Ricardo Gareca

Ricardo Alberto Gareca Nardi (born 10 February 1958), nicknamed el Tigre and el Flaco ("Tiger " and "Slim"), is an Argentine football manager and former player.

He is the current manager of the Chile national team.

During his playing career, Gareca played for four of the most important teams in Argentina (Boca Juniors, River Plate, Vélez Sársfield and Independiente).

He also had a successful experience in Colombia with América de Cali, winning two league titles and being runner-up of three Copa Libertadores.

Gareca started his professional career in 1978 with Boca Juniors, where he only played 16 games in his first three years with the club.

In 1981, he was loaned out to Sarmiento for the 1981 Metropolitano, but he returned to Boca for the Nacional where he played alongside Diego Maradona, scoring 8 goals in the championship.

Gareca made his debut for the Argentina national team in 1981, playing against Poland.

In 1985, Gareca earned the eternal hatred of many Boca fans for transferring directly to their fiercest rivals, River Plate, along with Oscar Ruggeri.

However, unlike Ruggeri, his time with River was short, and the fans started losing that hatred, as he soon joined Colombian team América de Cali later in 1985.

Gareca won two league titles with América, in 1985 and 1986.

He also had the misfortune of being on the losing side of the Copa Libertadores final three times in a row (1985, 1986 and 1987).

He went on to play 20 caps for his country, scoring 5 goals, including one against the team he would eventually go to coach, Peru, which eliminated the Peruvians from reaching the 1986 FIFA World Cup and had costed Peru into a World Cup drought for 36 years.

He was also the top scorer of the 1987 edition, with 7 goals.

During his time at América, he developed a friendship with Andrés Escobar, who was later murdered, and because of their friendship Gareca was almost assassinated by Pablo Escobar.

In 1989, Gareca returned to Argentina, where he played for Vélez Sársfield until 1992.

In 1993, he joined Independiente for the last years of his career, making him one of a select band of players to have played for four of the most successful teams in Argentine football.

While playing for Independiente he also won his first Argentine Primera División title, in the 1994 Clausura.

Shortly after winning the league title, he officially retired.

Since 1996, Gareca has worked as a manager.

He has won four league titles in Argentina (with Vélez Sarsfield); as well as a second division championship and a Copa CONMEBOL with Talleres de Córdoba.

Gareca started his managerial career with Talleres in 1996.

In 1997, he left the club to take over at Independiente, but results were not forthcoming and he returned to Talleres later that year.

Gareca led Talleres to the Primera B Nacional (Argentine second division) championship in 1997–98, which earned them promotion to the Primera División.

In 1999, he led them to their first major title, the Copa CONMEBOL, making them the first team in Argentina from outside the Buenos Aires and Santa Fe provinces to win an international competition.

In 2000, Gareca joined Colón de Santa Fe, but soon returned to Talleres for a third spell with the club.

In 2002, the former forward took over at Quilmes in the second division, and then in 2003 he became manager of Argentinos Juniors.

Having led Argentinos to the brink of promotion, the club faced a playoff against Gareca's former team Quilmes, which they lost, missing out on promotion.

Gareca then teamed up with former teammate Oscar Ruggeri in 2004 to work as his field assistant at Elche in Spain.

In 2005, he became manager of his former club, América de Cali, followed by a spell in charge of Independiente Santa Fe, both in Colombia.

In 2006, he returned for a fourth spell with Talleres, but couldn't prevent them from struggling in the Argentine second division.

In October 2007, he became the manager of Peruvian Universitario, and in July 2008 he led the team to the Torneo Apertura title.

Gareca returned to Argentina in 2009 to become manager of Vélez Sarsfield.

In his first championship season with the club, he led them to the Clausura championship.

Vélez lost only one of their 19 games throughout the championship.

The 2010–11 season was a very successful one, as Gareca led Vélez to a runner-up finish in the Apertura, making a 43-points campaign (3 more than in their championship winning campaign of 2009), and to another championship in the Clausura.

Gareca won his third league title with Vélez in 2012, helping the team obtain the 2012 Inicial.

On 21 May 2014, Gareca was announced as the new manager of Brazilian side Palmeiras, signing a contract until June 2015.

However, he was sacked after just three months due to Palmeiras' poor results.

During that time, he was contacted by the Ghana Football Association to become coach of Ghana, but ultimately fell short to Avram Grant.

In February 2015, Gareca was named the manager for the Peruvian national team.