Ricardo Lavolpe

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Personal information
Ricardo Lavolpe
Full name	Ricardo Antonio Lavolpe
Date of birth	February 6, 1952 (age 55)
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Playing position	Manager (former goalkeeper)
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
	Banfield (ARG) San Lorenzo (ARG) Atlante (MEX) Oaxtepec (MEX)
National team
	Argentina
Teams managed
2002-2006 2006 2007-	Puebla (MEX) Atlante (MEX) Guadalajara (MEX) Queretaro FC (MEX) América (MEX) Atlas (MEX) Toluca (MEX) Mexico Boca Juniors Velez Sarsfield
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Ricardo Antonio Lavolpe (also spelled La Volpe or LaVolpe), born February 6, 1952 in Buenos Aires) is the coach of Velez Sarsfield. Lavolpe is a former Argentinian World Cup winning goalkeeper and the former coach of Mexican national team. He is known for his tactical flexibility during matches and abrasive manner, as well as his signature chain-smoking on the touchline.

1 Playing career
2 Managerial career

[edit] Playing career

In Argentina, Lavolpe played for Club Atlético Banfield and San Lorenzo. In Mexico he played for Atlante and Oaxtepec. He won the 1978 FIFA World Cup with Argentina, albeit as the reserve goalkeeper.

[edit] Managerial career

[edit] The Mexico years

Lavolpe has been a coach in Mexican First Division for several years, coaching teams such as Puebla, Atlante, Guadalajara, Queretaro FC, América, Atlas and Toluca. He has, however, had mixed results. Lavolpe has a reputation for offensive soccer and for bringing young players forth. As a coach, he led Atlante to the 1992-1993 season First Division Championship.

[edit] World Cup 2006

His situation with the Mexican national team was quite good previous to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, as the team easily qualified to it and the team had a good performance at the 2005 Confederations Cup. However, constant clashes with the press, club owners, Hugo Sánchez, and, more recently, Cuauhtémoc Blanco have taken its toll on his popularity, pushing Lavolpe to threaten several times to leave the team. During the 2006 World Cup he told journalists: "Get out of my face! You know nothing. Don't break my balls, you fucking idiots." [1] The feud with Blanco saw the star striker allege that Lavolpe "does not have the trousers" to add him into the squad. At Mexico's German training camp, Lavolpe reportedly spent much of his time eating doughnuts under a roped-off parasol. [2]

During Mexico's first game in the finals against Iran, Lavolpe was seen chain-smoking in the dugout, leading to an official warning from FIFA that he was not allowed to smoke during a match. Lavolpe responded by telling FIFA's executives that he would "rather give up football than smoking" although he later consented.

After Mexico were eliminated from the round of 16 following a 2-1 loss to Argentina, Lavolpe's contract with the team was not renewed. This is despite winning plaudits in the international media for his handling of the Mexican team: former Celtic coach, Martin O'Neill, praised his "tactical flexibility", while The Observer named him "Coach of the Tournament" [3].

[edit] Boca Juniors

After leaving the Mexican national team, he met with Boca Juniors officials on Monday July 24 2006. After several weeks of negotiation, on August 22 it was agreed that Lavolpe would take over Boca on September 15, replacing Alfio Basile who has been selected to manage Argentina national football team.

Lavolpe had a bumpy start with Boca Juniors side, including a 3-1 loss against archi-rivals River Plate on October 8. Lavolpe did not do very good on the Copa Sudamericana, Boca Juniors lost 3-1 to Nacional from Uruguay on penalty kicks and was out of the competition on October 12. Lavolpe did not fare well in the Apertura Championship, failing three times to claim the crown in the final weeks of the season, and ultimately losing a playoff against Estudiantes. In keeping with his word, he resigned from the team after that match. La Volpe as of December 21 of 2006 has become the new manager for Velez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires Argentina.

Preceded by Javier Aguirre	Mexico national football team manager 2003-2006	Succeeded by Hugo Sánchez

	Argentina squad - 1978 FIFA World Cup Champions (1st Title)
1 Alonso \| 2 Ardiles \| 3 Baley \| 4 Bertoni \| 5 Fillol \| 6 Gallego \| 7 L. Galván \| 8 R. Galván \| 9 Houseman \| 10 Kempes \| 11 Killer \| 12 Larrosa \| 13 Lavolpe \| 14 Luque \| 15 Olguín \| 16 Ortiz \| 17 Oviedo \| 18 Pagnanini \| 19 Passarella \| 20 Tarantini \| 21 Valencia \| 22 Villa \| Coach: Menotti

	Mexico squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Sánchez \| 2 Suárez \| 3 Salcido \| 4 Márquez \| 5 Osorio \| 6 Torrado \| 7 Naelson \| 8 Pardo \| 9 Borgetti \| 10 Franco \| 11 Morales \| 12 Corona \| 13 Ochoa \| 14 Pineda \| 15 Castro \| 16 Méndez \| 17 Fonseca \| 18 Guardado \| 19 Bravo \| 20 García \| 21 Arellano \| 22 Rodríguez \| 23 Pérez \| Coach: Lavolpe