2023-11-06 03:01:00
Almirón and Riquelme, protagonists of this story
“We are just coming out of the game, there is not much to think about, only the pain and that feeling. “We will see how everything goes, you always have to get up, it is a very big club.”
Moments after the Copa Libertadores final that Boca lost to Fluminense, in the bowels of the Maracaná that had experienced a football festival, Jorge Almirón offered no signs of resignation. Yes, uneasiness, but he was talking about including himself in the near future. This Sunday afternoon, when the plane that returned the delegation to Buenos Aires landed, the 52-year-old coach led the group that moved to the entity’s Ezeiza property. He wore the Xeneize sweater. She was still the coach, although not for long.
Because after 9 p.m., as Boca pointed out on their social networks, the former Lanús, Defensa y Justicia and San Lorenzo informed Juan Román Riquelme and the Football Council of his decision to leave. “He’s done, he can’t go any further,” they say he said, convinced.
A symptom that there were frictions already on the surface in terms of coexistence, such as Nicolás Figal’s rudeness when he was replaced in the epilogue of the final against Flu? A move to not depend on the fluctuations of the results between now and the end of the year and for his continuity to become a novel, or a process of wear and tear as happened to other colleagues of his with this leadership? Or did what happened at the conclave in Boca have something to do with it? Maybe a little of everything. The concrete thing is that in La Ribera they did not expect it. Just read the statement published after 11 p.m.
“Club Atlético Boca Juniors informs its members and supporters that this Sunday, November 5, after 9 p.m., Jorge Almirón reported that he and his coaching staff, with a contract valid until the end of the season, had made the personal decision of not continuing as coaches. Our institution appreciates the services provided by all of them and wishes them the greatest success in the future,” the letter reads. In fact, the bond expired in December. And the Board of Directors hoped that on Wednesday, against San Lorenzo, Almirón and his collaborators would lead, and not Mariano Herrón on an interim basis, as everything indicates will happen.
As true as that the future of the DT was in doubt and was going to depend on the immediate harvest and, logically, also on the result of the elections to be held in December. The next few weeks of competition are decisive for Boca, because the ticket for Libertadores 2024 is not guaranteed. qualification line to the Libertadores 2024 by Annual Table, but also 2 away from being left out of the Sudamericana. A disturbing panorama.
For this reason, the semi-final of the Argentine Cup against Estudiantes (it would be played on FIFA Date, in a stadium in the province of Buenos Aires) began to have enormous weight. Because the tournament offers an Olympic return, but also the ticket to the highest international competition. And Xeneize cannot afford not to participate.
Boca’s statement after the DT’s decision
In that context, the delegation arrived at the Ezeiza complex and there Riquelme dedicated a few words to the team, according to journalist Diego Monroig. The first, friendly, following the affection lavished by the hundred fans who waited at the airport for the protagonists: “Thank you for once again exciting the people of Boca.”
Of course, later the loots returned to earth. And to the demands. “The position in the championship is shameful,” the Bullfighter reportedly said. The club he leads is second to last, with 11 units, in Zone B. “We have to win the Argentine Cup,” he would have remarked, according to Monroig’s story.
After the brief speech, Almirón stayed with him. And there he resigned. How much impact did the noise of his sentences have had? Could he have sensed from them that he was embarking on a path with few possibilities, that he was no longer welcome? Román would have tried to persuade him to at least finish the tournament. But there was no case. The “that’s it, it can’t go any further” put the bow on a cycle that will exhibit a particularity: he is the first coach in a decade to leave the club without an Olympic return.
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