Gareca sets coaching record with Peruvian national soccer team

Argentine Ricardo Gareca set a record this week for most games as manager of the Peruvian national team.

By coaching his 52nd match, he eclipsed the mark previously held by Marcos Calderon, who guided the Andean nation to its last title at the 1975 Copa America.

Following the team’s 3-2 loss to Costa Rica on Tuesday in a friendly in Arequipa, Peru, Gareca has a record of 22 wins, 13 draws and 17 losses since taking the helm of the national side three and a half years ago.

The 60-year-old Argentine has coached Peru in 20 qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, 19 international friendlies, 10 Copa America games and three World Cup contests (which were Peru’s first matches in soccer’s showcase event in 36 years).

Under Gareca’s guidance, the team’s results have been as follows: seven wins, six draws and seven losses in World Cup qualifiers; nine wins, four draws and six losses in friendlies; five wins, three draws and two losses in the Copa America tournament; and one win and two losses in the World Cup.

Gareca also made history by leading Peru to a team-record 15-game unbeaten streak between November 2016 and June 2018. Over that 19-month span, Peru’s national team compiled a record of 10 wins and five draws.

The Argentine is likely to coach many more of the national team’s games after agreeing in August to renew his contract until at least 2021.