Ricardo Gareca

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Ricardo Gareca
Gareca as Peru manager in 2017
Personal information
Full name Ricardo Alberto Gareca Nardi
Date of birth (1958-02-10) 10 February 1958 (age 66)
Place of birth Tapiales, Argentina
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
Chile (manager)
Youth career
1977 Boca Juniors
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1978–1984 Boca Juniors 130 (64)
1981Sarmiento (loan) 33 (13)
1985 River Plate 12 (4)
1985–1988 América de Cali 53 (31)
1989–1992 Vélez Sarsfield 118 (24)
1993–1994 Independiente 41 (11)
Total 387 (147)
International career
1981–1986 Argentina 20 (5)
Managerial career
1995 San Martín
1996–1997 Talleres
1997 Independiente
1997–2000 Talleres
2000 Colón
2001 Talleres
2002 Quilmes
2003 Argentinos Juniors
2005 América de Cali
2006 Santa Fe
2006 Talleres
2007–2008 Universitario
2009–2013 Vélez Sarsfield
2014 Palmeiras
2015–2022 Peru
2023 Vélez Sarsfield
2024– Chile
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Peru (as manager)
Copa América
Runner-up 2019 Brazil
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Chile
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ricardo Alberto Gareca Nardi (Spanish pronunciation: [riˈkaɾðo alˈβeɾto ɣaˈɾeka ˈnaɾði]; born 10 February 1958), nicknamed el Tigre and el Flaco ("Tiger " and "Slim"), is an Argentine football manager and former player. He is the current manager of the Chile national team.

During his playing career, Gareca played for four of the most important teams in Argentina (Boca Juniors, River Plate, Vélez Sársfield and Independiente). He also had a successful experience in Colombia with América de Cali, winning two league titles and being runner-up of three Copa Libertadores.

Since 1996, Gareca has worked as a manager. He has won four league titles in Argentina (with Vélez Sarsfield); as well as a second division championship and a Copa CONMEBOL with Talleres de Córdoba.

Playing career[edit]

Club[edit]

Gareca with Boca Juniors in 1980

Gareca started his professional career in 1978 with Boca Juniors, where he only played 16 games in his first three years with the club. In 1981, he was loaned out to Sarmiento for the 1981 Metropolitano, but he returned to Boca for the Nacional where he played alongside Diego Maradona, scoring 8 goals in the championship.

In 1985, Gareca earned the eternal hatred of many Boca fans for transferring directly to their fiercest rivals, River Plate, along with Oscar Ruggeri. However, unlike Ruggeri, his time with River was short, and the fans started losing that hatred, as he soon joined Colombian team América de Cali later in 1985. Gareca won two league titles with América, in 1985 and 1986. He also had the misfortune of being on the losing side of the Copa Libertadores final three times in a row (1985, 1986 and 1987). He was also the top scorer of the 1987 edition, with 7 goals.[1] During his time at América, he developed a friendship with Andrés Escobar, who was later murdered, and because of their friendship Gareca was almost assassinated by Pablo Escobar.[2][3]

In 1989, Gareca returned to Argentina, where he played for Vélez Sársfield until 1992. In 1993, he joined Independiente for the last years of his career, making him one of a select band of players to have played for four of the most successful teams in Argentine football. While playing for Independiente he also won his first Argentine Primera División title, in the 1994 Clausura. Shortly after winning the league title, he officially retired.

National team[edit]

Gareca made his debut for the Argentina national team in 1981, playing against Poland. He went on to play 20 caps for his country, scoring 5 goals, including one against the team he would eventually go to coach, Peru, which eliminated the Peruvians from reaching the 1986 FIFA World Cup and had costed Peru into a World Cup drought for 36 years.[4]

Coaching career[edit]

Early career in Argentina[edit]

Gareca started his managerial career with Talleres in 1996. In 1997, he left the club to take over at Independiente, but results were not forthcoming and he returned to Talleres later that year. Gareca led Talleres to the Primera B Nacional (Argentine second division) championship in 1997–98, which earned them promotion to the Primera División. In 1999, he led them to their first major title, the Copa CONMEBOL, making them the first team in Argentina from outside the Buenos Aires and Santa Fe provinces to win an international competition. In 2000, Gareca joined Colón de Santa Fe, but soon returned to Talleres for a third spell with the club.

In 2002, the former forward took over at Quilmes in the second division, and then in 2003 he became manager of Argentinos Juniors. Having led Argentinos to the brink of promotion, the club faced a playoff against Gareca's former team Quilmes, which they lost, missing out on promotion.

Elche, América de Cali, Santa Fe, returning to Talleres and Universitario[edit]

Gareca then teamed up with former teammate Oscar Ruggeri in 2004 to work as his field assistant at Elche in Spain. In 2005, he became manager of his former club, América de Cali, followed by a spell in charge of Independiente Santa Fe, both in Colombia.

In 2006, he returned for a fourth spell with Talleres, but couldn't prevent them from struggling in the Argentine second division. In October 2007, he became the manager of Peruvian Universitario, and in July 2008 he led the team to the Torneo Apertura title.

Vélez Sarsfield[edit]

Gareca as manager of Vélez

Gareca returned to Argentina in 2009 to become manager of Vélez Sarsfield. In his first championship season with the club, he led them to the Clausura championship. Vélez lost only one of their 19 games throughout the championship. The 2010–11 season was a very successful one, as Gareca led Vélez to a runner-up finish in the Apertura, making a 43-points campaign (3 more than in their championship winning campaign of 2009), and to another championship in the Clausura. Gareca won his third league title with Vélez in 2012, helping the team obtain the 2012 Inicial.

Palmeiras[edit]

On 21 May 2014, Gareca was announced as the new manager of Brazilian side Palmeiras, signing a contract until June 2015.[5] However, he was sacked after just three months due to Palmeiras' poor results.[6] During that time, he was contacted by the Ghana Football Association to become coach of Ghana, but ultimately fell short to Avram Grant.[7]

Peru national team[edit]

In February 2015, Gareca was named the manager for the Peruvian national team. At the first moment he got appointed, the decision had sparked a number of criticism among Peruvian football platforms due to the fact he was the man behind the current Peru's football crisis, blaming him for the goal that killed Peru's dream to qualify for the 1986 FIFA World Cup.[8] Taking over shortly before the 2015 Copa América, Gareca faced a difficult task to encourage an already demoralized Peruvian team to achieve some football feat and to prove his worthiness as coach. Peru's first match under Gareca however, was a friendly defeat to Venezuela, and the pressure increased.

However, Gareca turned the struggling Peruvians around and led them to the semi-finals of the competition and eventually occupied third place. This was the repeat of the 2011 Copa América and thus he got some good credits, although skepticism remained high due to previous experience with Sergio Markarián in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.[9]

Gareca then led Peru in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, but his journey was extremely rocky. Throughout seven games, Peru only managed a lone home win to Paraguay,[10] as the team lost the others. Following the dented 0–2 away loss to minnows Bolivia, Gareca faced possible sacking,[11] however the pressure was relieved when the Bolivians were found to have fielded ineligible player and the result was forfeited to a 3–0 win for Peru away.[12] Although it was less meaningful at that time, Gareca was capable to utilize this lone advantage to lead a successful Peruvian resurgence in the remaining games, with the team only lost to Brazil and Chile, especially two encouraging draws to Argentina, his homeland, and a home win to Uruguay, eventually brought Peru to the playoff for the first time since 1986.[8] On 15 November 2017, Gareca led Peru to a 2–0 on aggregate victory against New Zealand, confirming their place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, its first ever FIFA World Cup after 36 years absence. It had been described as the greatest irony of world's football, since Gareca himself had put Peru into a World Cup drought 32 years before.[13] Interestingly, Ricardo Gareca also shared a coincidence record with another late player and manager, Didi Pereira, who was responsible for eliminating Peru from the 1958 FIFA World Cup before rebuilding the same team to qualify for its most successful World Cup in 1970.[14]

Between the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Gareca's Peru participated in the Copa América Centenario held in the United States, where the team produced a successful performance, including a famous win over powerhouse Brazil, albeit in a controversial style.[15] Gareca's Peru were then eliminated by Colombia on penalty kicks in the quarter-finals.[16]

In the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Peru's first World Cup after 36 years, the team was grouped with France, Australia and Denmark. Peru demonstrated a brave performance, but was not lucky as the team crashed out of group stage following two defeats to Denmark and France, before grabbing a 2–0 win over Australia to gain its first three points after 40 years.[17][18][19] France eventually conquered the 2018 World Cup.

In the 2019 Copa América, Gareca led Peru to its greatest feat in their history after 44 years, guiding the Peruvians to the final, even though its beginning had been rocky as well, with Peru securing a third-place finish to reach the quarter-finals, before outclassing Uruguay and Chile to achieve the feat.[20][21] Although Peru lost the final against Brazil, it was considered a huge success, as Peru had lost 5–0 to Brazil in the group stage and hopes were low. These recent successes have helped elevate and secure Gareca's position as the manager of Peru.

After losing to the Australian national team in a playoff for one of the 32 berths in the 2022 FIFA World Cup on June 13, 2022, Gareca stated "Sometimes things don't work out. Both rivals study each other. Many things come across your mind. Why? Because of the place, the climate, one doesn't know about the temperature, apart from training towards it -- the field texture was a little fast. In that game, you need to set up right away, but we're an experienced team, we've been playing big games, and unfortunately, we had to win this game, we lost it. Arriving at a penalty shootout was not what we were expecting."[22] After this loss, Gareca expressed his wish to remain as coach of Peru, but he wanted a bigger role in the country's sporting development. He was unable to reach an agreement with the federation and consequently he resigned as coach of the Peruvian national team.[23]

He has been linked to a potential coaching position for Mexico, after this country's elimination from the group stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[24]

Return to Vélez Sarsfield[edit]

In March 2023, Gareca returned to Vélez Sarsfield, until December 2023.[25]

Chile national team[edit]

On January 24, 2024, Gareca became the manager of the Chile national team.[26]

Personal life[edit]

Gareca is a practising Roman Catholic.[27]

Managerial statistics[edit]

As of match played 26 March 2024
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
San Martín Argentina 1995 1995 17 8 4 5 18 15 +3 047.06
Talleres Argentina 1 January 1997 30 June 1997 28 15 10 3 48 23 +25 053.57
Independiente Argentina 1 July 1997 31 December 1997 26 10 6 10 38 37 +1 038.46
Talleres Argentina 1 January 1998 30 June 2000 108 41 28 39 157 148 +9 037.96
Colón Argentina 1 January 2001 30 June 2001 19 6 5 8 21 27 −6 031.58
Talleres Argentina 1 July 2001 15 October 2001 14 1 5 8 13 26 −13 007.14
Quilmes Argentina 6 March 2002 31 December 2002 30 14 7 9 46 32 +14 046.67
Argentinos Juniors Argentina 1 January 2003 17 July 2003 23 11 6 6 30 15 +15 047.83
América de Cali Colombia 17 May 2005 13 September 2005 10 8 0 2 14 5 +9 080.00
Santa Fe Colombia 3 March 2006 4 September 2006 28 10 7 11 40 44 −4 035.71
Talleres Argentina 1 January 2007 9 April 2007 11 0 4 7 5 16 −11 000.00
Universitario de Deportes Peru 29 September 2007 31 December 2008 66 29 22 15 87 67 +20 043.94
Vélez Sarsfield Argentina 1 January 2009 31 December 2013 254 130 65 59 375 203 +172 051.18
Palmeiras Brazil 21 May 2014 1 September 2014 13 3 1 9 9 17 −8 023.08
Peru Peru 9 February 2015 14 June 2022 96 39 23 34 120 108 +12 040.63
Vélez Sarsfield Argentina 8 March 2023 4 June 2023 12 1 7 4 11 13 −2 008.33
Chile Chile 25 January 2024 present 2 1 0 1 5 3 +2 050.00
Total 757 327 200 230 1,037 799 +238 043.20

Honours[edit]

Player[edit]

América de Cali

Independiente

Manager[edit]

Talleres

Vélez Sarsfield

Peru

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Copa Libertadores - Topscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  2. ^ "Football: When Pablo Escobar spared the life of Peru national team coach Ricardo Gareca". MARCA in English. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Revelan que Pablo Escobar pensó en asesinar a Ricardo Gareca". Clarin.com (in Spanish). 9 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  4. ^ "Argentina National Team Players 1964-1998". Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  5. ^ "Ricardo Gareca é o novo técnico do Palmeiras" (in Portuguese). Goal.com. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  6. ^ "Palmeiras Sack Ricardo Gareca as coach". Sambafoot.com. 2 September 2014.
  7. ^ "Ghana reject Ricardo Gareca takes Peru to World Cup 2018". Footy-ghana.com. 16 November 2017.
  8. ^ a b "The Paradox of Peru - theBlizzard.co.uk". Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Ricardo Gareca wants Peru to keep building post-Copa America". Goal.com. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  10. ^ "Perú vs Paraguay: Bicolor venció 1-0 en eliminatorias Rusia 2018 con gol de Jefferson Farfán". Laprensa.peru.com. 13 November 2015.
  11. ^ "Perú perdió 2-0 con Bolivia y se hunde en la tabla de las Eliminatorias". Rpp.pe. September 2016.
  12. ^ "La FIFA castiga a Bolivia y da puntos a Chile y Perú en las eliminatorias de Rusia 2018". BBC News Mundo.
  13. ^ "Soccer - Peru rebuilt by the man who destroyed them 32 years ago". Reuters. 29 November 2017.
  14. ^ "Didí y Gareca, de verdugos a héroes del fútbol peruano". Laprensa.com.ar.
  15. ^ "Brazil tumble out of Copa América in group stage after Peru's handball goal". the Guardian. 13 June 2016.
  16. ^ "Perú cayó 4-2 en penales y Colombia clasificó a semifinales de la Copa América". americadeportes (in Spanish). 17 June 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  17. ^ "Denmark battle to narrow win over Peru". BBC Sport. 16 June 2018.
  18. ^ Young, Alex (25 June 2018). "France 1-0 Peru: Mbappe makes history but La Blanquirroja crash out". Evening Standard.
  19. ^ Young, Alex (26 June 2018). "Australia 0-2 Peru: First World Cup win since 1978 for La Blanquirroja". Evening Standard.
  20. ^ "Peru beat Uruguay to reach semi-finals". BBC Sport. 29 June 2019.
  21. ^ "Peru defeat Chile to reach Copa final". BBC Sport. 4 July 2019.
  22. ^ "Live transmission". Radio Uno 93.7 (in European Spanish). 13 June 2022.
  23. ^ "Ricardo Gareca leaves Peru: He did not renew his contract with the national team - 24 News Recorder".
  24. ^ "Potential Mexico National Team managers named". 10 January 2023.
  25. ^ "Ricardo Gareca is officially the new DT of Vélez: he returns to lead in the country after ten years". Clarín (in European Spanish). 8 March 2023.
  26. ^ "Chile hire Argentine Ricardo Gareca as next manager" (in Spanish). ESPN. 24 January 2024.
  27. ^ "Peruvian national team coach prays for World Cup success at shrine in Lima". Efe.com. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  28. ^ "Brazil beat Peru to win Copa America". BBC Sport.
  29. ^ "Peru soccer team wins bronze medal at Copa America 2015". Andina.pe.

External links[edit]