Américo Gallego

Américo Gallego
	Gallego with Argentina in 1982
Personal information
Full name	Américo Rubén Gallego
Date of birth	25 April 1955 (age 69)
Place of birth	Morteros, Argentina
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Central Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team
1974–1980	Newell's Old Boys
1981–1988	River Plate
Total
International career
1975–1982	Argentina
Managerial career
1994	River Plate
2000–2001	River Plate
2002–2003	Independiente
2004	Newell's Old Boys
2005–2007	Toluca
2007–2008	Tigres
2009–2010	Independiente
2011	Colo-Colo
2012–2013	Independiente
2015	Newell's Old Boys
2019–2020	Panama
Medal record
Men's football
Representing Argentina
FIFA World Cup
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Américo Rubén "El Tolo" Gallego (born 25 April 1955) is an Argentine football coach and former player. As a midfielder, he played 73 times for the Argentina national team during his playing career.

Playing career and Information

Gallego said he was taken to Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina at the age of 5 and played for Club Alianza Sport as a child.^[1] He made his debut with Newell's Old Boys at the age of 14.^[1]

As the age of 19, Gallego debuted in the Argentine league in 1974 as a midfielder for Newell's Old Boys. After a rookie season in which he saw little action, he quickly made a name for himself and was given a starting spot and regular playing time during the 1975 season. Gallego played for Argentina at the 1975 Pan American Games.^[2] After being part of the Argentina national team that won the 1978 FIFA World Cup, Gallego stayed on at Newell's for three more years before being transferred to one of the two biggest teams in his country: River Plate.

Gallego played at River until the end of his career. He played for the "Millonarios" for seven years before retiring at the conclusion of the 1987/88 season. He is hailed as a legend at River, as he was the captain during the team's achieving their first Copa Libertadores, Intercontinental Cup and Copa Interamericana's in their rich history.

Nicknamed "El Tolo," Gallego's career ended with a total of 440 Argentine league appearances and 35 goals in a span of 14 years.

Coaching career

After retirement, Gallego turned his attention towards coaching. In 1994 Gallego was chosen to manage his former team, River Plate. In his first tournament as head coach, his Millonarios went undefeated to win the championship.

From 1995, he served as an assistant coach under Daniel Passarella, the Argentine national team's head coach, for the three-year tenure. After his experience with the national team, El Tolo returned to coach River Plate, with whom he won another championship, this time in 2000.

In 2002, he coached Independiente to a championship, ending the team's 8-year drought. In 2004, he returned to the Newell's Old Boys organization after a 23-year hiatus, and once again proved his worth as a head coach, winning a championship that very same year. With that, he became only the second coach ever to win the Argentine Primera championship with three different Argentine clubs (along with José Yudica, who did the same with Argentinos Juniors, Quilmes and Newell's).

His success attracted attention from teams in other countries, notably from Mexico. After leaving Newell's Old Boys, Gallego was sought after by a myriad of clubs, including San Lorenzo de Almagro, but chose CD Toluca in Mexico. Despite being overtly criticized by the media and his team's own fans for his defensive style and benching of established players in favor of younger, inexperienced players – his scheme paid off and Toluca won the Apertura 2005 championship in Mexico, and was named Best Coach of the championship. In 2007 Gallego resigned as coach for Toluca and said he wanted some time off to be with his family and be away from soccer for a while. His time off did not last long, as a juicy offer from Tigres UANL made him change his mind and take over for Mario Carrillo as coach. After an unsuccessful spell and a streak of bad results he was sacked in February 2008.

In March 2009 he returned to Independiente to take over from Miguel Santoro, and signed until June 2010, but did not end up winning any championships nor renewing his contract.

In February 2011 he began a new tenure in Colo-Colo of Chile, which finished on August of that same year.

Career statistics

Player

^[3]

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1974	Newell's Old Boys	Primera División	4	0
1975			27	2
1976			45	5
1977			56	6
1978			27	7
1979			29	1
1980			46	4
1981			28	0
1981	River Plate		15	1
1982			18	0
1983			34	3
1984			30	4
1985			44	1
1985–86			0	0
1986–87			16	0
1987–88			23	1
Career total

International career

Argentina national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1975	7	1
1976	13	0
1977	9	0
1978	13	1
1979	9	0
1980	10	0
1981	4	1
1982	8	0
Total	73	3

Manager

Team	Nation	From	To	Record
Team	Nation	From	To	G	W	D	L	Win %
River Plate		1994	1994
River Plate		2000	2001
Independiente		2002	2003
Newell's Old Boys		2003	2004
Toluca		2005	2007
Tigres		2007	2008
Independiente		2009	2010
Colo-Colo		2011	2011
Total