Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He is a World Cup-winning

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico. As a coach, La Volpe was in charge of both the

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

national teams, coaching the former at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

. As club manager at Atlante, the league title was won in the 1992–93 season. On 22 April 2020, in an interview with David Faitelson, he announced his retirement from management.

Playing career

In Argentina, La Volpe played for Banfield and San Lorenzo. In

he played for Atlante and

Oaxtepec Oaxtepec is a town within the municipality of Yautepec de Zaragoza, Yautepec and the Cuautla, Morelos, Cuautla metropolitan area in the eastern part of the Mexican state of Morelos. Its main industry is tourism, mostly aimed at the inhabitants of ne ...

. La Volpe made eight appearances with

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

throughout his career. He was the reserve goalkeeper when they won the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

with Argentina.

Managerial career

Early career

Ricardo La Volpe began his career as a coach in the

Mexican league The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

in 1989, managing several teams such as Oaxtepec,

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

, Atlante,

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

Querétaro Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Querétaro, 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Querétaro Cit ...

, América,

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...

, and

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

. Despite mixed results, La Volpe earned a reputation for his offensive style of football. He led Atlante to the 1992–1993 season championship and reached the league final with Atlas in 1999.

Mexico national team

In 2002, La Volpe was named coach of the Mexico national team. He led the team to win the

2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the seventh edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). For the first time since 1993, the tournament was held in more than one country, with ga ...

. He qualified for the

, as well as finishing in fourth place at the 2005 Confederations Cup, most notably defeating eventual champions

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in the group stage. With La Volpe at the helm, Mexico reached fourth place in the

FIFA World rankings The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, first introduced in December 1992. The men's teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their gam ...

. Also, under his leadership at the 2004 Copa América, Mexico managed to defeat

for the first time in years but lost to Brazil in the quarterfinals. Mexico also lost in the

2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the eighth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was contested in the United States in July 2005. The United States emerged victorious i ...

quarterfinals to

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. Mexico was also eliminated at the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

after losing to South Korea in the group stage. At the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

, Mexico finished second in their group, qualifying for the Round of 16 before going out 1–2 in extra time to Argentina.

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

named him ''Best Coach of the World Cup'' for his attitude.

Boca Juniors

After leaving the Mexico national team, he met with

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

officials on 24 July 2006. After several weeks of negotiation, it was agreed on 22 August that La Volpe would take over as Boca manager on 15 September, replacing Alfio Basile, who had been selected to manage the Argentina national team. La Volpe had a bumpy start with Boca Juniors, including a 3–1 loss against arch-rivals River Plate on 8 October. On 12 October, Boca lost 3–1 to

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

an club Nacional on penalty kicks in the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

, and so were out of the competition. Boca failed three times to claim the Apertura Championship in the final weeks of the season and then lost a playoff against Estudiantes. Keeping his word that he would quit if he lost, La Volpe resigned after the match. Later that year, he became the new Vélez Sársfield manager but did not stay in the job long. After watching his team suffer bruising defeats by River Plate and Boca Juniors in the Apertura 2007, and his team in 10th place, he resigned as coach.

Return to Mexico

In 2008, Ricardo La Volpe returned to Mexico as Monterrey's manager. After several days of speculation, the club's official website finally announced that it was replacing former manager Isaac Mizrahi. He had a bumpy start and didn't win until his fifth match. Monterrey finished the season in 8th place and had the league's leading goal scorer, Humberto Suazo. Monterrey's league would end in the semi-finals, where they were eliminated by

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V., simply known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club based in Torreón, Coahuila. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1983 as Club Santos I ...

after an aggregate score of 3–3. Fans of Monterrey spoke highly of La Volpe for helping the team reach the playoffs again after two dismal seasons of not qualifying, including a last-place finish during the last tournament. In the Apertura 2008, the team would have a pretty good start, but ultimately fell apart towards the end of the tournament, placing Monterrey in the bottom of the table, hence not qualifying to the playoffs. After the disappointing tournament, the team did not offer the money La Volpe was looking for, and he decided to leave the team.

Return to Atlas

On 28 January 2009, La Volpe signed once again with

. Fans of the team had been yearning for him to return to the squad, in which many said he had the most success. The tournament was unsuccessful, with the team failing to qualify for the playoffs and finishing 13th. On 18 November, the Argentine coach quit Atlas due to poor results and was replaced by Carlos Ischia.

Costa Rica

On 9 September 2010, the former Atlas coach became the new manager of

, replacing interim coach Rónald González. The Argentine had initially been signed until July 2014, however, poor performance during the 2011 Gold Cup and

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international association football, football tournament for national ...

, ended his contract prematurely on 11 August 2011.

Guadalajara

La Volpe was named Guadalajara manager after a 4–0 loss against América with just four games to go in the tournament. After a win against

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

on his debut, he finished the league with a draw and 2 losses. However, on 30 April 2014, La Volpe was fired by Vergara after a female staff member alleged improper behavior by La Volpe toward her, resulting in a lawsuit.

América

Following the sacking of

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

's manager Ignacio Ambríz, La Volpe was announced as manager on 22 September 2016. Just two days after becoming manager, they defeated Universidad Nacional, 2–1. He led América towards a strong final stretch at the end of 2016, culminating with a fourth-place finish at the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

and finishing runners-up in the Apertura championship match against

Tigres UANL Club Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, abbreviated as Tigres UANL and simply known as Tigres or internationally as Tigres de México, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropo ...

. Although contributing by debuting major prospects such as Diego Lainez and

Edson Álvarez Edson Omar Álvarez Velázquez (; born 24 October 1997) is a Mexican professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder for club West Ham United F.C., West Ham United and Captain ...

, La Volpe and America decided to part ways after a lackluster Clausura 2017 where America failed to qualify to the playoffs for the first time since 2011.

Reception

Influence

La Volpe's philosophy, style of play, and attitude referred to as ''"Lavolpismo,"'' has played a considerable role in the evolution of tactics and strategy in Mexican league football. Coaches who have studied under and continue to use a modified version of his style of play and philosophy are referred to as ''"Lavolpistas"''. Notable managers directly influenced by La Volpe include

Miguel Herrera Miguel Ernesto Herrera Aguirre (born 18 March 1968), popularly referred to by his nickname "Piojo" (Spanish for "louse"), is a Mexican professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of the Costa Rica national te ...

, José Guadalupe Cruz, Rubén Omar Romano, Hernan Cristante, Jose Saturnino Cardozo and Sergio Bueno.

Criticism

During Mexico's first group-stage match in the 2006 World Cup against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, La Volpe was seen chain-smoking in the dugout, leading to an official warning from

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

that he was not allowed to smoke in the competition area. La Volpe responded by telling FIFA's executives that he would "rather give up football than smoking", although he later consented. He has also had clashes with the press. During a press conference at the 2006 World Cup, La Volpe told a journalist: "¡Fuera de mi vista! No saben nada. No me rompan los huevos, idiotas." Get out of my face! You know nothing. Don't bust my balls, you idiots."ref name=Guardian1816453 /> He has odd superstitions some which include wearing a lucky tie, performing "oriental" rituals and avoiding shaking the opposing manager's hand prior to or after the game.

Honours

Player

Banfield * Primera B Metropolitana: 1973 Argentina *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

Manager

Atlante *

Primera División de México Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

: 1992–93 *

CONCACAF Champions' Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

runner-up:

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Atlas * Pre-Libertadores tournament: 2000 *

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

runner-up:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Boca Juniors * Primera División runner-up: 2006 Apertura América *

runner-up: 2016–17 Apertura Mexico *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Mexico U23 * CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Costa Rica * Copa Centroamericana runner-up:

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Individual *

Best Manager: 1992–93

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:La Volpe, Ricardo 1952 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentine men's footballers Argentina men's international footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players Club Atlético Banfield footballers San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Atlante F.C. footballers C.F. Oaxtepec footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Men's association football goalkeepers Argentine football managers Mexican football managers Club Puebla managers Atlante F.C. managers C.D. Guadalajara managers Club América managers Atlas F.C. managers Deportivo Toluca F.C. managers Boca Juniors managers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield managers C.F. Monterrey managers Querétaro F.C. managers Jaguares F.C. managers Mexico national football team managers Costa Rica national football team managers CONCACAF Gold Cup–winning managers 2004 Copa América managers 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup managers 2006 FIFA World Cup managers 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup managers 2011 Copa América managers Argentine emigrants to Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players Expatriate football managers in Mexico Liga MX managers Pyramids FC managers 20th-century Argentine sportsmen