The last all-in of La Volpe

   There's this short novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: The Gambler. In it, the Russian writer tells the story of a quite affluent old lady, Antonida Vasilevna, whose death is much awaited by some relatives who, while spending holidays in a German resort, casino including, need the resulting inheritance to repay gruesome debts. Vasilevna takes them by surprise showing up alive, claiming she will inherit nobody, and betting massive sums on risky numbers at the roulette. Before their frightened eyes, some bets surprisingly work and make her gain mountains of gold, some others don't and loses almost all; but finally she's certainly spending her very last days and also certainly making sure the vultures she has for relatives receive nothing.

 

The most repeated, and seemingly best, argument against a Ricardo Antonio La Volpe's return to El Tri is the one that says that he's basically a loser who has achieved nothing since his first spell nine years ago. The Argentine league title lost with his Boca Juniors side to Diego Simeone's Estudiantes, that mediocre Libertadores with Vélez Sarsfield, the unfulfilled promise of his Monterrey that Vucetich did fulfill with showers of silverware, the short spell in Costa Rica and the legal battle against the Chivas board to defend his dignity. If La Volpe had once gained mountains of praise as a reputed and meticulous coach, goes this argument, he has just lost almost all since 2006 gambling recklessly.

The above argument's biggest flaw, however, is that, while on the surface it appears to be punishing La Volpe for wining nothing, within the interior it rather punishes him for daring to try; for daring to raise the stakes.

Perhaps out of a sense of adventure and self-actualization, La Volpe went to train in Argentina in the knowledge that the Argentine first division is a true no man's land for outsiders and recently for insiders too. South American flagship managers like maestro Óscar Tabárez and Francisco Maturana failed miserably with Boca and Colón respectively. After the glow of his first years, Simeone fell out of favor with Argentine clubs and went onto exile to Italian minions Catania just before taking up Atlético de Madrid. Last year, great old glories like Carlos Bianchi and Ramón Diaz were also kicked out ruthlessly. La Volpe didn't have success there, yes, but then how many did?

When La Volpe took the Costa Rica job, many thought he would take back Los Ticos to a World Cup after the elimination of 2010. La Volpe did have a bleak 2011 Gold Cup and days later led an under-age side to Argentina for Copa América. In that same year, La Volpe announced his resignation following a row with officials. "We lost our time with La Volpe" regretted then Costa Rica Federation president, Eduardo Li, who is now jailed in Switzerland on charges of criminal conspiracy and money laundering in FIFAgate. With Costa Rica, the Argentine-born Mexican-made coach did a risky gamble by dealing with obscure officials maybe out of a wish to keep training and prove different things outside Mexico.

La Volpe needed not trying things abroad as he could either settle down into the comfortable revolving door of Liga Mx coaches or into the safe haven of a television studio.  Instead, he went overseas and, in spite of wining nothing, gave Mauro Boselli his first chances in Argentina's first division at Boca Juniors and also gave Joel Campbell the starting spot in the 2011 Copa América that made him fly to Europe.  It's true that La Volpe briefly worked for ESPN, but soon afterwards he dared to the riskiest and most dangerous bet in the Mexican league: the Chivas job. Indeed, before thinking that, by accepting Jaguares, he has already got into the Liga Mx's revolving door, one must see this acceptance as a statement of purpose and survival after both Jorge Vergara and Angélica Fuentes.

In the long nine years in which La Volpe has ventured to make uncommon bets, the football's roulette has doubtlessly not been any generous to him. In such a scenario, it's just natural some call him a wholesale loser who should retire now, and others see an example of tenacity and love for his job even at expense of risking his own reputation. What everyone, nevertheless, must see in La Volpe is a coach with the guts to gamble. At the end of the day, far more conservative coaches like Chepo or Piojo fared worse at El Tri and on-paper safe foreign bets like Sven Eriksson ended up backfiring.

Make no mistake: if allowed, Ricardo Antonio La Volpe is courageous and experienced enough to make yet another gamble. To put that last and great all-in.