By DPA
Santiago : Argentine Marcelo Bielsa is the new coach of the Chilean national team, an official has confirmed.
Bielsa, who coached Argentina from 1998 to 2004 and has not managed a team since, signed for three years and will be there through the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Chilean football federation president Harold Mayne-Nicholls said.
Qualification for the 2010 World Cup is the main challenge for Bielsa, 52, after Chile failed to qualify for the last two editions.
The road to South Africa will ironically start in Buenos Aires against Argentina in September in a game that will surely be particularly charged for the new national coach.
Bielsa is set to become the best-paid national coach in South America, with an after-tax annual salary of $1.5 million.
“If we want to bring someone who really makes changes, we have to invest,” Mayne-Nicholls said in response to complaints that Chile was paying Bielsa too much.
The methodical Argentine coach reportedly asked for major changes in discipline, infrastructure and the youth schemes of the Chilean national team.
Discipline is likely to be Bielsa’s main challenge. In recent weeks, several Chilean players were accused of drunkenness and misbehaviour at the Copa America in Venezuela.