Has coached in Argentina with Rosario Central (1998-2001), Peru, where he led Sporting Cristal to the league title in 2005, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia and Brazil, where he took charge of Sao Paulo this year.
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Bauza guided LDU Quito (2008) and San Lorenzo (2014) to Copa Libertadores success and steered Brazilian club Sao Paulo to the semifinals of South America’s top club competition last month.
“Sao Paulo announce that Edgardo Bauza has revealed he received and accepted on Monday evening an offer from the Argentine Football Association (AFA) to take over the national team”, a statement read.
Had the timing been better, Argentina would probably have gone for a higher profile coach like Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone or former Chile trainer Jorge Sampaoli. “The board wishes to thank the coach and wish them luck in his new challenge”. Messi doesn’t have something against Bauza, but Leo sees the decision as a reflection of AFA’s problems in management.
Messi, 29, left the pitch in tears after that loss to Chile, saying “For me, the national team is over”.
Meanwhile, Bauza must get Argentina ready for two key dates on the 2018 World Cup qualifying trail: against Uruguay at home on September 1, and away at Venezuela on September 6.
However, according to a report from top Argentinean sports magazine El Gráfico, the Barcelona superstar does not plan to come back to the team after learning about Bauza’s appointment.
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This post was syndicated from Punch Newspapers.
