San Nicolás de los Arroyos is an Argentine city that is not completely alien to national soccer fans. Fernando Felicevich, the main player agent in the local market, is from there. But the town located on the banks of the Paraná River also resonates in these parts because the Chilean basketball coach, Juan Manuel Córdoba, was born there. Now, however, another Nicoleño is attracting attention. Ulises Ortegoza, Talleres de Córdoba player, appeared on the list of 55 footballers reserved by Ricardo Gareca, from which the list of 26 representatives of the “Roja” will emerge in the next Copa América in the United States.
Diego Ulises Ortegoza, just turned 27, is not a foreign name to those who follow the Copa Libertadores, for example. He was a starter, playing the entire game, in the “T” match against Cobresal, for Group B of the tournament. In addition, two other Chileans play in the Córdoba team, such as Bruno Barticciotto and Matías Catalán, who appears on the list of pre-nominees, where the Chilean grandson midfielder is the main novelty on a list where Gareca called three alternatives per position, with new arrivals such as Marcelo Díaz, Luciano Cabral, Lawrence Vigouroux, Diego Valencia or Claudio Baeza.
The Nicolo native has the particularity of having a career that exploded somewhat late, a couple of seasons ago. The fact is that the 1.8-meter holding midfielder did not join formal lower divisions and jumped to Talleres two years ago, after standing out in Los Andes, a team from Lomas de Zamora that plays in the third trans-Andean division, a club from which he jumped to promotion. with Gimnasia de Mendoza, where in just six months he caught the attention of Talleres, who signed him in mid-2022.
The midfielder stands out for his deployment and has been an important piece in the strategy of Walter Ribonetto, coach of the “T”, who has not spared his praise for the now pre-nominated Ortegoza.
In fact, in Gareca’s first roster, the “Tigre” had already reserved the Nicolás, although he ended up ruling out his nomination for the pair of matches in Europe that marked the coach’s debut on the Chilean bench.
Ortegoza was one of the key players of Talleres that, last season, finished second in the annual table of Argentine football – at that time under the technical leadership of Javier Gandolfi – and was awarded a place for Libertadores 2024, where he shares a group with Cobresal. In addition, the midfielder has been linked to River Plate in the last trans-Andean transfer markets.
