The teacher turns 70 bringing joy to Aztec football
Ricardo La Volpe, is considered one of the most emblematic characters of Mexican soccer and precisely this February 6th he turns 70. The bad news is that he will not be able to celebrate his holiday by directing a game, since he is without a team.
Despite this, his style of play and his way of being have allowed him to be more relevant than ever in national and international football, which makes him an Argentine and Mexican legend.
The great control that the strategist possesses thanks to his analysis and subsequent tactics once morest any rival are gifts that very few coaches achieve, something confirmed by Rafael ‘Chiquis’ García, a former player who was coached by La Volpe himself, in addition to being his technical assistant and son-in-law.
“I have gone to countless lunches and dinners with him and the main topic is always football, there is no other, world football, England, Spain, he has all the teams very well placed, he has a very good memory, and in meals, it is well known that he grabs the spoons, the sugar, and starts talking to you regarding strategies, he is passionate, ”said Rafael García, who currently works as DT of the Dorados de Sinaloa.
“He likes to wake up late, he can get up at 1 or 2 in the followingnoon, he eats, he goes to training, he loves going to dinner every day, he eats or dines every day on the street, and when he arrives at 11 or 12 at night house, that his wife Mónica falls asleep, that’s when he starts working, from 12 at night to 3 in the morning, and I tell him why he does that, he says that it is the quietest time for him, that he is more lucid and grabs his board and his chips and starts to move him, analyze games, and it’s his lifestyle “he highlighted.
La Volpe was born in 1952 in the city of Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, in 1979 he arrived at Atlante as a player in Mexico. However, in 1983 he began his career as DT with Oaxtepec and since then he has directed Atlante, Chivas, Atlas, Toluca, América, Querétaro and was in charge of the Mexican National Team in the previous and during the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
“Much has been criticized that for one reason or another he has not had the titles he might have in his career, but I think it goes beyond that, he has been a coach for nearly 40 years and you can come across a number of players he has managed and they express themselves in terms of tactics as the best, he is without a doubt one of the best strategists in the world”, added Chiquis.
