2024-04-09 17:30:00
Gary Medel is surprised. This Monday, Pitbull visited the Colo Colo concentration, which is in Rio de Janeiro to face Fluminense. At the hotel, he shared with several of the alba figures with whom he had forged a relationship in La Roja. One of them, Arturo Vidal, is in the same situation: he was not considered by Ricardo Gareca in his first list in charge of the National Team. With that roster, La Roja beat Albania and lost to France although, beyond the results, the conclusion is that the national team’s level of play rose. Optimism, although controlled, revives with an intermediate season in sight, the Copa América, and with the real objective a little more distant: climbing positions in the Qualifiers table.
Pitbull still feels strange, although he continues to consider himself part of a group that he has been part of for so long and to which he contributed decisively. “I was surprised, I have been going to the National Team for 17 years but they are decisions of the coaching staff and they must be respected. You have to work for a new call or a new call. I will be available for everything,” he states in the context of his visit to the Cacique players. He ruled out, in passing, having had any problems with Gareca or anyone on his work team.
Publicly, Gareca was emphatic about Medel’s absence. “Just because he is not called up does not mean that he cannot be in the future. These are the ones considered for this list, nothing more. Gary remains. I have not assured anyone anything. “This is the roster for these two games,” he clarified. “I understand that there may be conjectures to analyze. Our analysis is simple, we want to see other options at this time. He has more than 100 international caps. I know that I am counting on them,” he insisted when communicating to those summoned. In return, for example, he opted for the return of Eduardo Vargas.
He had communicated with the Vasco da Gama defender to explore his intentions regarding the new process and, indeed, he found his willingness to be part of the cycle, at least until he felt in a shape that would allow him to perform at a level close to his best days. .
Two sentences from Gareca serve, in any case, to understand the logic of the determination. That he has not assured him anything implies remaining attached to a principle that he already used in Peru, where he had to make a similar transition and dispensed with figures like Jefferson Farfán.
From La Roja, however, they assure that Gareca is not intimidated by these types of messages from the press. The Argentine makes decisions according to what he considers best for the National Team. “He doesn’t marry anyone. She may call him later, but today he is not in her plans,” they warn from Juan Pinto Durán. In addition, they say that Tigre never gives explanations to anyone about his nominations. This is also how Pitbull made it clear: “You train to be called up to the National Team. If that happens I will be happy and if not I will support my teammates. Ricardo Gareca’s decision is respected. He doesn’t have to explain anything to me,” said the defender.
Gary Medel, as captain of the Red. (Photo: Agenciauno).
Gareca’s decision goes the other way. That he wants to see other options, regardless of whether it is actually a prerogative of his position, gives another considerable signal. Historically, Medel has acted as a center back in La Roja. The 1.71 meters that he measures were rarely a disadvantage when facing taller rivals. The speed of his actions and a remarkable jumping ability, added to his craftsmanship and bravery, allowed him to emerge victorious in most duels.
However, the coach prefers taller central defenders. Of the list that played in Europe, the only center back who measures less than 1.80 meters is Paulo Díaz. Of course, the defender is seven centimeters taller than Medel and is the main figure in River Plate’s defense. The last reason is more than enough for Gareca to summon him. The rest exceed the ‘norm’: Guillermo Maripán measures 1.93 meters; Igor Lichnovsky reaches 1.86 meters and Thomas Galdames is 1.82 meters tall.
There is one caveat: the search in the same direction had begun at the time when Reinaldo Rueda was on the National Team bench. There, for example, Maripán began to gain notoriety and Francisco Sierralta (1.90 meters) also emerged as an option. Medel was played in some games as a defensive midfielder, a position in which he excelled, for example, at Inter Milan and Besiktas. Over time, he recovered his traditional seat.
There is another factor that Gareca does not allude to publicly, but that internally takes on a relevant value: the recomposition of the leadership in the La Roja locker room. El Tigre is a friend of harmonious locker rooms, aligned behind a common objective and with references that fit within that logic. Just as in Peru and in the rest of the teams he has coached, although he admits and respects the existence of leaders, in La Roja he seeks to keep them at bay.
In the same sense, for example, in La Roja they confess that Claudio Bravo’s reappearance was quite measured in terms of his relationship with the coaching staff and his teammates, a sign that was well perceived internally. The Betis goalkeeper, in fact, once again wore the captain’s jacket that he has worn while he has been in the national team. When he did not participate, due to differences with Rueda’s coaching staff, the person in charge of carrying it was Medel, a different leadership style, at that time closely linked to that of Arturo Vidal, who was distanced from the goalkeeper due to comments from his inner circle regarding of his acts of indiscipline in the failed attempt to qualify for the World Cup in Russia, to which Gareca went with Peru. Alexis Sánchez, meanwhile, is closer to the goalkeeper.
Medel, by the way, was one of the main defenders of Eduardo Berizzo’s management at the public level.
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