Bomb in Promotion: the coach of a historic team resigned to sign with the arch-enemy of his province

What would happen if Martín Demichelis announced that he would leave River to manage Boca? What if history went differently, with Diego Martínez sitting on the bench for Núñez’s team? This unthinkable and almost unprecedented situation is being experienced in Chaco, a province that breathes football and is going through hours of boiling over the decision to Raúl Valdezthe coach who directed on Sunday Sarmiento de Resistencia and on Monday he confirmed himself in his classic rival, Chaco forever.

It all started on Saturday 6th, when Chaco For Ever fell away against San Telmo and the former Newell’s and Colón, Diego Osella, ended his period in charge of the Negro after 10 games, with five defeats, three draws and only two victories. Faced with this situation, the club went in search of Valdez, a well-known name locally, without worrying that he was working on the opposite pavement.

The former footballer and coach, 61 years old, who also stands out for being an ontological coach, had returned this year to Sarmiento to seek promotion from Federal A to the Primera Nacional, a challenge he was close to achieving during his first stage in the aurirojo between 2016 and 2021, although his greatest success at the club came in the Argentine Cup, when In May 2018 they beat Chacho Coudet’s Racing 1-0 and eliminated him in the 32nd round, giving one of the greatest victories in the history of the competition.

In this 2024, Valdez’s second part in Sarmiento lasted just three games, in which he finished undefeated and without conceding a goal: he beat 1-0 against Sun of America and drew 0-0 against Cruise to the North AND Antonian Youth, to finish third in Group 4 of Federal A, one of the toughest and most complicated competitions in Argentine football. However, after the game with the Salteños, Valdez’s phone rang and For Ever’s number appeared on the screen.

Chaco For Ever, a club born in 1913 as a detachment of the Sarmiento de Resistencia three years after the founding of the Dean, hired Valdez and added another chapter to the history of their rivalry, that of the two greatest and most successful teams in the world. Province.

According to Chaco, the coach had a clause in his contract that allowed him to be released if he received a proposal from a Primera Nacional club. The attitude, however, did not please Dean’s fans, who saw their coach leave as soon as the tournament began to work against the team, and the greatest expressions of rejection occurred on social networks.

Even though he comes from Sarmiento, Valdez has his own personal history with For Ever: he was a footballer for the club in the 1980s, part of a team that became legend in that province, becoming Nacional B champions in 1989 and being promoted to the First team. Division. Subsequently he was also a coach, in 1995, playing in what was then called the Argentine A Tournament.

Valdez’s challenge, which he moves from the neighborhood with all his technical staffnow it will be a matter of reviving a team that is last in the standings in Zone B of the First National Team and which will have to score points if it does not want to suffer the figures of relegation.

But the bomb in Chaco could continue to make noise: the fact is that what happens in Valdez, in Sarmiento is called Daniele Cravero, former footballer, coach and symbol of… Chaco For Ever! “Chango”, a remembered midfielder who stood out playing for Lanús, was responsible for Albinegro’s promotion to the Primera Nacional a couple of years ago. In this way Sarmiento would pay his neighbor in the same currency.