The Real Spain coach, Raúl “Potro” Gutiérrez, Mexican, former player of America, rival who will meet Olimpia for the Concacaf Champions this Wednesday, analyzes the Aztec team and reveals in this conversation with TEN that there is no B team for the Eagles, it’s just a way to express themselves to print from journalists.
“El Potro” defended the American shirt in the early 90s with that great team that directed the Dutchman Leo Beenhakker and has the DNA of the Coapa club in his blood. “In America, if it’s a shell against anyone or a Concacaf match, you have to win it,” said Gutiérrez.
Read. THE LAST GREAT BATTLE THAT SAW OLYMPIA AND AMERICA
Olimpia will receive the feathers next Wednesday at the National Stadium. The most winning team in Aztec football will rest their key figures as they compete for the top of the MX League against Cruz Azul. On Saturday they beat Necaxa and the other weekend they collided with Tigres. Concacaf is taking it into the background, according to his leadership.
What can you tell me about America coming to play Olympia on Wednesday?
What I can tell you is that there are rumors that if it comes with a B team … But if America comes with a B team, it will come to win, the people here don’t confuse the DNA of a team because I played there, and if we went with the rookies and three or four experience, it was winning. That’s something that when it happens, if America gives that margin of advantage, Olympia takes advantage of it. But America will want to win, because as an ex-American, I tell you, with newbies or with experience or with those to come, it will come to win.
You have seen Olympia twice and you already know him well; Do you think the residents of the capital have a team to face América de Solari?
It is football and in the end anything can happen in football, I am convinced, but Olimpia has certainly shown that it is a consistent team, the results support it and no one says otherwise. Its history and its times, the nobility obliges and in this case it has all the arguments to compete with America.
Read. AMERICA’S DEFENDER DOES NOT RELY ON OLIMPIA
Why do Mexicans always take these Concacaf matches in the background; is it contempt or what?
I think it’s because of perception, but I think this has changed in this new century as new leagues have opened like the League of Nations, the Champions league. Today somehow the fact that Mexico closed Conmebol because I think that ultimately has to do with what you’re saying, that in Libertadores they could compete with a different type of organization and it should be mentioned, when you played for Concacaf you looked at the shortcomings that were not there on the other side; that creates trends. Now that Concacaf football is being organized in a different way without South American competition, it has to be reassessed and will have to take a different stance. Concacaf is improving in these projects and that part of which you say the deficit has been reduced, today Mexican football understands it is the football it is in, Concacaf and it is taking it up with better responsibility and more respect for the competition.
Do you feel that if you play in Central America, Mexico is taking a little bit of growth away because it is no longer the same as playing against River of Boca in Conmebol?
Yes, but I tell you, in Mexico the league at the club level has always been very good, so much so that when you compete in South American Cups and Libertadores, they always played well, and when you adapt to that level of play one improvement is. But 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 shortened and this is obvious and you have to be more careful in those rides and don’t go anywhere with an overconfidence because any team can beat you.
Do you see any chances that Olimpia will match America in scoring points?
They should, but one thing that big teams like Olimpia, Real España, Marathón and Motagua interpret is that they have to compete yes or yes for history. That depends on how you take the perspective of those teams.
Will the fact that Solari, America’s head coach, knows little about the Central American teams, affect my talking about life, even though he competes in the region?
I do not believe it. I had to come and play with America in Guatemala or El Salvador, I don’t remember, but I don’t think it’s a factor with the coach, it has a lot to do with the background of the players who have proven in the art of the football. This adjustment I’m talking about is that it has to be fast, if the course is bad it’s bad for the 22 players, you don’t have to use the course as a pretext, or the weather. Today football close excuses and representative teams like America, Chivas, Olimpia, Real Spain, they have no excuses, their fans want to see them win and compete well and it is valid. It’s the responsibility of a great team.
In America, there are players for teams A and B … or rather, when he puts on the shirt of a grand, what is the feeling because the eagles are obligated and must not lose because they destroy them.
With no one to lose, that’s the most radical difference between America and Chivas. The demand that exists in America is in no way comparable to the demand that exists for Chivas, so that forces the teams to go to America in particular. If it’s a shell against someone you have to win it and if it’s an official Concacaf Champions League match you have to win it and if it’s in Liga MX you have to win it. For America, it’s the DNA that I mentioned, that DNA from a big team, if the press doesn’t do it right, it kills it, the board kills it, your partner fights it.
So right now America is up against Olympia, not a B team as stated?
It exists from a journalistic point of view. Imagine if I’m a player of America and I’m part of the squad and I’ll play where you send and they tell me I’m a player B, it’s not going, no. I am a player in the First Division with America, but it is a situation of thought. I think if people think America is coming to play an insignificant game, no, of course it’s because they don’t know the roots of that team and with the players that are coming, they want to win.