From the very outset he had a very clear idea of how his teams would play: “I have very positive thoughts and dreams, I will never be defensive. If Argentina or Brazil are going to beat me, then they will have to do it against a Bolivia side that is trying to dominate the game. It is not in my nature to have teams retreat into their own area. In the qualifier away to Brazil in 1993, we lost 6-0, but Bolivia had the first three chances to score. That’s how my role model, the Spaniard Xavier Azkargorta, taught us and that’s how we felt and I still feel today as a coach. It wouldn’t be difficult for me to transmit that in Bolivia, although my country’s mentality is very different. Once, a coach asked me to mark Cafu and I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be better for him to worry about what I’m doing?’ I was in the team that beat Argentina on the way to winning the 1986 South American Under-16 Championship, which earned us a place at the World Cup in Canada. You have to feel important and not bow down to big-name rivals.”
Whether in Bolivia or the USA, El Diablo is still a formidable character.

Etcheverry started studying for various coaching badges in 1998 and qualified two years later. “It’s nice to still be involved in football. I suffered a lot when I retired. Now I have returned and I love travelling, teaching … I started out at the age of 8 at the Tahuichi Academy, training every day. Football is my life,” confesses Etcheverry.
He feels fulfilled by his new role with the USA U-20s: “We travel to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil to see how they coach youth teams there because those countries produce a lot of highly talented young players using a process and working methods that we want to learn. I was happy working as an ambassador for DC United until Rongen, who was my technical director at Washington from 1999 to 2001, offered me the chance to continue learning as a coach and go with him to Buenos Aires on a tour.”
Etcheverry played in the MLS for seven seasons and won the MLS Cup three times with DC United, in 1996, 1997 and 1999. In 1998 he was named MLS Most Valuable Player and he also played in the MLS All-Star Game in four consecutive seasons (1996-99). Etcheverry is the player with the second-highest number of appearances (191) and minutes on the pitch (16,305) in US soccer history. Furthermore, his 34 goals in the black shirt of the team from the US capital make him the club’s second highest goalscorer. He also won league titles in Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador.
After a lengthy footballing career, El Diablo certainly deserves a rest. A few months ago, the Etcheverry family moved into a new house in West Virginia in order to enjoy some peace and quiet. “I live in the suburbs of Washington DC, an hour and a quarter from the centre. I am relaxed in the countryside with five or six neighbours who don’t know who 1 am,” he says, smiling. He knows that it would be impossible for him to go unnoticed in Bolivia.
In any case, he has a refuge when he returns to his home country, a farm north of Santa Cruz. “It’s a cattle ranch: my brothers and brothers-in-law look after the animals; I don’t have time for any more activities,” he says by way of an excuse. He did manage to fit one extra activity in, however: “During the 2006 World Cup in Germany I worked as a commentator for a TV station in Ecuador. It was nice, but I prefer working on the pitch,” he explains. In 1997, during the MLS off-season, he played 13 matches for Barcelona SC and won the Ecuadorian league championship.

Etcheverry has many friends in the Latino community, but his circle of friends does not stop there. He speaks fluent English and has befriended people right across the footballing spectrum, such as Bruce Arena, who coached the USA national team for eight years. “In Washington we have an average gate of almost 20,000 and already, 75 per cent of spectators are from the USA. We Latinos have football in our blood; the nice thing is trying to gradually change the mentality of the local population, who are so fond of their baseball and their American football,” he enthuses.
Despite his Bolivian roots, Etcheverry’s has mixed feelings on some issues. He receives offers to coach Bolivian clubs – the last one came from Oriente Petrolero – but at the same time he has to think of the future of his four children: “It’s very difficult to decide whether to return to Bolivia or stay in the USA. I wouldn’t want to uproot my children; if the opportunity to coach a first-division team in my country arose, I would go first and then I’d bring my family over. My eldest son is 20 and is studying at a Bolivian university, but my second son, who’s 18, wants to stay in the USA and go to university here. My 14-year-old could go to a bilingual school in Santa Cruz de la Sierra and so could my ten-year-old daughter, who was born in Washington,” considers El Diablo, but then he is immediately caught in two minds: “I would be enthusiastic about a two-year project at Oriente and my family are right behind me. But I’m happy in my current job. Furthermore, the USA will be playing qualifying matches and continental tournaments, they are a major force at youth level and I will be busy travelling and going to get-togethers, just like when 1 was a player. It’s great: when I retired from football at 35, it left a big hole, but now I’m really happy.”