Is it Time to say Goodbye to Reinaldo Rueda?

Last week, the Uruguayan soccer team fired their 15-year-old coach, Óscar Washington Tabárez, after his four consecutive defeats in the South American Qualifiers. It is clear that the Uruguayan Football Association's priority is to reach the World Cup at all costs, and that it cannot accept mediocre results. This made us wonder, why aren't we applying the same standard to Reinaldo Rueda?

Disappointing results

Reinaldo Rueda has achieved very poor results in these qualifying rounds to Qatar. Although Colombia is in fourth place on the continent, its record is not worthy of this position.

The Andean country has only achieved three victories: against Venezuela, Peru and Chile. Colombia has fewer victories than the 4 countries that follow them in the standings, what's more, it has only won more than Paraguay (which also fired its coach) and Bolivia.

The only thing that keeps him in his current position are draws. And yes, drawing is what he has done. Since October 7, Colombia has drawn 4 out of 5 games, losing the remaining against Brazil. But that is not the worst data. Since that October 7, the National Team has not scored a single goal.

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He does not know how to take advantage of the players

It is true that Rueda cannot be completely blamed for the results of an entire team, but it seems that he is the only manager who does not take advantage of these players.

Duván Zapata, for example, has played 11 matches and has only scored 1 goal under Rueda. In the same number of Serie A appearances, this forward has scored 8 goals.

But he's not the only one. Falcao came with a scoring streak with Rayo Vallecano in the October qualifiers and we hardly saw him in those games. Luis Díaz, in the same way, is having one of the best seasons of his life with Porto and has only shone once in a while with the National Team.

On the other hand, Rueda, who at the beginning of the year had been emphatic in not allowing players to play who were not at their optimal level, has made decisions focused on pleasing the fans at key moments. The return of James Rodríguez in the match against Paraguay was an example of this. Although the player is much loved at the national level, he had not played a match with the National Team in more than 384 days and spent almost 80 minutes on the court.

As the sports journalist Carlos Antonio Vélez put it best: “Reinaldo is losing credibility, I have tried to be quiet, because I appreciate him and I know that he is a competent person. For example, the fact that nobody can come to the National Team who is not at 500%, and players began to appear who are barely at 50%, there he is already lying to us and that makes us lose credibility "

The future

Despite the above reasons, the FCF has been clear: they do not want to get rid of Rueda. As the president of the entity, Ramón Jesurún, said in an interview: “There is no doubt that his name is not even under consideration for eventual change … Professor Rueda has the absolute support of the Executive Committee (of the Federation) as do the players, the entire coaching staff ”.

We will see if this position is maintained when Colombia falls from the position table.