Rueda to remain Flamengo coach in 2018, says president

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian giants Flamengo have played down speculation that their coach Reinaldo Rueda could leave to join Chile's national team.

The reigning Copa America champions have been without a coach since October, when Juan Antonio Pizzi departed after the team's failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

"I only know what I have read in the press," Flamengo president Eduardo Bandeira de Mello said on Tuesday. "If it's true, the Chilean football federation has good taste but I think Reinaldo is going to stay here."

"We haven't heard anything about the matter. I'm sure Reinaldo is going to spend Christmas with his family and then come back to the club to have a successful 2018."

Rueda joined Flamengo in August and guided the Rio outfit to sixth in Brazil's 20-team Serie A standings, earning them a berth in next year's Copa Libertadores, South America's version of the UEFA Champions League.

He also led them to the final of the second-tier Copa Sudamerica, which they lost to Argentina's Independiente.

The 60-year-old Colombian has previously coached the national teams of Colombia, Ecuador and Honduras.