The national team is looking for a coach. Nicolás Córdova's stay in the position is on an interim basis, although the duration of the period has never been made clear. The most concrete reference in that regard is the start of the qualifiers for the 2030 World Cup. The great aspiration of the ANFP leadership is to convince Manuel Pellegrini to take charge of La Roja. Claudio Borghi held the position between 2011 and 2012. He arrived at the job preceded by his notable campaigns with Colo Colo, where he won four consecutive titles and reached the final of the Copa Sudamericana in 2006. El Bichi faced a complex task: replacing Marcelo Bielsa, who charmed the country by taking La Roja to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. At many moments during his tenure he felt the weight of the Argentine's shadow. Claudio Borghi's about-face regarding a possible return of Marcelo Bielsa to La Roja The former Colo Colo midfielder now calls for the return of the Loco. "We've been waiting for Pellegrini for 10 years and there's still hope that he'll come," he says at the start of his appearance on the program Todos Somos Técnicos, on which he is a panelist. Then, he refers directly to the Argentine. "I would go after Bielsa. I would make him an offer and tell him: 'look, you did a marvelous job here, do it again, because we need you,'" he said, as a way out of the crisis of leadership and direction in the national squad. Marcelo Bielsa, at the World Cup (Photo: Xinhua/Nicolás Celaya) [e]NICOLAS CELAYA The contrast His stance contrasts with the one he expressed while occupying Juan Pinto Durán. In those days, the world champion of the Mexico World Cup would get irritated by the recurring mentions of the strategist. "Bielsa left more widows in Chile than World War II," he declared in mid-2011. That said, he also acknowledged his predecessor's work. "I never liked comparisons and it would be disrespectful to compare myself with someone who has more prestige than I do as a coach," he pointed out. "Chile is a team that is well formed. Bielsa did a great job, a great qualifying campaign, a good World Cup. The core of the team is practically the one Bielsa had," he admitted, on the eve of that year's Copa América. In October of that year, however, he ironized about the inheritance he received. "'I don't like to talk about people who aren't here and can't defend themselves, but we were prepared to enter NASA and it's not NASA,'" he illustrated. "He's very organized, works well, but he's not that different from other coaches I've worked with and shared time with. There are coaches who are more and less organized," he noted, as a way of demystifying a methodology that, in those days, was seen as practically the only viable option for achieving good results with the national team. "He wasn't austere" The following year, El Bichi debunked another belief about Bielsa. "People believe that everything good in this team is because of Bielsa and that everything bad is because of me. What strikes me is that everyone talks about his work but nobody saw him work because he was very secretive," he fired off. "People say he was austere for living here, but he wasn't austere because he had a lot of people at his disposal. It was cheaper for the Federation to keep him in a house or a hotel than living here," he concluded that time. NEWSLETTER El Deportivo Monday, 8:45 AM A special selection with coverage and analysis of the most important sporting events of the weekend, by the Sports team of La Tercera. By subscribing you are accepting the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policies of La Tercera.