Reinaldo Rueda took a step to the side of the technical direction of the Colombia national team after finishing in the sixth place of the South American Qualifier heading to Qatar 2022. A clause in the coach's contract obliged him to get the quota to continue with the contractual link with the Colombian Football Federation.
After the meeting held between the technical director and the FCF board of directors, Rueda was informed of the departure of Rueda by mutual agreement. However, the vallecaucano would already have some offers on the table to continue developing his coaching career. Two would be for national teams and another at the club level, specifically for Atlético Nacional.
Reinaldo Rueda would be one of the options handled by the Honduran national team after the departure of fellow Colombian Hernán Dario Gómez. The 'Bolillo' came out of the technical direction of the Central American team after arriving in October 2021, directing nine games and losing eight, only achieving one draw. Finishing in the last position of the Central American Qualifying with only four points in 14 matches.
The other option commented on by ESPN journalist Julián Capera is the Panama national team. However, there the first option is the European coach Thomas Christiansen, current coach, and with whom the Panamanian Football Federation is currently negotiating to extend the employment relationship.
Finally, and the option that seems closest, is the return to Atlético Nacional, a team in which he was champion of the Copa Libertadores, the Colombian Superliga and Copa Colombia in 2016. In addition, champion of the South American League and Cup in 2017. According to journalist Jaime Dinas, the management of the 'purdolaga' team, headed by Antonio José Ardila, would start the dialogues for the connection of the coach, who would be the only candidate to replace Alejandro Restrepo and to succeed 'Arriero' Herrera who acts as interim coach.
In his third cycle with the 'tricolor', Rueda led 22 matches with a record of seven wins, 10 draws and five losses. The overall performance was 46.97%, one of its lowest records with national teams. It should be recalled that the Colombian coach started the qualifying round at the helm of Chile, where he also did not have a good balance in terms of results (43.21%).
Rueda's production with Colombia went from more to less. Their first match on the bench left a 3-0 victory against Peru in Lima, on the seventh date of the Qatar 2022 qualifiers. Likewise, in the 2021 Copa América, the coffee team finished third: they played seven matches, won two, tied three and lost two (42.9%).
The removal of the 65-year-old strategist was a matter of time, as his main objective was to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. However, despite the fact that the 'Tricolor' managed to win the last two matches of the South American tie, the team ran out of options after finishing in sixth place with 23 points. “Our contract was subject to classification. Managers are the ones to analyze,” Rueda said after confirming the elimination.
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