Gerardo “Tata” Martino: Manager of Paraguay

June 6th, 2010 | by: Victor | View Comments

Who is this man who came to Paraguay in relative obscurity and is now about to lead Paraguay on the world stage? Why do we believe in his intent of shocking the world? Today we share a little about Gerardo “El Tata” Martino.

Gerardo Martino is an Argentine who began his career in football as a player back in 1980. He was an offensive midfielder who played almost his entire career in Newell’s Old Boy of Rosario over a period of fifteen years (1980-1995). In the early 1990s his life crossed paths with Marcelo Bielsa, when Bielsa took the reins of Newell’s Old Boy. This was a pivotal moment in the life of Martino, who has never denied the influence Bielsa exerted on him. Of the comparison to Bielsa Martino says, “It is a comparison which I like, I suppose when someone greatly influences your life you adopt the way they walk and talk, which is easier for me since at one time I interacted regularly with him, but that does not mean we think the same”. They are not friends, but Martino always refers to Bielsa with respect and admiration.

Gerardo Martino arrived to Paraguay as a complete unknown in 2002. Until then, his coaching career of four years had been skipping back and forth between the top of the Argentine 2nd division and the bottom of the 1st division.

Similarly in Paraguay, Club Libertad had recently returned to the Paraguayan 1st division and they were beginning to get their big ideas about what they wanted to achieve at the national and international levels. They hired Gerardo Martino for the job and the love story with Paraguay began.

By the hand of Martino, Libertad immediately won the championship in 2002 and again in 2003. Club Cerro Porteño wanted to join the fun, so they hired Martino in 2004 where Martino again won the Paraguayan Championship. In three years Martino won three titles with two different clubs. In 2005 he returned to Argentina to manage Colon of Santa Fe which must have been a terrible and short experience because before long, he was back in Paraguay.

Martino has said, “When you fail, you have to go back to your beginnings, you have to go back to your home”. Martino returned to Libertad in 2005, which says a lot about how he feels about the club. Things picked up quickly again because in 2006 he won his third championship with Libertad and got as far as the semifinal of the Copa Libertadores, the furthest this club had ever made it.

By 2006 his popularity in Paraguay was soaring, everything he touched turned to gold and he became the natural choice to lead Paraguay after we crashed out of the World Cup in Germany. Martino has always had two field collaborators from his playing days at Newell’s Old Boy, one of which is Jorge Pautasso. The families of the three live in Argentina, so they all live together in a house in Asunción, living, breathing, and eating football.

Martino has an excellent generation of players at his disposal, so he does not have all the credit for Paraguay’s qualification to the World Cup. Really, several coaches could have done this. But we expect him to make a big difference in South Africa this June, by defeating the favorites. As Martino has said, “Some coaches strive to keep their jobs and others strive to make history, I belong to the second group”.

FUEEEEEERZA PARAGUAAAAAAAY!!!!!