Newly appointed Uruguay national team coach Diego Alonso says he is happy to lead the team and ready to do his utmost best. Alonso was appointed following the sacking of Oscar Washington Tabárez after what the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) dubbed poor runs.
The sack November 19 brought to an end 15 years and 8 months journey of Tabárez as the technical director of “La Celeste”.
New man Alonso was a professional soccer player from 1992, when he debuted at Bella Vista in Montevideo until he retired in 2011, playing for Peñarol.
In Uruguay he defended the colors of Nacional, in Argentina those of Gymnastics and Fencing of La Plata, and he had a long stint in Spain where he played for Valencia, Atlético de Madrid, Racing de Santander, Málaga and Murcia. In Mexico he played for Pumas de la UNAM.
As a player, he also wore the national team’s jersey seven times, including at the 1999 Copa América, where Uruguay finished second behind Brazil.
In his role as coach, Mexico is precisely the country where he has had the best performance and success in directing Pachuca and Monterrey, clubs with which he won a Clausura Tournament (Pachuca) and a CONCACAF Champions League.In 2017 he was third in the Club World Cup with Pachuca.
In addition, he coached Bella Vista and Peñarol in Uruguay, Guaraní and Olimpia in Paraguay, and was the first Inter Miami coach in Major League Soccer in the United States.
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He commented that he had contact with the former coach, Óscar Washington Tabárez, whom he has known for a long time. He said: “He knows my grandparents and my parents. We were born in the same neighborhood and in my house there was always admiration and respect for him.
We have had contacts, always respectful, and we have received the response we expected, at the same level as always. I’d rather keep the conversation we had private.
“I am proud to be the coach of the national team. For me, that’s the most important thing.”