Ricardo Gareca is the ‘great option’ to be Ecuador’s DT and could make his debut against Australia

Ricardo Gareca has been listed as one of the best options by Francisco Egaspresident of the Ecuadorian Football Federationto lead the ‘sorting’ in the upcoming South American Qualifiers for the USA, Canada and Mexico 2026 World Cup. Likewise, it was learned that the Argentine coach could make his debut against an old acquaintance, Australia.

“We spoke with Ricardo, he said it and I ratify it, we spoke and this is one of the great options we have to lead the national team, among other things. We will continue to analyze all the information we have, the budget and a process of analyzing all the coaches in their style of play and others to then meet with the board and come to a conclusion,” the FEF boss said in front of the cameras. ESPN.

Francisco Egas has given a date when Ecuador will ask their new strategist to think about the upcoming qualifiers. “The good technicians are in the file of the Federation, there are some that are possible and others that are not from an economic point of view. I estimate that before the end of the month we should have the coaching staff operational”.

If the arrival of ‘Tiger’ to the Ecuadorian team, could have a rematch with an Oceanic team. And it is that he would face Australia, with whom he lost to Peru by penalty shootout in the playoffs and kicked him out of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

“At the beginning of March, we have to block foreign players for the FIFA date, which will be two games thanks to Australia’s invitation. We will play them in the city of Melbourne and Sydney on the March FIFA date” , said the director of the Ecuadorian Federation.

Ricardo Gareca, as Egas said, is not the only option for the recent World Cup squad, his compatriot’s name has also been mentioned Sebastien Beccacecewho admitted having met members of the FEF.

“We are in negotiations, I cannot tell you that it is done or closed because it is in the process of finding an agreement, I spoke with the president (Francisco Egas), we are in communication. I have also spoken with Gustavo Alfaro to find out more about Ecuador, we are in talks. They also have other alternatives”, was the last thing the man said. ‘Lean’ in dialogue with ESPN.

Almost a year later, the Argentine coach has detailed the factors that influenced the Peruvian side’s painful fall to Australia in the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers. ‘soccer’ and the obstacles he had to overcome before the decisive match.

“The draw was problematic from all points of view, injured players, we couldn’t count on players like Paolo Guerrero or Jefferson Farfán who gave us important goals, Yotún had surgery, Carrillo had operate at the last moment. The boys were solving it but unfortunately the game against Australia was not our best game,” he said in an interview with Full Sport.

“A week before us, Australia had just played two finals, with a totally different spirit from ours. We had just played a friendly match, while they had just played a final in the stadium where we were going to play, we couldn’t even set foot on the stadium lawn,” he concluded.

Ecuador will have a little more time to define its new technical order and it is that the new edition of the South American Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup has been delayed. Normally they started in March, however, it won’t be like that. First there was talk of June and finally, according to information from Argentine journalist Gastón Edul, they would start in September.