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In an interview with EFE, the Portuguese coach broke the silence and spoke about his time with the Colombian team. He assured that there was no person more prepared than him on the planet for the position.
Has it been a few weeks since you left Colombia, how are you?
I’m fine. Trying to close the Colombia page and looking at other opportunities. The book of life remains open to me. Now we have to enjoy this Christmas time with the family, with health, and prepare for a new stage with new books on life in hand.
After a great success in the direction of Iran going to the World Cup, he landed in Colombia and everything quickly went wrong. What happened?
Well, very difficult to explain and say what happened in a few words. But it is a story, once again, that is repeated in football. Soccer is cruel sometimes; It brings us good things, but sometimes it surprises us with other situations. After a bad run of results, things changed. The life of a coach, the value of a coach in the emotions of the street, depends on his last result. I arrived in Colombia with great enthusiasm to achieve the fifth qualification for a World Cup. And you always expect decisions from a Federation that cannot be from the street, they have to count on decisions with conviction and courage. Qualifying for the World Cup in South America is one of the most difficult competitions in the world of soccer. It is not a straight path. Grading is not how it starts, it’s how it ends. After a bad run of results, the Federation has not had the courage to face the coming storms. They have made a decision that I have to accept, but with which I do not agree. The facts show that it is not a rational decision, but it is your decision. I am grateful for the opportunity to be the coach of Colombia. I have been the European coach of South America. It has been an honor, a great privilege. Unfortunately after the last two results against Uruguay and Ecuador, the Federation did not show the same courage that it showed at the beginning.
Do you think that being a European coach implies having less knowledge of Colombian football, if you don’t have that pulse from day to day? This matter has been criticized …
Normal, the tradition in the last 20 years of soccer in South America says that European coaches there is something very rare. The language and modern football is only one. When you work with Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay … you work with players who compete in Europe. Qualification in South America is not South American football, when we played on the pitch we were seeing players trained in Europe, with the mentality of European football, playing in South America. In football there are no nationalities or religions; it’s football. People who watch from outside contribute conditions outside of football, but a European coach in South America should be something normal as it is the other way around, contributing very good things to world football. It is not a problem to be a coach trained in Europe.
Was there really high tension in the dressing room among your players?
It was all phenomenal. It is surprising to see the family that makes up the Colombian team. It is a very attractive, very friendly and loving thing. There is a price to pay, if we do not know how to live with lies, it is that we do not know anything about football and life. After the Chile match, they said there were confrontations between the technical bodies. It was a lie. After the game against Ecuador some arguments were created that the players had confrontations; once again I tell you that the atmosphere of the Colombian team is friendly and familiar. They are some lies that are normal and we pay the price of living in a free world, which we like. In relation to the players, I have coached clubs and national teams, from Portugal to Iran, I have always had great relationships with them. And now I have, on the part of the Colombian players, messages from him with expressions of affection, friendship and affection, which move me and that when I read them I get emotional and almost cry. They are expressions of appreciation and gratitude that I will never forget. These footballers will always be in my heart.
A proper name in European football that has also been linked to Real Madrid as you were is James Rodríguez. How have you seen him in your time as Colombia coach?
I always like to talk about the team beyond personalities and individualities. As my friend Alex Ferguson always said, the team above all else. But unfortunately for me and for the Colombian team, it has never been possible to count on James 100%. The situation with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich has been that he has not had the regularity that a player like James needs to contribute his best football. James at the 2014 World Cup was a sensation, and it was not possible to have his best contribution. We try to work on good solutions. James has suffered a lot with the situation, the team too. Now that I was starting to play regularly for Everton, our paths diverge because football spoke cruelly to me. But speaking, as I like, of the team, I think he found good solutions. The America’s Cup went well. The performance of the first 16 games was very good, with 32 points, for example they would have given us qualification for the World Cup. When all the players started playing regularly, without injuries, without coronavirus problems … we lost thirteen players in the last call due to different problems! All the work we have done in the last two years allows me to say that I leave Colombia with great pride, with the conviction that we left Colombia with a good job. The numbers speak. And not only work on the field, also off the field; This period of work with all the players has been very good for me and I am very grateful; It has been a privilege and an honor to work with this great family of the Colombian national team.
Are you clear about your future? Do you want to remain linked to the national teams or return to club football?
Thank goodness the phone continues to ring. But it is a moment in my life in which I have to make a big and careful reflection. I have a very clear decision for me. Life in the last year has been very cruel for everyone, and football is no exception. The experience I have of playing football without fans and developing work without being able to see the players … now the work of the coaches is done through television. In 14 days of concentration you have to do eight or nine coronavirus tests, the program is conditioned to the tests … it is a very strange world and going back to work in pandemic conditions is a very great risk. Football needs solutions and innovations. The decision I have now is to make a reflection and in March or April, with the world hopefully changed, God willing, make a decision and close my book. I cannot stay with this taste in my mouth, with the bitter side of football.
How do you see Zidane on the Real Madrid bench?
‘Zizou’ has my full support and sympathy. He is suffering, like all coaches, from an instability that no one can explain very well. Playing or having to come back at the Bernabéu with all your fans is not the same as having to do it without an audience now at Valdebebas; now playing outside or at home is the same. Making judgments of coaches during the pandemic is cruel. Those behind do not feel everything that is happening during training and competition. For example, Spain’s 6-0 against Germany was very rare … I congratulate Spain but you have to let it pass. Pandemic football is not normal. Real Madrid and its president, Florentino Pérez, very well, without making emotional decisions, and without paying attention to opinions on the street.
You know Sergio Ramos well. He was just a child when you finished your time at Real Madrid. The recruitment of talent continues to be a differential plus in professional football …
Look, I’m going to tell you a confidence, something that Florentino will surely remember. When I arrived at Madrid, together with Jorge Valdano, the first thing I tried was to sign Sergio Ramos and also Pepe … and if I had, I could still be Real Madrid’s coach today – he adds humorously – I wanted to sign the great captain from the first day I arrived at Madrid. What else can I say about Sergio.
He was Alex Ferguson’s right-hand man at United. Manchester United are going through difficult times, of transition. What recipe, besides patience, can restore United to success?
It is very difficult to recover your space in this Premier League, the other teams have a lot of quality. But I’m going to tell you two tips that are applicable for Manchester United and that also apply to Colombia. Bobby Charlton told me that the secret to United’s success was that they had limitless loyalty and trust in the people who worked for them; in the best and worst moments; that is the secret of Manchester United. The solutions to get out of the bad times were those who were working with them. Taking him to Colombia, at this time, there is no person in the world, no one with more knowledge, who could provide the best solutions in Colombia as I was. And another piece of advice from Alex Ferguson on United’s success was that nothing and no one is above the team. These two lessons are very important. In Colombia there are many people who know everything about football, but you have to know that today’s football is about teams, personalities, and in which the most important thing is to trust people and that nothing and nobody can be above the team .
