An unusual situation occurred this Saturday on the Racing de Santander field. Sebastián Beccacece, Argentine coach who directs Elche, from the second division of the Spanish league, argued in such a way with one of his collaborators that at one point, after several counterpoints of ideas and gestures, he kicked him out, sending him from the bench to the locker room. Is about Miguel Escalona, goalkeeper coach of his coaching staff. After a heated dialogue, Beccacece yelled at him: “¡Go!”. It was in the middle of the match that his team lost to Racing de Santander 3-1 as a visitor, in the second division of Spanish football, and that complicated the green team’s aspirations to return to Spain’s highest category. At least by way of the playoffs.
With four dates missing for the definition, the objective became complicated. In any case, Beccacece does not give up: “I feel proud of these players. If we had more efficiency and solidity, the Elche fan would be enjoying it today, and the football fan in general would also be enjoying it because Elche plays very well.”, he defended himself. The match in Santander was a final against a direct rival: both teams have 58 points, but the winner occupies the last place in the Playoffs for promotion due to better goal difference.
Beccacece was always a coach who lived the games intensely, even when he was Jorge Sampaoli’s second in the Argentine team. With vehement gestures to give instructions and correct tactical aspects, he was always a technical director with an interventionist style. After the game, when they asked him about the accident with Miguel Escalona, Beccacece tried to get out of trouble with a strange phrase: “I don’t remember that.”
And he continued talking about the development of the match and the praise for Tete Morente, scorer of his team’s goal: “We did everything we could to win something more, but the details take away the happiness of aspiring to direct promotion. “The offensive ineffectiveness ends up giving a result, for me, that is unfair.” And he added: “When you have 75% possession, more than 26 shots, almost 50 crosses… It is something that has been happening to us in the tournament, and we have to take that leap in quality to get where we want. We missed that one forcefulness and solidity in the goals conceded that, for me, were very avoidable. It hurts me because I see a team that gives its all but has to learn in these aspects. “We are going to fight until the end.”
Beccacece maintains the hope that the team will continue to grow and does not give up in a standings that has it in seventh position, with 58 points (16 games won, 10 tied and 12 lost). “What he mentioned about offensive forcefulness and solidity is achieved by maturing, knowing that we cannot deprive ourselves of a result due to a stopped ball. I am proud of what they do, I value their effort, their dedication and their courage, but I know that is not sufficient. I take responsibility as a driver, but we have tools to recover lost ground. Imagining that this team cannot enter the play-off would be catastrophic“I am convinced that we are going to give our best and go for the dream.”
How is the Beccacece coaching staff formed? William Marino He is the right hand man, whom the former Defense and Justice had under his command in 2012 as a player in Chile and with whom he has worked regularly since 2018, he will perform the function of first assistant to the coach. Martín Bressán, for his part, the physical trainer. The Argentine already met the coach in 2003 and, after working separately for a while, they resumed contact in 2016. Jose Ernestoa physiotherapist who worked with the coach at the Ecuadorian club Emelec in 2010 and since then has joined his career with that of the coach in Argentine national teams and teams.
Miguel Escalona had already been working as a goalkeeper coach in Elche and the analyst Antón Clares joined, who had just worked in Albacete (he replaced Óscar Suárez).
On March 23, 2023, when he presented his coaching staff, Beccacece had said: “I am happy to be with them because we also function as a family.” and we have known each other for a long time.” Surely Miguel Escalona does not fit into that group, even though he is the goalkeeper coach of his coaching staff.