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El equipo frente a Venezuela en Asunción. Parados / The team against Venezuela in Asunción.
Standing: Justo Villar, Óscar Cardozo, Darío Verón,Antolín Alcaraz,Víctor Cáceres, Paulo Da Silva.
Abajo / Kneeling: Miguel Samudio, Carlos Bonet, Cristian Riveros, Jonathan Fabbro, Nelson Haedo.
Paraguay’s football with six
coaches directing there now?
Olimpia’s history and the
Uruguayans comes from many
centuries back and grows
stronger with the arrival of Luis
Cubilla in 1979. Today I know
why. We have a similar culture, a
provincial spirit and we do not
come from big cities, we come
from the countryside, we have
sayings, the “mate” and very
similar habits. We are hardened
and leave our heart and soul in
the pitch, but we never give in.
What other characteristics
would you point out in the
Paraguayan player?
You can trust him 100%.
That’s what I want to make clear
above all. He will always push and
give what he has. I always liked
him. The most difficult forwards
I had to mark were Paraguayans, I
can’t forget them. In the National
team, I had to play a match
against Paraguay. Not long ago, I
met Clemente Rolón in Asunción.
“You put an end to my sports
career”, I told him. It was the last
match I played with the National
Team. We lost by 1-0, with a goal
scored by Rolón with a header
and the mark was mine. I
remember (Herminio) Céspedes
who I had to confront in Mexico,
one of the hardest guys I ever
marked in my whole life. They are
very difficult as rivals.
What do you think of the
present local championship?
It has been strengthened,
because the big teams have hired
top level players and that forces
the others to be very strong. This
high level is to be found both in
the players and the coaches.
Do you think that the
National Team will find
these changes difficult?
I’m going to be very cautious
in my comparisons because I
don’t want my analysis to seem as
if I were criticizing the previous
coach. There is an important
group of footballers who are
experienced in Copas América,
Qualifiers and World Cups, but to
all that, they must add innovation
and performance. The men in this
group have been together for
sometime and they are the basis
for Paraguay to remain at a high
level. There are important names
like Enrique Vera, who stayed on
the way due to injuries. That is
why we need a change. I have an
idea and we’re going to put it into
practice. I think that we’ll be
doing quite well, otherwise I
wouldn’t be here.
Which coaches marked
you during your days as a
player?
The first one was professor
(Carlos) Silva Cabrera who took
me to Liverpool and the National
Team. He persuaded and moved
us. Andrés Prieto was not only a
great coach but a friend up to the
present day. “Pepe” Sasía, also a
legend of Uruguayan football.
In Ecuador I had a remarkable
coach, Ernesto Guerra, a born
winner. Those were the ones that
marked me more.
Did you see yourself as a
coach when you played?
Now, I look backwards and I
say “yes”. While I was recovering
from my knee in Ecuador,
professor Luis Betolaza gave me a
book “Reality and fantasy of total
football”, by Hugo Tassara and
told me, “This book will make you
very enthusiastic, because you
have the calling to be a coach”.
I asked the coaches why they did
some things, what they wanted
and what were the circuits for. I
was always interested in such sort
of things and the distribution of
players in the pitch.
I tried to have my teammates
well distributed and never leave
one of them without doing
something. I asked why four of us
stayed at the back when we were
attacked by two. I had a coach
inside me, and that cannot be
denied. My first year with Emelec
was a disaster. I look back and
realize the errors I committed
and I laugh.
Three decades have gone
by, how do you want your
teams to play now?
There isn’t one only way. I
don’t believe in fundamental
clichés. There are countries,
cultures, different players. I put
the greatest emphasis in the fact
that my teams have to be
competitive. We cannot only
mark your steps. I have the phrase
“You’ll be what you have to be
or you will be nothing at all”,
hanging on the bed-room’s door
and that is what I try to transmit
to my players. My teams must
leave a mark.
What place do you give to
motivation?
It’s always important. The
mental and physical aspects,
the care, companionship, joy,
discipline are all the ingredients
that have to exist. If any of them
does not work well, everything
breaks up. The idea is to create a
good environment as León
Najnudel said. He was the
Argentine basketball coach who
made clear to me the ideas about
sensitization or brainwashing. He
said that the most important
thing in a roster was, harmony,
solidarity, the will to win and to
work, discipline, brotherhood,
motivation and having a clear
head and soul. All that must exist,
otherwise it does not work.
How does the computer
help you?
Technology gives us very
valuable tools, from ordering our
work, keeping store of everything
that is done and resort to previous
matters for the present moment.
We are working with a
programme that helps us to
watch our rivals. When we edited
ourselves, we had to stay until 5
o’clock in the morning. If you
show a whole match to a roster,
they get bored and fall asleep. It
has to be a short video and to the
point. If it is a right wing, I have to
show him how the left half plays
in only 3 minutes. With Internet,
the one that does not know
everything about his rivals it is
because he does not want to do
so. What is the secret? They
practise an exercise in the pitch
and they appear in twitter, if there
are any surprises, it is because
they are negligent.
What was the challenge
with Olimpia after 11
years without winning a
championship?
That was what mostly
decided us to go. We’ve learnt
after many mistakes that you
must know how to choose very
well the jungle you’re planning
CSF ● 27