In the middle of a frustrating start without winning, six draws and one defeat so far in the Closing Tournament 2021, the president of the Life, Luis Cruz, finally put order in the house taking of encounter to two foreign soccer players: the Argentine forward Mauro Bustamante and the Colombian midfield player Julián Mendoza.
As revealed by the own Cross in interview to DEU, the two soccer players were separated by low yield and indiscipline, acts that are not tolerated within the ceibeña directive.
He also referred to the case of the coach Nerlin Member of whom he made it clear that “we will give him the support to make things better” in the face of the alleged arrival of the Portuguese coach Fernando Mira who would arrive as a support and in charge of the booking project.
What is reflected in the table does not look promising: how do you translate this start of the tournament?
The situation we are experiencing is not the best, we are strengthening to fight the tournament, but the results have not been as we expected. We’ve been playing well, but the matches have gotten complicated for us. It’s not that we’re doing a bad job, but the results don’t accompany us.
With all this, why did they decide to terminate the contract of Mauro Bustamente and Julián Mendoza?
It was a mutual agreement, we expected more from the players, around here we thought they were going to contribute more footballingly, but we reached an agreement with them and they had to leave the institution.
But do we hear of indiscipline, is it so or is it merely sporting?
Yes, in part it was because of their behavior. At first he arrived (Bustamante) with injuries, we waited for more than a month and in the end we made the decision because it is not healthy for the group when the others are splitting day by day in training and they live afflicting things.
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Did these foreign footballers party?
I talked to the team, I had reports that there were a couple of players who were going out at night to nightclubs, who weren’t taking care of themselves; in the end it was confirmed and at this time they are no longer part of the institution.
Are there national players involved or only foreign ones?
There are no nationals, but in the end I told everyone about the situation that was happening. We told them that whoever we find in this situation would be removed from the group.
Is this an example sanction to what is happening to the team?
We have been playing well, then it gets complicated and we have not achieved the goal of being at the top, but in the group nothing is defined. The whole team is in the same situation between last and first place, nothing is clear.
You say so, nothing is clear, but do you see Life rising in front of Marathon?
That’s why we work every day, we have a good squad and high quality players. The same game we lost to Marathon we lost goal opportunities, we hope the results improve and we can define why this year has killed us for it.
How much patience will you have for DT Nerlin Membreño with so many rumors of his departure?
My support for Nerlin Membreño’s work has been one hundred percent. I talk to him every day, I know the results are not what we expected, but the responsibility is not just the coach, I know the players have not shown the performance we expected. We want to see Life starting to win after eight days without a win.
Excuse me for asking you frankly, but do you have an ultimatum to Nerlin in case you lose to Marathon?
No, he has no ultimatum, but continuity and the results already give him and he is clear; we’ve talked about it, we’ve made an investment to fight in the tournament, not to be in that situation, but it’s a process, just like four or five months ago on the team, we’ll give you the support to make things better.
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Did you communicate with Martín “Tato ‘García?
At one point I talked to him, Nerlin knows … -I never offered him or told him that as much as he wanted to come to Life, we want to save him, we are desperate-. We actually talked to him, asked him how much his coaching staff cost, but so far.
And Manuel Keosseian?
They were just rumors, I don’t know who he is and I’ve never talked to him.
How impact José Escalante’s departure back to the Cavalry?
His departure is nothing new, we already knew he was leaving in early March, everything was clear, the team that had given us the loan these were his demands and we had to meet it.
What determination did the team make regarding the punishment of Nerlin Membreño?
We have already talked to the Disciplinary Committee on the subject, we hope to help you a little with this.