient reasons for the Colombian Football Federation to decide to close the Reinaldo cycle and point with another coach to an extensive four-year process that would end at the Mexico, United States and Canada World Cup to be held at mid-2026.
The dance of names began to emerge and within the directive folder three Argentines would appear: Marcelo Bielsa, Ricardo Gareca and Gustavo Alfaro. The problem with the last two is that both are under contract with other countries, Peru and Ecuador respectively, which managed to pass the elimination barrier. On the Loco side, he ended his contract with Leeds United on February 27 and is currently without a team. With the guns aimed at Europe, the various media in Colombia are also nominating Spaniard Roberto Martínez and Croatian Zlatko Dalic.
In an interview with Caracol Radio '6AM Hoy por Hoy', the president of the Colombian Football Federation, Ramón Jesurún, referred to the search for the new coach of the national team and stated that, “The idea is to define him as soon as possible, but we must do it calmly. Whatever the name, it will arouse controversy, but what we are trying from today is the search for the person we consider ideal for this process.”
And he added: “We don't have names.” In the case of Alfaro, I want to be clear: it is totally false. He has his contract with a Federation, just like Ricardo Gareca. That rumor is absolutely false. There are no names or candidates, although there are 30,000 calls from businessmen who have the ideal technician for us,” he sought to dispel the versions, which in the Colombian media did not lose strength despite his clarification.
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