If Argentine football, and especially promotion football, is full of myths, legends and stories that are worthy of a storybook, the Pablo Vico occupies a prominent place. This Friday, the longest cycle of a coach in the history of Argentine football came to an end, since after 15 years he directed his last game as technical director of Brown from Adroguéa second category team, in the 2-1 defeat against Estudiantes de Río Cuarto. In total there were 5,475 days and 564 games, in which he achieved 203 victories, 183 draws and 178 losses.
Recognized by many as “the Ferguson of the suburbs”Vicó completed his time as coach of the tricolor team of the municipality of Admiral Brownand it is impossible not to review the history of “mustache”, who became one of the most iconic characters in the country’s most popular sport. His most resonant particularity about him? He lives on the court, 74 steps from the playing field.
Facebook groups are named after him, and Instagram pages have his face as their profile photo. His resemblance to Don Ramón, the waterfall of memes, his face drawn on hundreds of two-peso bills are anecdotes that add weight to the story. There are the historic triumphs against Independiente, one as a visitor in the “red” debut in the National B and another in the Argentine Cup; the club’s buffet that bears his name, as well as a part of the stands, which was baptized when Vicó completed 500 games as coach. A fan who got a tattoo of half Don Ramón’s face and half his own, and a street in San Clemente del Tuyú is named after him.
It is difficult to reconstruct fifteen years of history in some lines, because Vicó maintained the longest cycle at the national level, and until Friday it held the fifth in force worldwide. But to take dimension of his work at the local level, it is enough to remember that during the last first division League Cup they fired eight coaches in eleven games. And in the second division, in which he directed until a couple of hours ago, 18 coaches left their position in only thirteen dates. In Argentine soccer, completing a tournament as a coach is a feat, but Vicó and his beloved “Bron” were the exception.
The dollar was worth just over three pesos when its cycle began on March 21, 2009, in the 1-1 draw as a visitor against Italiano for the Primera B Metropolitana, the third category of Argentine soccer. Lionel Messi He had not yet won any Ballon d’Or, Diego Maradona He was coach of the national team and only five world champions in Qatar 2022 They had debuted as professional footballers. But his history with the Adrogué tricolor goes back a long way.
It is not a cliché: Brown is your home
At the end of the seventies, Brown de Adrogué fell to the last category, and to regroup he went to the pastures. Vicó, who was born on November 5, 1955 in Parque Patricios, played on a neighborhood team that called itself Bichos Verdes.. He was a forward, skinny and tall, as he remains today. At that time he was barely twenty years old, and according to what he said, his parents had rejected offers for him to go try out for Independent and Racing. The Green Bugs went to Adrogué to try their luck, but only Vicó remained.
He played two seasons in the tricolor. During the first he scored 14 goals, and in the second he scored 28 goals in 30 games. His resounding appearance on the promotion fields was worth a step Temperley, also from the south of Buenos Aires. He later played in Saint Michael and Tristan Suarezall teams from the province of Buenos Aires, but their career was cut short by a chain of injuries that led to six operationswhich to his regret was marginalized from the fields.
“There is always a quilombito in a sky of two,” once wrote the Indio Solari. And Vicó lived it firsthand. In 1998, a separation devastated him emotionally, to the point that he was left on the street. He ended up in a boarding house that he hated, but his “Bron” appeared once again. He was directing a children’s category when Juan Vairo, at that time president of the Adrogué club, invited him to live in the newly inaugurated concentration within the Lorenzo Arandilla stadium complex, located on Illia and Bartolomé Cerletti.
By living in the club he increased his functions. He was in the soccer school, in baby soccer, he cut the grass, he managed the tennis, he collected the rent for the fields, and so on. When he was in charge of some lower categories of the tricolor, Vicó added his first games as coach of the first, but on those occasions as interim. Some in the 2004/2005 season, and others in 2005/2006. However, in 2009 and after the departure of Juan Carlos Kopriva, Vicó said that he did not want to be interim for two games, and that he wanted to be left in charge of the team for the rest of the tournament. The leaders accepted, they demanded results, and he complied.
The club maintained its project over the years, but he he never wanted to leave home. The coach, in one environment, set up his room, the dining room, and the kitchen, and there he also worked throughout his cycle, analyzing videos, preparing for the games, and devising strategies.
The first ascent
On June 22, 2013, Vicó led his beloved tricolor to an unprecedented milestone until then and promoted it to B Nacional. The final of the reduced team was against Almagroback and forth, and the archer Pablo Burtovoy He became a figure in the penalty shootout for the tricolor to achieve the feat.
Months later, Its premiere in the B Nacional was dreamed ofbecause the draw made Brown debut as a visitor against Independiente de Avellaneda, which for the first time in its history had been relegated. On August 3, 2013, two new teams for the second division faced off, and the victory went to the smallest. With goals from Fabro and Sproat, Those from Vicó wrote the big story and defeated the top winner of the Copa Libertadores at home.
Despite the promising start, and other historic victories such as the 1-0 win over Huracán as a visitor, where after defeating Mohamed Vicó, a Quemero fan, he begged him to continue in office, the Buenos Aires team did not make a foothold in the category and was relegated. the next year.
On more than one occasion, Vicó said that, after being relegated, he informed the president that he would not continue in office. Going back down to the third division had been a blow, but Vairo and the coach merged between crying and hugging, and the “moustachioed” was convinced to continue.
The tragedy
In the heart of Adrogué, at the intersection of Retiro and Soler streets, Cristian Gabriel Vicó, Pablo’s son, was driving his truck when a car hit him. It was February 5, 2015 and in the other vehicle were six thieves belonging to “The Curly Gang”, who were known in the area for carrying out robberies and break-ins. In fact, they were moving at very high speed because they had come from robbing a house. Four days later, and at just 40 years old, Cristian died.
Following the news, Pablo suffered a heart attack at his home, Brown’s field. He spent twelve hours like this, and declared that “I knew he had a heart attack, but he said ‘he’s done, I want to be with my son.'” A member of his coaching staff found him and rushed him to the El Cruce hospital in Florencio Varela, where he spent five days in intensive care. She pulled through with psychological treatments and medication.
Other ascent
Life is like football. Football is like life. And they both give revenge. During that same year, 2015, Brown de Adrogué had a very good performance in the third category, and reached the last date as a guard, but with concrete chances of being champion. He had to beat Hummock in Castelar and hope that Defenders of Belgrano and Students of Caseros They will tie. The match was 1 to 1, Vicó and his team knew that Defensores and Estudiantes had already tied 0 at Bajo Nuñez, but the tie against the “rooster” was not enough. In the last play of the match, striker Juan García scored 2-1 and Adrogué’s team exploded with emotion and celebrated a new and heroic promotion to B Nacional.
While the players celebrated behind the goal with the leaders, the broadcast of the match pointed all its cameras towards Vicó, who was left alone, standing in the middle of the field and flooded with emotion. “This is for my son,” he said through tears, kissing his rosary and pointing to the sky. The following minutes gave another image that went down in history. The rooster, Morón’s mascot, invited him to approach the local stands and the fans gave him an unusual ovation in Argentine football, where rivals, for that simple condition, become enemies.. But Vicó showed, once again, that he can do anything.
After his return to the second category, Brown from Adrogué was able to establish itself and maintained consistency. He participated four times in the reduced competition that grants a place in the highest category of professional football, and he played in two semi-finals. Last year he did not enter the octagonal by only two points, but During 2024 things started crooked. In 14 games played, the tricolor only obtained one victory, which currently places it in the last position of zone B. Vicó never held the team’s hand, and understood that if he did not step aside in time he could mortgage the permanence of his beloved “Bron”.
In a world and in a football that increases technology, and with it “the verse”, Vicó was characterized by clarity and simplicity. This is how those players who were coached by him define him. A coach close to the player, with concrete ideas, concise proposals and specific requests. Sincere, humble and from the neighborhood. Characteristics that led him to penetrate deep into the hearts of all football fans, and that today, after his departure from “Bron”, they showered him with loving messages and good vibes. And he will need them, because after 26 years, and as he already declared, You will have to “find a little apartment”and the rents are not affordable at all.
