Julio César Uribe

Julio César Uribe (born May 9 1958 in Lima, Peru) is Peru's former men's national soccer team coach and former player.

During his playing days, from 1979 to 1989, he earned 39 cups and scored 9 goals for Peru's national soccer team and played in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. He played in Mexico for Club de Futbol América, also played for Peru's professional team Sporting Cristal and the Italian club Cagliari Calcio.

Peru's National Soccer Team Coach

In 2007 he was appointed as Peru's coach, his second stint in charge as he was also the coach from 2000 to 2001. [http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-latamperucoach&prov=reuters&type=lgns] Previous to being head coach of Peru's national team, he was team coach of Cienciano del Cuzco.

On June 3, 2007, under Julio Cesar Uribe's management, Peru had a friendly soccer match against Ecuador in Madrid, Spain. Peru defeated Ecuador 2-1 [after a bad call annulled a goal from Ecuador] , still giving Peru a victory over Ecuador after 8 years. A second friendly on June 7 was played in Barcelona, and Ecuador defeated the Peruvian team 2-0 (Both goals scored near the end of the game). Even though most agreed Peru played the better game, the saying that soccer matches are won by goals rather than "pretty play" was proven once more.

Uribe's next task at hand was the Copa America 2007. He was criticized for calling up a younger and somewhat more experimental squad. Nolberto Solano, a key midfielder, held his state of retirement. Peru started off on the right foot, beating Uruguay 3-0 in their opening match. However, they were not able to define in goal scoring opportunities or overcome controversial refereeing decisions in their 2-0 loss to hosts Venezuela. The surprisingly young and nimble Bolivian team also seemed on the way to beating Peru, however 2 Claudio Pizarro headers salvaged a tie for Peru. With the tie, Peru advanced into the quarter finals, but not without a scare. In the quarter finals against Argentina, they were overcome by 4 second half goals after being tied 0-0 at Halftime. Uribe was criticized for unstable formations and inadequate planning, as well as giving Argentina too much space and respect. Uribe was heavily criticized for his game planning, however Peru showed true promise against Uruguay and progress was seen under Uribe, the Copa marked what could be the beginning of a new era in Peruvian soccer, as they enter the South Africa 2010 qualifiers with high expectations.

Following poor results in the Copa, Uribe was fired and replaced by Jose Del Solar in the week of July 22nd, 2007

He is currently the coach of Cienciano.