MEDELLIN: Experienced Ecuadorian head coach Octavio Zambrano, the former manager of Canada's national football team, has taken the helm of Colombian-league club Independiente Medellin.
The 60-year-old Zambrano was presented on Friday as the replacement for Spaniard Ismael Rescalvo, reports Efe.
"It's a true pleasure and honour to come back to Colombia and work at a team like Independiente Medellin. It's a big challenge. Our plan is to get the most out of this great institution," Zambrano, who managed Colombian club Deportivo Pereira between 2011 and 2013, said at a press conference.
Zambrano also previously worked in Major League Soccer as the head coach of the Los Angeles Galaxy from 1997 to 1999 and the MetroStars (now the New York Red Bulls) from 2000 to 2002 and was the manager of Ecuadorian-league clubs El Nacional and Delfin Sporting Club between 2014 and 2016.
He was then head coach of Canada's men's national team in 2017-2018.
Zambrano hailed the recent success of Medellin, which lost in the semi-finals of the Colombian league's recently concluded Apertura tournament to eventual champion Deportes Tolima, but he said that result meant "an even greater challenge" was on the horizon.
"I'd be naive if I said the goal wasn't to win championships. Winning titles is what the institution and the fans want," said the Ecuadorian, who has signed a one-year contract.
In the second half of the year, Medellin will compete in the Colombian league's Finalizacion tournament, which gets under way on July 22.
It also will play in the Copa Colombia, Colombia's national club cup competition.