Club Social y Deportivo Macará

Macará

Full name	Club Social y Deportivo Macará
Nickname(s)	El Idolo de Ambato (The Idol of Ambato) Celestes (Sky blues) Guaytambos
Founded	August 25, 1939
Ground	Estadio Bellavista Ambato, Ecuador (Capacity: 20,000)
Chairman	Germánico Holguín Callejas
Coach	Homero Mistral Valencia
League	Serie B
2010	Serie A, 12th (relegated)
Home colours Away colours

Club Social y Deportivo Macará is a professional football club based in Ambato, Ecuador. Their home stadium is Bellavista, which they share with city rivals Técnico Universitario.

History

Foundation

In July 1939, a group of young students from Colegio Nacional Bolívar gathered to form an independent sporting club, and they shortly after entered a quick tournament, carrying the name 'Independiente'. However, in searching for further guidance, they talked to Army Captain Galo Molina (a student's relative) and all of them formed Macará, naming the team after Ecuador's southern army stronghold. They offered the presidency to Mr. Jorge Vicente Alvarez, and he pronounced the following words: "Del Carchi al Macará... Macará ganará" (From Carchi to Macará... Macará will win); thus accepting the position.

The beginning of Primera A

Whilst Macará was a protagonist in the Ecuadorian Regional Tournaments, the introduction of a National Championship saw them struggle to find a place among the best for the early 60's. It took a while for the team to become strong and earn a permanent place in Primera A. Great Players in the late 60's and early and mid 70's such as Italo Estupiñan, Rómulo Dudar Mina and Polo Carrera made the team protagonist, although they would see themselves relegated in 1978. They would eventually be back in Primera A.

80's Decade: The peak

With classy players as Peruvian all-time great Germán Leguía, fellow countryman and international Juan Martín Caballero, Uruguayan playmaker Rodolfo Abalde and leading Ecuadorian players as Geovanny Mera, Jorge Alvear, Angel Buenaño, Juan Carlos Suárez, Ricardo Porras and Milton Rodríguez; the team became serious title contenders in the late 80's; and, although never becoming champions they were recognized as a great national footballing side that would several times maul the country's greatest teams as Barcelona and Liga, and classic rivals Técnico Universitario.

The team since 1990

In early 90's the team lost consistence and would eventually get relegated to Primera B in 1994, and to Segunda Categoría in 1995, category in which the team would stay for one season. In 1998 the club won the second division championship, and was promoted to Primera A, under chairman Miller Salazar. The team secured their permanence for the 2000 season and center forward Christian José Bottero finished as the 1999's Primera A Top Scorer. They also had a good group pf players including Daniel Garrido, John Ordoñez, Lino Sánchez and Héctor Lautaro Chiriboga, that would remain for next season. However, Ecuadorian economic crisis of 1999 and 2000 was a painful hit for the club, added that key player Lino Sánchez suffered an injury that would finish his career in 2000. Then, it proved too mch for a team that had to sell at the beginning of 2002 their stars Garrido and Patricio Urrutia to stay in Primera A until the finish of the year. After that, Miller Salazar declined as chairman, and would be succeeded by young businessman Ricardo Callejas. Who would bring fresh and needed investment and financial management to make the team acquire fine players in Matías Urbano and Oscar Pacheco, among others. However, the club sold Urbano to Deportivo Quito by midyear, due to the players upper level (he couldn't be playing for a lower division league). The team earned promotion for the 2004 season. 2004 was a discrete year, because, although having good players in Cristian Mora and Oscar Monge, among others; it got difficult for the team to reach the last 6's group for contending for the title; and expenditure for bringing renowned coach Dussan Draskovic wouldn't succeed as expected. The 2005 season saw the team relegated, and they would be back again to first division by 2007.

Today

For the second half of the Ecuadorian Campeonato Nacional in 2007 Macará started with Roque Raúl Alfaro as coach, but lack of positive results had him and the team in a very difficult position. The base of national players had a fairly good performance in most of the games, particularly Luís M. Garcés, Marvín Pita and goalkeeper Jacinto Espinoza, not to mention U18 players, one of which just returned form the Panamerican Games in Rio de Janeiro with a gold medal; but the problem wasn't the nationals, the problems came from the foreign legion, with the exception of defender Matías Gonzáles, who even scored a few times, the rest where a disappointment. Paraguayan striker Fabio Escobar was unstable, some games he had solid performances, like the one against Barcelona S.C in Guayaquil, where he performed his tactic role of distracting the opposites´ defense very well, but when it came to scoring, he wasted most of his chances, but to be fair, it might have been more the coaches fault for giving him duties he was not used to. Worst case was Mariano Monroy, he never found his place on the field and he looked lost in every single game he played; Lezcano wasn't everything the team needed him to be. With that scenario, team's management decided it was time to part ways with Roque Raúl Alfaro. After he left, they signed Argentinian Raúl Urquiza, who did a much better job on the last strecht of the tournament, lining up players that were overlooked by the former coach and contributing to the development of a more effective play, which reached its peak at Ibarra's Olympic Stadium on 3 October 2007, when Macara's offensive power burst in full force, scoring 4 goals in the first half and receiving just 1 in the second. Now, both teams were at risk of descending to section B of Ecuadorian first division, Macará had a better goal difference and there was still one more game left, another very favourable fact was that Imbabura had to play away against Deportivo Azogues in the south part of the country and Macará was hosting Emelec in Bellevista Stadium in Ambato. With a large number of fans cheering for them on 7 October 2007 and confirming their good moment, they defeated Emelec 2-0 and Macará had for the second year in a row, kept its place on the premier section of Ecuador's Campeonato Nacional.

Considering that, next tournament would be much more competitive, given that there will be 2 more teams, game attendance is a must, because it's key to a team's spirit and positive attitude on the field, as well as from the city's business community where Macará has many fans and which could be a positive contributor in order to form a strong, competitive group of players.

For 2008 Macará hired Colombian coach Jaime De La Pava to the club, and renewed a noticeable part of the squad. They saw three of their bests players leave the club, Luis Miguel Garcés went to cashed-up Barcelona, Mariano Mina transferred to Deportivo Cuenca and Christian Botero switched to Universidad Católica, for playing few months before going into retirement (and swiftly returning to Macará as an academy coach). The team struggled for the major part of the first semester, which meant repeated fates for successively fired coaches De La Pava and Argentinian Jorge García. For the second part of the year, and with the arrival of Mario Jaquet to lead the coaching staff; Macará gained impressive great shape to secure first place of their qualification group, and, consequently, earned themselves a place for the finals, something not achieved since 1989. However, Macará couldn't qualify for the Copa Libertadores de América. Jaquet was later confirmed as first team coach for the 2009 season.

Fans

As one of the oldest teams in Ambato, Macará has substantial fan base in the city. The team's ultras are called Los Ultras. Ferment during home games, they are also known to follow the team to different cities. The MacAra family who live mainly in Scotland, but include others in Ireland, Poland and the USA are also big fans.

Rivalries

Macará has a long history of crosstown rivalries with other clubs in Ambato. Their original rival was América de Ambato. But as América descended in the Ecuadorian soccer pyramid, the team developed a new rivalry with Club Deportivo Técnico Universitario. Matches between Macará and Técnico U. are known as El Clásico Ambateño (English: The Ambato Derby). Both teams use the same stadium, which fills up during matches. Fans of Macará are situated on the western side of the Bellevista, and Técnico U. on the other. Episodes of violence between fans of both teams are rare, but have been known to happen. Another rival of Macara is Centro Deportivo Olmedo from the city of Riobamba which is located close to Ambato.

Kit

Macará's kit manufacturer is Marathon Sports since 2009; being finished the deal the team had with Astro. Historically, Macará has had their kit produced by local and national manufacturers, but since late 90's it has varied from almost a brand per year. These include: Marathon Sports, Puma, Diadora, Le Coq Sportif, Joma and Astro. The majors sponsor areUniversidad Tecnológica Indoamérica, local footwear company Venus, Makrotubo, L. Gilbert, Hotel Casino Emperador and Ecuavisa, who also broadcasts the team's home games. As for the kit producers, it is also common that sponsorship deals vary from year to year, being within the most recent main sponsors Cerveza Pilsener, Banco del Pichincha, Mazda, Sunny Juices and Daihatsu.

Achievements

• Serie B
  • Winners (3): 1971, 1998, 2005
  • Runners-up (2): 1973, 2003
• Campeonato Profesional Interandino
  • Winners (1): 1959

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Juan Molina GK Wilmer Zumba DF Christian Castro DF Franklin Corozo DF Wilson Folleco DF Rodolfo Albornoz DF Jorge Jara DF Argenis Moreira DF Wagner Napa MF Augusto Poroso MF Danny Alvarez MF Daniel Mina MF Luis Caicedo

No. Position Player DF José María Paz MF Julio Ayoví MF Walter Castro MF John Ordoñez MF Pedro Larrea MF Angel Ledesma MF Luis Mina MF Jefferson Valencia MF Oswaldo Zurita FW Iván Kaviedes FW Moisés Cuero FW Roberto Mina

Noted players

Jorge Alvear Luis Bolaños Héctor Lautaro Chiriboga Jacinto Espinoza Italo Estupiñán Luis Miguel Garcés Daniel Garrido Ivan Kaviedes Geovanny Mera Rómulo Dudar Mina

Cristian Mora Carlos Quevedo Patricio Urrutia Christian José Bottero Teodoro Jauch Matías Urbano Juan Martín Caballero Germán Leguía Rodolfo Abalde Washington Aires

Top scorers

Macará has had two players become the top scorer in the national championship. They are:

• Rómulo Dudar Mina (1970)
• Christian José Bottero (1999)

External links

• Official website (Spanish)
• Macara Info
• Revista Estadio
• Goles Imbabura 1 - Macará 4