The Brazilian Serie A season begins in six weeks, but Flamengo is now looking for a new head coach after the club announced Reinaldo Rueda has resigned to take the head coach position with the Chilean national team.
Chile shockingly missed qualification for the 2018 World Cup, leading to the resignation of Juan Antonio Pizzi after just 18 months in charge. They were third in the CONMEBOL qualification table heading into the last matchday, but fell 3-0 to Brazil and dropped out of the qualification spots.
Rueda has plenty of experience in CONMEBOL play. The 60-year-old Colombian has previously taken charge of Colombia, Honduras, and Ecuador between 2004 and 2014 all before moving to the club side with Colombian club Atletico Nacional and then Flamengo. He won the 2016 Copa Libertadores with Atletico before moving to Flamengo in August where he reached (and lost) a pair of finals in the Brazilian domestic cup and the Copa Sudamericana.
Nota Oficial - Reinaldo Ruedahttps://t.co/zOqlqG7Caq
— Flamengo (@Flamengo) January 8, 2018
The Colombian has plenty of work to do. Not only did the Chilean senior team flop after reaching such incredible heights the last few years, but the youth side has also performed below standards in recent years, missing both the 2015 and 2017 U-20 World Cups.
Flamengo confirmed the move, while nothing official has come from the Chilean national team yet. The announcement came on the first day of Flamengo’s pre-season. The club has not won a Serie A title since 2009, and while they finished third two seasons ago, they have not finished higher than 6th in any other campaign since 2011.