After the double made goals in the date FIFA of November, the Portuguese Carlos Queiroz stopped being the technician of the Colombia Selection. The 0-3 against Uruguay and the 6-1 against Ecuador were lost and did not continue at the forefront of the project for 2021. It left the seventh tricolor in the standings in Qatar 2 points from the place of repetition already 8 in Brazil leading the table.
Regarding these numbers, Queiroz said in a recent interview with the sports department of EFE, and for the first time after his departure from the Colombian team, that he left with pride. In addition, he confessed that he is trying to return to the page already waiting for new opportunities in the coming year.
“All the work that the team has developed these two years, we can say that it will leave Colombia with great pride, with the conviction that we develop a good work. The results and the facts are very clear, the numbers speak for themselves, “he said.
Queiroz, who guided Iran and Portugal before leading Colombia, arrived in the country in February 2019 after the departure of Argentine José Pékerman and left office on December 2. For now it is not known who will be his replacement but it is presumed that he may be Reinaldo Rueda.
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Read the full interview of EFE to Carlos Queiroz:
How is he? It’s been a few weeks since he left Colombia …
I’m fine. Trying to close the Colombia page and looking at other opportunities. The book of life stays open for me. Now you have to enjoy this Christmas time with the family, with health, and prepare for a new stage with new life books in hand.
After a great success in the direction of Iran going to the World-wide one landed in Colombia and everything is twisted quickly. What happened?
Well, very difficult to explain and say what happened in a nutshell. But it is a story, once again, that is repeated in football. Football is sometimes cruel; it brings us good things, but sometimes it surprises us with other situations. After a bad race of results things will change.
The life of a coach, the value of a coach in the emotions of the street, depends on his end result. He arrived in Colombia with great excitement to achieve the fifth qualification for a World Cup. And you always expect from a Federation decisions that cannot be from the street, they have to count decisions with conviction and courage.
Qualifying for the World Cup in South America is one of the toughest competitions in the world of football. It is not a straight path. The grade is not as it begins, it is as a term. After a poor race 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 disagree. The facts show that it is not a rational decision, but it is their decision.
I am grateful for the opportunity to be Colombia’s coach. He has 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 it showed at the beginning.
Do you think that being a European coach means having less knowledge of Colombian football, if you don’t have that pulse from day to day? This issue has been criticized …
Normal, the tradition in the last 20 years of football in South America that European coaches there is something very rare. Modern language and football is only one. When you work with Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay … you work with players who compete in Europe.
The classification in South America is not South American football, when we played on the court 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 look outside bring conditions outside of football, but a European coach in South America should be something normal as it is the other way around, bringing very good things to world football. Not a problem he is a coach trained in Europe.
Was there really high tension in the locker room between your players?
It was all phenomenal. It is surprisingly the family that forms the selection of Colombia. It is a very attractive, very friendly and loving thing. We know and we like football We know there is a price we have to pay when we live in a free society. There is a price to pay, if we do not know how to live with lies, is that we know nothing about football and life. After the match in Chile, they said that there were confrontations between the coaching staff. It was a lie. After the match against Ecuador some arguments will be created for the players to have confrontations; once again I tell you that the atmosphere of the Colombia national team is friendly and familiar. These 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, he has always maintained great relationships with them. And now I have, on the part of the Colombian players, messages from him with manifestations of affection, friendship and affection, which move me and that when I read them I get excited and almost shed tears. They are expressions of recognition 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 with Real Madrid as you were James Rodriguez. How did I see him in his time as coach of Colombia?
I always like to talk about the team beyond personalities and individuals. As my friend Alex Ferguson always said, the team above all. But unfortunately for me and for the Colombian national team, it has never been possible to have James at 100 percent.
The situation with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich has been that he has not had the regularity that a player like James needs to bring his best football. James at the 2014 World Cup has been a sensation, and it has not been 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 he started playing regularly at Everton, our paths diverge because football spoke cruelly to me.
But speaking, as I like, of the team, I think it found good solutions. The America’s Cup went well. The performance of the first 16 matches was very good, with 32 points, for example it would have given us the qualification for the World Cup. When all the players started playing regularly, without injuries, without coronavirus problems … we lost player shots in the last call for different problems!
All the work we have done in the last two years allows me to say that leaving Colombia with great pride, with the conviction that we are saving Colombia with a good job. The numbers speak for themselves. And not only work inside the field, also outside the field; this period of working 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 team.
Are you clear about your future? Do you want to stay tied to the national teams or return to club football?
Thank God the phone keeps ringing. But it is a time in my life when I have to do a great and very 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 jobs 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 it or nine coronavirus tests, the program is conditioned to the test … it is a very strange world and going back to work in pandemic conditions is a very big risk. Football needs solutions and innovations. The decision I have now is to reflect and in March or April, with the world hopefully changed, God willing, make a decision and close my book. I can’t stay with that taste in my mouth, with the bitter side of football. Q: You have been the coach of Real Madrid. Direction to the galactics. Zidane was his player. And now he’s on the bench he knows well. Zidane lives on a roller coaster in Madrid. One day he is a hero. And the next week, he lives on the wire.
How do you see Zidane on the bench for Real Madrid?
‘Zizou’ has all my support and sympathy. You are a friend, like all coaches, of an instability that no one can explain very well. It’s not the same to play or have to go back to the Bernabéu with all your fans to have to do it without an audience now in 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 win in Germany was very rare … Happiness in Spain but we have to let it go. Pandemic football is not normal. Very good at Real Madrid and its president, Florentino Pérez, without making emotional decisions, and without paying attention to street opinions.
You know Sergio Ramos well. He just arrived as a child when you finished your time at Real Madrid. Capturing talent is still a differentiating advantage in professional football …
Look, I’m going to tell you a secret, something Florentino is sure to remember. When he was brought to Madrid, together with Jorge Valdano, the first one who wanted to be signed to Sergio Ramos and also to Pepe … and if I did, he could still be the coach of Real Madrid today -. I wanted to sign the great captain from the first day I arrived in Madrid. What more can I say about Sergio! …
A club you admire. It was Alex Ferguson’s right hand man at United. Manchester United is going through difficult times, of transition. What recipe, besides patience, can become ManU to the elite and to success?
It is very difficult to regain your place in this Premier League, the other teams have a lot of quality. But I’m going to tell you two tips that apply to Manchester United and that also apply to Colombia. Bobby Charlton told me that the secret to United’s success was that they had boundless loyalty and trust in the people who worked for them; in the best and in the worst moments; that’s the secret of Manchester United. The solutions to get out of the bad times had those who were working with them. Raising it in Colombia, at this time, there is no person in the world, none with more knowledge, who can bring the best solutions to Colombia as I was now. And another piece of advice from Alex Ferguson on United’s success was that nothing and no one is above the team.
These two elections 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 no one can be above of equipment. .
EFE