The unusual case of Santa Fe, the Argentine province that will have five coaches at the 2026 World Cup, a safe transition and another that is frightening

Waiting for the next one World Cupif the Fifa When we publish the official lists of the 48 participating teams and publish many statistics from there, a province of Argentina will have its own light among the birthplaces of the 48 coaches, 6 of which are Argentine. It’s just that of these six, five were born in Santa Fe Province. It will be a real world record.

It is well known that Buenos Aires and Rosario football has always dominated the national scene. So much so that in 1913, Minister Carlos Ibarguren, Minister of Justice and Public Education of the nation, donated a trophy to compete annually in the Argentine championship between the champions of both leagues. rosaryhis area of ​​influence and the entire province of Santa Fe were a breeding ground for great players. The list is endless but the final link is Lionel Messi.

The same thing happens with the technicians Cesar Luis Menotti until Lionel Scaloniboth world champions, the first in Argentina 78 and the last one in Qatar 2022. It will be a surprising fact in the global context, but football fans know the importance of the central region of the country, from the city of Buenos Aires to Mendoza, especially the Santa Fe Strip.

The six trainers are there United States-Mexico-Canada 2026 they will be Nestor Lorenzo (Colombia), Marcelo Bielsa (Uruguay), Sebastian Beccacece (Ecuador), Gustavo Alfaro (Paraguay), Mauricio Pochettino (United States) and of course Scaloni at the helm Scaloneta. Except for the former defender, who was runner-up with Argentina in 1990 and was born in Villa Celina, the city next to General Paz and to which he belonged The carnageBuenos Aires Province, the other five are from Santa Fe.

Caprice of geography or legacy of a century and a half of Argentine history, immigration and landscape: Santa FeWith an area of ​​133,000 square kilometers, it will have a strong presence at the 2026 World Cup, despite measuring much less than half the territory of Italy (300,000 km2), the four-time Azzurra champions, absent for two cups and relying on a playoff in March to avoid adding a third.

Of the five, two are pure Rosario fans, football fans at heart, with little experience as players, but fans of Newells and tactics and strategy. Loco Bielsa, who turned 70 on July 21, played in La Lepra, made his debut in the First Division in 1976, but barely played 25 games in the First Division. He was also a central marker for the Instituto y Argentino de Rosario. Without much brilliance on the field, he had a brilliant career on the Lime side. And just as there were once Menottistas and Bilardistas, there have also been Bielsistas since their creation.

He will be taking part in the next World Cup for a third time, the first being with Argentina in 2002, the failure in Korea/Japan, which failed to make it out of the group stage, and with Chile in South Africa 2010, where they were eliminated in the round of 16. Directly to Uruguay since May 2023 and although there was talk of his departure less than a month ago, he remains firmly in his position after a 5-1 defeat in a friendly against the USA and everything points to him being at the World Cup.

Beccacece, who turns 45 on December 17, had a history as an amateur footballer and played as a right-back in the team John XXIprotagonists of the Rosario League for years. He realized at a young age that he had no future as a professional. He began to lead the youth Renato Cesarini in 2000 and three years later he was already assistant to Jorge Sampaoli. He then completed his studies to become a technical director after a virtual course and received this after 25 months in September 2012. Ecuador It is his first experience in a national team after managing Universidad de Chile, Defensa, Independiente, Racing and Elche. In 2018 he was in Russia as Sampaoli’s assistant in the national team.

The list of players born in the city RafaelaSanta Fe, is long, in alphabetical order it starts with Lucas Alessandria and Gustavo Alfaro and ends with the Zbruns, the twins Martín and Matías and Maximiliano. But the technicians who transcended can be counted on the fingers, Gabriel Schurrer and the professor himself, as they say emphatically Paraguay. He was a midfielder and had no notable career: he played for Sportivo Norte, Atlético de Rafaela and Villa Alvear de Chaco. He started coaching in Rafaela in 1992 and after rowing for many years, it was time for selection. First in Ecuador (2020-22), then in Costa Rica (2023-24) and finally, since September last year, in Paraguay. At the age of 63, he will have his first World Cup experience on August 14th.

At the entrance to Murphy160 kilometers from Rosario there is a sign that the city of 4,500 inhabitants is proud of. “Murphy, ambassador of good football”. Among the names Andrés Desábato, Claudio Pochettino, Daniel Gazzaniga, David Bisconti, Gianfranco Gazzaniga, Juan Pablo Caffa, Leandro-Desábato, Mauricio Piersimone, Paulo Gazzaniga and Santiago Morero is the figure of Mauricio Pochettinoborn there on March 2, 1972.

The teenager Pochettino was a discovery of Bielsa and Jorge Griffa. They visited him, he slept, they looked at his legs and called him up to the youth team at Newell’s, where he made his debut in 1988 at the age of 16. After retiring as a player at Espanyol de Barcelona in 2006, he began his career as a coach at the Catalan club two years later. He then moved to the Premier League, Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea, with a previous move to Paris Saint Germain, where Lionel Messi played. In September 2024 he took over technical management USAone of the hosts. On November 18th he beat his mentor Bielsa: 5-1 against Uruguay.

I offer It is located barely 40 kilometers from Rosario, in the department of San Lorenzo, the historical scene of one of the battles that the then Colonel José de San Martín led with his brand new unit, the Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers, against the Royalists on February 3, 1813. There, it is said, Juan Bautista Cabral from Corrientes saved the life of the future liberator.

In this city, in this historic place, Scaloni was born on May 16, 1978, fifteen days before the start of the World Cup in the country. He arrived with the first star and was the driver of the third. He also started at Newell’s, debuting at the age of 16, less than a month before his 17th birthday. He immediately went to Estudiantes and then had a great career in Europe: La Coruña, West Ham, Racing de Santander, Lazio, Mallorca and Atalanta. After his retirement, he started in Mallorca’s youth teams and immediately moved to Sampaoli’s coaching staff in Seville. They then joined the national team together, where they acted as a liaison amid the crisis between the coaching staff and players in Russia 2018. As head of the U20, he led the L’Alcudia tournament together with Pablo Aimar and then took over the national team on an interim basis.

A man from Rosario, Menotti, then director of national teams, suggested to Claudio Tapia to confirm him in the position and support him. And since then he has built one of the most important cycles in the history of the Argentine national team, that he will defend the world title in 2026.

The brothers from the province were not taken into account in the game, which was drawn on Friday, December 5th in Washington. Although there will be no matches between South American teams in the group stage, fate wanted two players from Santa Fe to make their debut and face each other directly: Paraguay fell into the group of the hosts, the United States, and on Friday, June 12 at 10 p.m (Argentina time) Mauricio Pochettino will hug Gustavo Alfaro before taking his place on the bench at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

At the moment it is the only confirmed meeting, but there is a good chance that we will have another one, although if necessary there will be no time for celebration and everything will be morbid and dramatic. If logic works and Argentina finishes first in its group, Scaloni and Co. will have to risk their future at the 2026 World Cup against the runners-up in Group H, where the favorites are Spain, ahead of… Bielsa’s Uruguay. This “Lepers” match will continue to be played due to its association with Newell’s Friday, July 3rd In Miami.

But there is more, there is always more at the World Championships. The winner of this more than possible meeting between Argentina and Uruguay can already imagine what awaits him in the round of 16. On this side of the key, the team that finishes second in Group D will try to stay alive… the team with Paraguay (Alfaro) and the United States (Pochettino)! This new and viable event for Santa Fe will continue to be played Tuesday, July 7th at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlantaand whoever wins gets to the quarterfinals.

Beccacece, who finished second with Ecuador in South American qualifying, will try to take the Tricolor team to the next round in a group that includes Germany, Ivory Coast and Curaçao. Their path in the tournament is more uncertain, but there are plenty of reasons to look forward to going far.

Santa Fe, the province of “la botita”, will rule the football festival as it should. A cradle of stars in the history of Argentine football, it is also a star in terms of coaching and will be the protagonist in the distant and endless North America, where the small square of Rosario, Pujato, Rafaela and Murphy will raise the flag.