The 539 days that marked the Berizzo era at the helm of La Roja

Eduardo Berizzo left La Roja after equalizing against Paraguay. “I have just spoken with the president of the Federation and I expressed my desire to leave office. The results were not those expected. We have to recognize that when things don’t work, we have to know how to recognize it,” he said.

With this sentence culminated a process that lasted a year and a half. A period which never managed to penetrate the people and which was reflected in the songs which took place at the Monumental stadium. Also as one of the factors (not the only one) of the low attendance of the last matches of the national team. “Berizzo is leaving!” the supporters shouted.

The transandean starts with a very poor performance: 37.5 percent of the points played. This leaves him as the fourth coach (with a minimum of 10 games) to have had the worst haul. He only surpasses Pedro García, Mazullo and, oddly enough, Fernando Riera. Some time ago, he had bypassed the supporters of Everybody’s Team. Without going any further, at Santiago 2023, despite the silver medal, Toto was criticized for his decisions with physical (spitting) and verbal attacks. This fact was decisive in his decision.

They recognize him inside campus. “They didn’t let him work in peace. People don’t respect the processes (…) We tried to convince him to continue, but a more or less ugly atmosphere was created,” said Gary Medel.

Although his departure occurred with resignation and during the Qualifiers, the truth is that the strategist was already on the ledge. In June, the ANFP scheduled very low level friendly matches against Cuba and the Dominican Republic. This was done precisely so that the coaches could increase their statistics and the team would gain a certain degree of confidence. But against heavier rivals, Chile has never looked good.

The factors are multiple. Berizzo’s additions to the team have failed to improve the performance of a team that has been in decline for years.

In his speech, Berizzo insisted he was looking to build a core group for the playoffs. During his time at Juan Pinto Durán, he debuted 17 players in the first team.

Michael Fuentes (1 match), Darío Osorio (5), Bruno Barticciotto (1), Cristóbal Campos (1), Felipe Loyola (1), Matías Zaldivia (1), Javier Altamirano (1), Matías Fernández Cordero (1), Lucas Assadi (2), Matías Catalán (4), Williams Alarcón (5), Alex Ibacache (2), Guillermo Soto (3), Alexander Aravena (7), Nayel Mehssatou (8), Damián Pizarro (1) and Maximiliano Guerrero (1) are the nouns.

In the list, Aravena is the name that managed to gain a place. The basis of the Berizzo process, yes, was a few banners and names added since Lasarte’s time. Gary Medel added the most minutes. Then appear Gabriel Suazo, Ben Brereton, Alexis Sánchez and Arturo Vidal.

The big injury that the coaching staff couldn’t heal was Claudio Bravo. The strategist never wanted to integrate the goalkeeper. But the urgency of the results pushed me to call him. However, when the goalkeeper decided to withdraw from the June FIFA date, Berizzo decided to cut him. The divide never closed and the cross-statements continued in recent months.

Berizzo ends his time at La Roja. There were 539 days, 17 new players and only five units out of 15 competing in the Qualifiers. El Toto leaves without pain or less glory.