New Uruguay coach Diego Alonso faces a baptism of fire in his first months on the Celeste bench.
Not only is the former Inter Miami boss replacing a legend of the Uruguayan game, in the shape of Oscar Tabarez, but he begins his reign with four crucial World Cup qualifiers which will define whether the nation makes it to the finals after qualifying for the last three editions under El Maestro's steady gaze.
It would be a stiff challenge for any trainer, but Alonso has at least shown that he can come through and get results when it most counts.
He was a solid if unspectacular forward during his playing days, best known for netting six goals for Valencia during their run to the Champions League final in 2000-01 and taking the Segunda Division's top scorer title the following season as he guided Atletico Madrid back to the top flight.
Alonso hung up his boots at Penarol in 2011 – having just missed out on the Copa Libertadores title against Neymar's Santos – and turned his hand to coaching.
Middling spells in his native Uruguay and Paraguay led to his appointment by Mexico's Pachuca, where he lifted the club's first national title for nine years in the 2016 Clausura and followed that up with victory in the CONCACAF Champions League the following year.
In 2018, now at the helm of Monterrey, he repeated that feat, winning the final against none other than the Rayados' arch-rivals Tigres to become the first-ever coach to lift the title with two different teams.
Even with that impressive record of success, Alonso was nevertheless a surprise choice for Inter Miami owner David Beckham when the ex-Manchester United and Real Madrid ace unveiled his new MLS franchise for the 2020 season.
Getty ImagesThe decision owed much to the influence of ex-Atlanta United vice-president, Inter's sporting director Paul McDonough, who was bowled over by the performance of the Uruguayan's Monterrey team in taking down Atlanta in the CONCACAF Champions League.
“He’s competed against MLS teams in the Concacaf Champions League, and I paid close attention when his team was beating Atlanta United,” McDonough explained to the Miami Herald upon hiring Alonso.
“All the MLS teams aspire to win that, and we just signed a guy who has won it twice with two different clubs.”
Alonso, meanwhile, eagerly awaited the chance to shine under Beckham, having clashed with the ex-Madrid man in La Liga as a Malaga player. His first and only season in Florida, however, proved a tough prospect.
Amid the huge interruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the natural growing pains of steering a new franchise through their opening games – Inter's roster was still coming together in 2020.
Highly-paid marquee stars such as Gonzalo Higuain and Blaise Matuidi were absent for much of the year and Alonso returned seven wins in 23 games to secure a play-off berth in the Eastern Conference, where they suffered resounding defeat to Nashville to put an end to the term.
Beckham had observed from afar throughout 2020 due to the difficulties posed by Covid, but his adoption of a more hands-on role at the start of this year had immediate implications for his coach.
Alonso found himself out of a job in January in favour of the Londoner's old United team-mate Phil Neville, but perhaps took some consolation in the fact that while he squeezed Inter into the play-offs his replacement fell short, finishing a lowly 11th in the 2021 campaign.
The 46-year-old's appointment by Uruguay, his first job since leaving Miami, represents a balance being struck on the part of the Celeste between continuity and innovation.
Exceptional River Plate boss Marcelo Gallardo had been identified as the nation's first choice, but the Argentine always appeared an outside bet, and buried any prospect of his crossing the Rio de la Plata in December when he committed to his current employers for at least until the end of 2022.
With Gallardo out of the running, Uruguay were expected by many to turn to the perceived safe hands of Diego Aguirre, Tabarez's old protege at Penarol and in the Celeste set-up and equipped with vast experience across the world of football.
Aguirre, however, has done precious little in the 10 years since he took former charge Alonso and Penarol to the 2011 Libertadores final to show he merits a chance at the highest level.
The coach has travelled widely in the past decade, taking jobs in Qatar, Brazil and Argentina, but a handful of trophies in the Middle East with Al-Rayyan and one Gaucho State Championship for Internacional hardly represents an overwhelming title haul in return.
His last job, once again at Internacional, ended in dismissal this month after failing to lead the club into the Libertadores.
Alonso is hardly a leap into the unknown for Uruguay. Like Tabarez he favours structured, no-frills football, building from the back and refraining from unnecessary risks. He is also a tireless student of the game, meticulous in his preparations and who revels in the profession and the challenges it presents.
“I enjoyed my playing career, knowing all along that coaching was my passion,” he confided to the Coaches' Voice.
“Whenever I’m asked, I always say that I was lucky enough to be a manager who also got to play football.”
At 46, though, Alonso is also a fresh face who can inject dynamism into a Uruguay team which has the talent to break out of its current funk and make it to Qatar.
His first two matches in charge, against Paraguay and Venezuela, mark a relatively kind introduction to the rigours of the CONMEBOL qualifiers; and if he can secure positive results the quest to make the finals might not be doomed just yet.
