Real Spain coach, Raúl „Potro” Gutiérrez, Mexican, former American player, rival who this Wednesday will face Olimpia for the CONCACAF Champions, analyzes the Aztec team and reveals in this discussion with TEN that for eagles there is no B team, it is just a way to express himself from journalists.
“El Potro” defended the American shirt with that great team that the Dutchman led, Leo Beenhakker, in the early 90’s and has the DNA of the Coapa club in his blood. “In America, if it’s a game against anyone or a CONCACAF game, you have to win it,” says Gutiérrez.
Read. THE LAST GREAT FIGHT THAT OLYMPIA AND AMERICA HAVE SEEN
Olimpia will receive penalties on Wednesday in the national stadium. The most winning team in Aztec football will rest its main figures, as they are fighting for the top of the MX League against Cruz Azul. On Saturday they defeated Necaxa, and the other weekend they clashed with the Tigers. Concacaf takes it in the background depending on its leadership.
What can you tell me about America coming to Olympia on Wednesday?
What I can tell you is that there are rumors that if he comes with a B team … But if America comes with a B team, he will come to win, the people here don’t confuse the DNA of a team because I played there, and if we went with beginners and with three or four experience, we would win. If it happens, if America offers this margin of advantage, Olympia takes advantage of that. But America will want to win because, as a former American, I tell you: with novices or with experience or with those who come, it will come to win.
You have faced Olympia twice and you already know him well; Do you think that the citizens of the capital have a team that competes face to face with América de Solari?
It’s football and in the end anything can happen in football, I’m convinced of that, but certainly Olimpia has shown that it is a consistent team, its results support it and no one says otherwise. Its history and times, the nobility obliges and in this case has all the arguments to compete with America.
Read. THE DEFENDER OF AMERICA DOES NOT TRUST IN OLYMPIA
Why Mexicans always take these CONCACAF competitions in the background; is it contempt or what?
I think it is due to perception, but I think that in this new century this has changed because new competitions have been opened, such as the League of Nations, the Champions competition. Today, in a way, the fact that Mexico closed Conmebol because in the end I think it has to do with what you say, that it could compete in Libertadores with another type of organization and it should be mentioned, when you played for CONCACAF you looked at the shortcomings that, on the other hand, did not exist; which creates trends. Today, with CONCACAF football organized in a different way without South American competition, it must be re-evaluated and it will have to take a different point of view. Concacaf is improving in these projects and the part where you say that the demerit has been reduced, today Mexican football understands that it is the football in which it is, Concacaf and assumes it with a greater responsibility and more respect for the competition.
Do you feel that the arrival of Mexico in Central America eliminates a little growth because it is no longer the same as playing against River or Boca in CONMEBOL?
Yes, but I tell you, in Mexico, the competition at the club level has always been very good, so much so that when you enter the South American Cups and the Libertadores have always competed well, when you adapt to that level of play, there is an improvement. . But the competition at the club level is good and what I think more than anything is always reflected at the team level when you play against Central American teams. The distances have been reduced and this is obvious and you have to be more careful in those units and not go anywhere with an excess of confidence, because any team can beat you.
Do you see a chance for Olimpia to match America in scoring points?
Well, it should, but one thing that big teams like Olimpia, Real España, Marathón and Motagua play is that they have to compete yes or yes for history. That will depend on how you take the perspective of those teams.
Will the fact that Solari, America’s coach, knows little about Central American teams, influence the fact that they talk about her experience, even though she competes in the region?
I do not believe. I had to come and play with America in Guatemala or El Salvador, I don’t remember well, but I don’t think it’s a coaching factor, it has a lot to do with the background of proven players in the art of football. This adaptation I’m talking about is that it has to be fast, if the field is bad, it’s bad for the 22 players, you don’t have to use the field as a pretext or the weather. Today football closes excuses and representative teams such as America, Chivas, Olimpia, Real Spain, have no excuses, their fans want to see them win and compete well and it is valid. It is the responsibility of a large team.
In America there are players for teams A and B … or rather when they put on a sea t-shirt, which is the feeling that eagles are forced and are not allowed to lose because they destroy them.
With no one you can lose, this is the most radical difference between America and Chivas. The demand that exists in America does not compare at least with the requirement that exists for Chivas, so it forces the teams especially towards America. If it’s a shell against anyone, you have to win it and if it’s an official CONCACAF Champions League game, you have to win it and if it’s in the MX League you have to win it. For America, it’s the DNA I mentioned, that DNA of a large team, if the press doesn’t do well, it kills it, the council kills it, your partner fights it.
So, right now, America is coming against Olympia, no B team, as I mentioned?
It exists from a journalistic point of view. Imagine if I’m an American player and I’m on the team and I’ll play wherever you send and he’d tell me I’m a B player, it doesn’t work, no. I’m a player in the First Division with America, but it’s a thinking situation. I think if people think America will come to play an unimportant game, it’s obviously not because they don’t know the roots of that team and with the players that will come they will want to win.