LOS ANGELES – Where to now? Ricardo FerrettiNext Monday he will turn 66. Your compass rose appears to be fading. And this soccer player Marco Polo has no more expeditions. And his contract with Tigres expires in May.
Seven league titles, runner-up in the Copa Libertadores, champion of Concacaf and runner-up of it World cup for clubs with Tigers, the time came Ricardo Ferretti He appears to have lowered flags in Mexican football, where he taught him the bitter side of homelessness nearly 43 years ago.
There will be no rematch in the Libertadores, and his bittersweet journey with the Mexican national team has a double lock, despite having the pass at the Confederations Cup Russia 2017 The Tuca You know what Gerardo Martino He will lead the 2026 World Cup.
It’s not that you miss out on offers. He has scorned MLS and minor innuendo from Europe. And he’s not tempted by a multi-million dollar adventure, but tasteless and tasteless by China or by the oil paradises. The man behind the damaged Ferrari Rojo is the highest paid technician in Mexico.
Football cartography is limited. So now where TucaOr in its procureous and suburban language, where ‘caghajos’, Ferretti
The temptations of the LigaMx and from the Concacaf, has already listed them as decorative objects in his resume. And that obsession that the World cup for clubs, by making it to the final at the expense of Palmeiras, leaves him in a separate niche in the history of coaches in Mexican football, beyond the lurid musings of whether he could, if he didn’t want to or should have tried something different for Bayern Munich.
League champion with Chivas, Pumas and Tigers, and sometimes with minor titles featuring Toluca Ferretti He accepted receiving offers from Cruz Azul and from America, but he always had his word to himself and his agenda full. In 30 years, he hasn’t stopped directing and has never been fired. He decides when to leave.
His future has been in it for years, just not officially. He was the absolute owner of the lot Tigers For years he has guaranteed a place at the decision table of the sports field of CemexPresident? Sports director? Honorary Vice President? He will decide how pompous his position will be and how generous his fees will be.
For now, his contract expires in three months, with the final whistle of the Guard1anes 2021There have been negotiations. He and Tigers talk about an extension to 2023. But, in Cemex They have decided to clarify who should be in charge of the team. And entrepreneurs are not in a hurry.
To extend the contract until 2023, Cemex put on its pants and delivered its specifications. For the first time, the relationship is from Ferretti with his friend, partner, accomplice, confidant and executor, the Inge Alejandro Rodriguez, she looked painful. The patron, the board of Tigers, he felt he received less than he gave. The balance was broken.
1.- Cemex started acting as a company in football. He closed the tap to waste. Ask about it Leo Fernandez and he accepted the closure of the operation Carlos González because a commitment had already been made.
2.- To renew Tuca Cemex I wanted another title, the Guard1anes 2020 o la ConcachampionsThe coach went a little further. He delivered the runner-up to the World cup for clubsThat way Ferretti killed two tigers with a shotgun, as they demand that the brand transcend international. It already did.
3.- The pandemic affected one of the projects of TigersHe had moved heaven, sea and earth to be invited to Spanish preseason competitions, aka the Teresa Herrera or the Santiago BernabeuIn the first they ever participated Blue cross Y America, and the second was captured by the Cougars from Hugo Sanchez
On the other hand, as negotiations between Tigers Y TucaCould the Brazilian be tempted by the challenge of breaking the title drought? Blue cross Ricardo Ferretti does not give in or give in to the team’s sports management. Mark an era with America The nest Y Machine They would lead him into a situation of daily media burnout, which at the age of 66 years old did not interest him.
Ultimately, your successful track record doesn’t mean you don’t have an unfinished business. There are. If you’ve decided to avoid them, marginalize them, ignore them, it’s strictly your own decision, and no one has made any demands.
1.- Basic powers. Despite graduating as a coach in Cougars, once a mighty quarry of Mexican football, Ferretti has not trained any symbolic player Tigers, let alone a generation of leads, despite its lengthy management in two distinct phases.
2. – Recognize in Bora Milutinovic Y Miguel Mejia Baron to two of his mentors. Despite his career as a striker since his time with Botafogo, he has spurned the commitment to aggressive, colorful and generous football. And it’s not that I don’t know or can’t, especially because of the years associated with it. Mejia BaronAnd in Tigers he has and has had arsenal to blow up the opponent’s target, if he wanted to.
So now where TucaOr in their foul language and for the most likeable, where are you “caghajos”, Ferretti
His career can only be considered successful, especially with the anecdote he revealed to Soccermanía magazine in 2007. He only needed $ 150 to send the devil to Mexican football and return to Brazil.
Related the Tuca to Soccermania that the Atlas, after descent to Second division, told him he wouldn’t go any further The whereabouts, and that her margarita had withered in the club. Worst: no one was interested in him.
Ferretti he tells how he slept on the street in front of the Brazilian embassy for two nights without money, without a roof, without hot food. His capital was $ 350. The ticket to Rio de Janeiro costs $ 500. No one would lend him the money, no one entrusted him with the $ 150.
“I fell asleep for two nights on couches in front of the Brazilian embassy (then located on Avenida Reforma). Thank goodness it was not cold or rainy. If they had given me the ticket back to Brazil, I wouldn’t have had that many years in Mexico, ”Ferretti revealed to Soccermanía magazine, according to the portal mediotiempo.com.
The account reveals that Ferretti was saved from the street by Mario Tinajero, who sent him to the League of Animals, a famous tournament in Guadalajara for paying former professionals for their services. Ranching would survive Tuca“After the games came the best: beer, tequila and carnitas,” he recalls.
Finally, the proposal of Cougars by Mejia BaronAnd the homeless for two days, learned the most powerful lesson in life.
That explains what his greatest courage and greatest pleasure in life are, revealed by himself:
1 .- “I get up … that food is wasted.”
2. Directing ‘Brasil 2000’ somewhere in a Brazilian restaurant in Guadalajara Chivas, with Ney White the Oliveira this reporter presented how to be a proper dinner in the ‘rodizios’.
Eat easily. Take a break. You eat again. You take another break… and so on ”. That meeting lasted almost three hours and it was possible to meet the other Ferretti, the one who can talk about literature, politics and love for Mexico, beyond painful passages, such as parking his Ferrari in a space for those with special skills.
Not bad, therefore, life in Mexico, for someone who lived in poverty for a few days in 1978 and 43 years later receives the medal as second of the world club.