“We spoke with three coaches”: the two Chileans who said ‘NO’ to La Roja before Nelson Acosta arrived

While the Chilean national team still does not have a permanent coach, we recall the interview in which Ricardo Abumohor detailed the negotiations following the departure of Xabier Azkargorta in the 1990s. While the Chilean national team still does not have a permanent coach following the departure of Ricardo Gareca in June 2025 and the ANFP extended Nicolás Córdova's interim position throughout 2026 with confirmed friendly matches in between, at 24horas.cl we recall the interview that Ricardo Abumohor, a historic Chilean soccer leader and former president of the ANFP during the 1990s, gave months ago to The Clinic's podcast “El Gerente.” In the podcast, the executive recalled Xabier Azkargorta's departure from La Roja in 1996 and the list of candidates to replace the Spaniard on the road to the 1998 World Cup in France. He explained that two Chilean coaches had declined to take on the challenge. n View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nelson Osses (@nelsonosses_) "The thing was that (Xabier) Azkargorta had a lot of support on the board, so we stuck with him. He wasn't doing badly with the national team, but the national team wasn't playing well. So we spoke with three coaches: Jorge Socías, Manuel Pellegrini, and Nelson Acosta,“ he said. He also pointed out that ”both Manuel and ‘Lulo’ told us, ‘We need to prepare a four-year plan here,’ and when I spoke with Nelson (Acosta), he said, 'I'll take the risk and qualify Chile. He was convinced because Nelson had those skills.“ ”I knew deep down that Nelson was the person we needed at that moment. Nelson wasn't a statesman, he wasn't someone who worked for the long term, you needed someone who would take this on," said Abumohor. Nelson Acosta finally took over and qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France, where he reached the round of 16. While the Chilean national team still does not have a permanent coach after Ricardo Gareca's departure in June 2025 and the ANFP extended Nicolás Córdova's interim position through 2026 with friendly matches confirmed, at 24horas.cl we recall the interview that Ricardo Abumohor, a historic Chilean soccer leader and former president of the ANFP during the 1990s, gave months ago to The Clinic's podcast “El Gerente.” See more In the podcast, the executive recalled Xabier Azkargorta's departure from La Roja in 1996 and the list of candidates to replace the Spaniard on the road to the 1998 World Cup in France. In that search, he explained that there were two national coaches who “declined” to take on the challenge. Смотреть эту публикацию в Instagram Публикация, поделившаяся Нельсоном Оссесом (@nelsonosses_) «Дело было в том, что (Хавьер) Аскаргорта пользовался значительной поддержкой в правлении, и мы терпели его. Он неплохо работал с национальной сборной, но сборная играла не очень хорошо. Тогда мы поговорили с тремя тренерами: Хорхе Сосиасом, Мануэлем Пеллегрини и Нельсоном Акостой», — сказал он. Он также отметил, что «и Мануэль, и «Луло» сказали нам: «Здесь нужно подготовить четырехлетний проект», а когда я поговорил с Нельсоном (Акостой), он сказал мне: «Я рискну и выведу Чили в финальную часть». У меня была уверенность, потому что Нельсон обладал такими способностями». В глубине души я знал, что в тот момент нам нужен был именно Нельсон. Нельсон не был государственным деятелем, он не был человеком, который работал на долгосрочную перспективу, нам нужен был человек, который взял бы на себя эту ответственность», — заключил Абумохор. В конце концов Нельсон Акоста занял эту должность и добился выхода в финальную часть чемпионата мира 1998 года во Франции, где сборная дошла до 1/8 финала.