馃帴 Legendary former boss Bauza gets special visit amid illness fight
· Yahoo Sports
A Libertadores champion with LDU (2008) and San Lorenzo (2014), and a former S茫o Paulo coach, Edgardo "Pat贸n" Bauza experienced special moments at his home.聽
Now a former coach at 68, he is facing a silent battle against frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a condition that affects personality, behavior, and language function.
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He lives in Quito, Ecuador, and welcomed members of the club where he also made plenty of history: Rosario Central, who are there to face Independiente del Valle in the Libertadores.聽
Bauza had two spells with Los Canallas as a center-back聽(1977-1982 and 1986-1989), totaling 440 matches, and won the Argentine title twice.
He also made history there as a coach. After runner-up finishes in 1998 and 1999, he returned in 2018 to end Rosario's 23-year trophy drought by winning the Copa Argentina.
That trophy was the last of his career on the touchline.
The reunion organized by the club was full of emotion. Bauza received shirts, a plaque, and saw again the trophy celebrated in 2018.
The diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia came in 2021. He lives in the aforementioned Ecuadorian capital with his wife,聽Maritza Gallardo.
Bauza's journey was already told in the documentary "The Summit of Life, the Value of Memory," released last year and produced by the TASE Foundation (Transcending with Love, Service, and Excellence), an Ecuadorian organization that helps people with Alzheimer's and other dementias.
"Edgardo no longer communicates verbally, but he is always in a good mood. He lives in peace, and that brings us peace too," Maritza says in one excerpt.
Bauza also played for Junior Barranquilla, Independiente, and Vera Cruz, and was a World Cup runner-up with Argentina in 1990.
He was in charge of S茫o Paulo when he was approached to take over the Argentina national team in August 2016, leaving Tricolor after 48 matches and that year's Libertadores semifinal.
He also had coaching spells with V茅lez, Col贸n, Sporting Cristal, Al-Nassr, and the national teams of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 馃嚙馃嚪 here.