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New Coach for Colombian Soccer Team

By Manuel Rueda, Editorial Director

Wednesday, May 05th, 2010

Colombia´s National Football Federation has picked Hernan Dario “El Bolillo” (The Baton)  Gomez to lead the country´s national soccer team.

Gomez was Colombia´s assistant coach during the 1990 and 1994 World Cups and as head coach in 1998 he helped Colombia qualify to the 1998 World Cup in France.

But he parted ways with the national team after it failed to pass the first round in France and went on to coach Ecuador to its first ever World Cup appearance in 2002.

Despite some success at Youth World Cups, Colombia has not been to the FIA World Cup since 1998.  Last year the team failed to qualify for South Africa 2010, finishing sixth out of ten teams in the South American qualifiers and prompting Coach Eduardo Lara to resign.

Football experts in Colombia have been calling on the Federation to hire a foreign coach that could help the national team to modernize its game, make its players fitter and impose a style based on longer more profound passes. 

But instead, the Federation decided to go with the well-known Bolillo hoping that he can repeat some of the success enjoyed by the team in the 1990´s.

At his inaugural press conference, the Medellin native called for national unity.

“The national team does not belong to me or to the federation directors. It belongs to the country.” he said.  “We must be a family, I don´t see any other way of reaching the World Cup.”

Bolillo´s main challenge will be to help Colombia qualify to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  But first he must also help the team perform well in the 2011 Copa America while cleansing it of corrupt practices.

Too often players on the national team are not selected due to their quality, instead they are picked upon the recommendations of agents and team presidents who want to use the national team as a window for their players to be sold on to European clubs. 

Time will tell if Bolillo can correct such practices and modernize Colombian football.  His first test will be two friendly matches in May against World Cup participants South Africa and Nigeria.