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to have a relationship at a<br />
national team level, on the<br />
Federation’s part and also the<br />
club, including even their family<br />
and that makes them improve.<br />
The U-15 has been a great<br />
success and processes have<br />
improved. Football moves more<br />
quickly every day and South<br />
American football provides<br />
players all over the world,<br />
especially in Europe. They come<br />
to take our boys from a very early<br />
age and that is why we had to<br />
interfere to stop the transferences<br />
of minors below 18 years of age,<br />
which we managed to stop. As<br />
FiFA’s competitive part starts at<br />
17, there remained a free<br />
somewhat entertaining and not<br />
so competitive group that<br />
CONMEBOL very wisely<br />
determined this championship to<br />
become the basis of what our<br />
football is at present, since we<br />
begin to select and prepare 13years<br />
old boys, when at 14 and<br />
15 they are wanted by other<br />
clubs and they are already<br />
recorded and observed.<br />
What were the<br />
repercussions of this title?<br />
First, it was a real festival in<br />
Colombia, a great joy for the<br />
country. Secondly, we received a<br />
tremendous support from the<br />
football people. As to ourselves,<br />
luckily we have the endorsement<br />
of the National Government. We<br />
received calls from the Sports<br />
Vice-Minister and the President of<br />
the Republic with messages for<br />
the boys. The President himself<br />
talked with our coach. President<br />
Santos is a great football fan and<br />
he has helped us very much in<br />
the organization of the U-20<br />
World Cup in 2010. He took a<br />
political risk when he announced<br />
it during his presidential<br />
campaign and afterwards, he<br />
was very careful with every detail.<br />
He used to ask at every moment:<br />
“How are we getting on…? Will<br />
we be able to accomplish what<br />
we promised?” The same<br />
happened with Pekerman’s<br />
appointment. It was not easy to<br />
take a whole foreign technical<br />
staff for the Senior National Team<br />
and he was very helpful as to this<br />
matter.<br />
Is Colombia finally<br />
planning to have its national<br />
training center? That would<br />
surely result in attaining<br />
better results regarding<br />
the team’s preparation.<br />
Yes, we are building a very<br />
nice one in Bogotá which will be<br />
finished quite soon. We plan to<br />
inaugurate it by the middle of the<br />
year. It is located in the Simón<br />
Bolivar Park, a plot of 500<br />
hectares belonging to the city<br />
and a small part of it has been<br />
given to the Federation to open a<br />
training center. We have the plot<br />
of land for 30 years, that can be<br />
extended to 30 more. in which<br />
we have invested the money of<br />
the GOL 1 and GOL 2<br />
programmes, plus a large sum<br />
that has been paid by the<br />
Federation. There we have all the<br />
comforts, amenities and facilities<br />
required as pitches, dressingrooms,<br />
gym, and also lodging,<br />
food and medicine, everything<br />
needed for the groups’<br />
development, similar to what the<br />
world great associations have,<br />
like those of AFA in Ezeiza. We<br />
want to build at least other two<br />
when we finish that of Bogotá,<br />
since this one will be up high and<br />
we want to have another one in<br />
Barranquilla, at the sea level and<br />
another one of a medium level<br />
over 1,000 metres high. I think<br />
that this expansion would make<br />
our national teams much<br />
stronger.<br />
Finally, what were the<br />
pillars upon which this<br />
conquest was settled?<br />
Present day juveniles have<br />
the peculiarity that they are<br />
young, though most of them are<br />
also professional. That is why we<br />
think that to deal with them we<br />
need a coach who knows the<br />
boys from the very beginning,<br />
without forgetting that they are<br />
professional and even<br />
international players and that is<br />
not very easy to accomplish in<br />
amateur football. Carlos<br />
Restrepo is a man that was<br />
inside the Colombian juvenile<br />
football and some years ago,<br />
had been qualified to the World<br />
Cup, but afterwards, he passed<br />
to professional football, was a<br />
champion in Colombia and in<br />
Central America and he fulfilled<br />
the stipulated conditions. To<br />
collaborate with him, we added<br />
an amateur football coach that<br />
is the man with more national<br />
titles won in that area, Carlos<br />
Paniagua. Together, they visited<br />
every region of the country,<br />
looking for players,<br />
championships, going abroad<br />
and conforming a team that will<br />
surely have to correct many<br />
things for the World Cup, but<br />
they have created an excellent<br />
pair.<br />
This year they have the<br />
Luis Bedoya junto al presidente Nicolás Leoz, el titular de la APF, Juan Ángel Napout, y el vicepresidente Eugenio Figueredo.<br />
Luis Bedoya together with President Nicolás Leoz, the head of APF, Juan Ángel Napout, and Vice-President Eugenio Figueredo.<br />
great chance of returning to<br />
the Senior World Cup , since<br />
they have already qualified<br />
to that of Turkey and now<br />
comes the U-17.<br />
They have placed their<br />
confidence in this U-17 very<br />
much. I must even confess that<br />
this generation was the one we<br />
considered as very good. They<br />
have been working for almost<br />
4 years since they played in the<br />
U-15 South American in<br />
Uruguay. This U-20 has given<br />
us an agreeable surprise.<br />
Hence, if the U-17 attains<br />
the qualification, this can<br />
be a historical year for<br />
Colombian football by attaining<br />
the world cup berth in all<br />
three categories.<br />
CSF ● 31
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