After a month of February full of competition in the League and Copa Libertadores, Atlético Nacional will have a schedule of few games this March, in which they already played the Antioquia classic against Independiente Medellín, beating them 2-0. With the pause of the tournament due to the Senate and Chamber elections, in the purslane team they took a three-day break in the professional team, although in the management part they do not stop in the search to hire a new coaching staff, after the departure of Alejandro Restrepo and Francisco Nájera.
From the club they would have evaluated several foreign coaches, Hernán Crespo rejected the offer, they spoke with Lucas Pusineri and the Uruguayan Alfredo Arias, both with experience in Colombian football, although the view of several managers is to continue with a Colombian coach. Leonel Álvarez was ‘at the order’, although he is with Águilas Doradas, but the focus would be on Santiago Escobar and Reinaldo Rueda, technicians who were already champions with the club, they know the imprint and what they like in purslane fans.
Dealing with these coaches will not be easy. Al ‘Sachi’ was offered the position last year when he was with the Catholic University of Quito. Escobar was grateful for the possibility, but preferred to take the option of going to direct at another University, the one in Chile, where the results have not been the best, he lost the last classic against Colo Colo and according to Chilean media, he was ratified in the position, but If he did not improve in the Chilean championship, he would be dismissed from his position, with compensation close to half a million dollars.
Currently, the University of Chile is in 11th place with six points, after five disputed dates. Although they did not tacitly admit the new interest, from the green awnings they closely follow what may happen with ‘Sachi’, champion coach in the 2005 and 2011 Leagues, precisely, breaking sports droughts, such as the one that the two-time continental champion club is currently going through .
Regarding the Rueda issue, the current coach of the Colombian National Team has two games left in the South American Qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup and depending on these results and others that may occur in these last days, the Tricolor will or will not get the quota to the next orbital appointment, either directly or by playoff. It was also known that Reinaldo is to the liking of the directors and although his contribution level is high, they would make an attempt to bring him.
For now, in Nacional there is a lot of silence on the subject, the team in recent days has not had contact with the media, beyond the last post-classic press conference. In the team there are several enigmas and at any moment you could expect the ‘white smoke’, or in this case ‘green smoke’.
Juan Camilo Alvarez Serrano
FUTBOLRED Correspondent
Medellin
En Twitter: @juanchoserran8
