A few days before the match between the Chilean and Peruvian national teams, in the debut of both representatives in the Copa América, the Inca media published harsh criticism of the current coach of La Roja, Ricardo Gareca, who after leaving the bench of the Peruvian team, in a few months he took charge of the Chilean team.
A decision that had a deep impact not only among Peruvian fans, but also in the local media, who have reacted with obvious annoyance against Gareca, either due to the good results obtained in his first games in charge of La Roja (wins of 3 -0 against Paraguay and Albania, and a tight 3-2 defeat against France in their friendlies prior to the Copa América) as well as his resignation from the bicolor bench.
Peruvian criticism of Ricardo Gareca
This was evident in a column by “El Bombardero”, from the newspaper Trome, who in his style assured that the Argentine coach “had 193 countries to lead, but he went to the enemy.”
Here Ricardo Gareca became a millionaire and even his pet’s food was free
— The Bomber, Trome newspaper
“This coming the Copa América starts for the national team. And the rival is Gareca’s Chile. The same one who shouted that he was more Peruvian than rice pudding and whose face flooded the streets of the capital at the start of the Qualifiers to shake the floor of ‘Cabezón’ (Juan) Reynoso (Peru’s coach before the arrival of the Uruguayan Jorge Fossati to the national team bench). He had 193 countries to lead, but he went to the enemy,” complained the Trome sports columnist, who went further in his questions to the current La Roja coach by ensuring that the Argentine “never had commitment” or “seriousness” in his passing through Peru.
“For me he never had commitment, seriousness, nor was he interested in colors as he said in a bank’s advertising. Here he did not renew because they lowered his salary a little and for that same amount he settled with the southerners a year and a half later,” he revealed.
The annoyance with Gareca was so evident in the column of the Peruvian media that they even claimed that the coach led his team only to become a “millionaire.”
“In other words, love of pork rinds and not pork. Everything is not about money in life. Here he became a millionaire and even the food for his pet was free. There are his widows who defend him to this day,” criticized the columnist, who denounced Gareca’s work in his country, and compared it to the processes of other trans-Andean coaches such as Marcelo Bielsa.
“I take my hat off to Bielsa and Alfaro, and other coaches who qualified directly for a World Cup without help from the ‘table’ and left a foundation for the future. “That’s right,” he concluded.
