Former coach Inaki Alonso hopes to return to Costa Rica and Central America

Video: Former coach Inaki Alonso hopes to return to Costa Rica and Central America

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Published: Thursday, June 20, 2024 02:09

Written by Editorial

Spaniard Inaki Alonso, former technical director of Saprissa, said he wanted to “take revenge” in the Chinese national team after retiring from the purple team, but he did not rule out opportunities in other leagues in Central America.

Alonso spoke to Al Pie del Deporte and www.eerardoherrera.com about his time in Costa Rica, and he also discussed young players Alvaro Zamora, Warren Madrigal and Gerard Taylor who made their debuts during his six-month tenure at Saprissa.

“I was lucky to survive and it was a great experience, but it was a shame not to win that championship” Alonso said of his time in the purple box.

“I was very, very lucky and I believe I had six very, very happy months in the Apertura Championship. I arrived at the team and the truth is that I believe that at that moment they were eliminated by the CONCACAF champions, they did not make the playoffs, we managed to turn it around and it was a shame to lose the finals. We have to experience that part of the tournament. It is a different tournament, the Clausura tournament, and as the sporting manager Sergio (Gira) also admitted recently, I do believe that it was a wrong tournament, we made some mistakes in our planning and you pay for it. “He added. .

On players such as Alvaro Zamora, Warren Madrigal and Gerard Taylor making their debuts in the Purple Team, he said:The first thing to do is to discover talent, and then after discovering talent, everyone has their own process. I remember preparing for the game against Uruguay in Coronado at the end of the season, okay? Well, there I saw Alvaro Zamora, I saw Warren, I saw my friend Gerard Taylor and the truth is I had no doubts. I saw players who could be complements, players who had to go through this process and who would definitely arrive little by little. ”

The Iberian also reflected on the hard work these three players put in to stand out in the First Division and integrate with the Saprissa first team.

“I remember Alvaro Zamora, for example, had to improve a lot mentally. He worked very well with the club psychologist. They are doing great and are constantly evolving. Gerard Taylor, the first thing I saw about him was that he was a defender, a pure defender. Indeed, in my pre-season, he played as a midfielder, a stopper, a right-back, a centre-back. Due to circumstances, Ricardo was injured. I remember playing against Pumas in the CONCACAF Champions League, I played right back and did really well. A boy who had just arrived in the A-League and was playing at that level. Warren, Warren is a player that drives me crazy because football, the game of football, has to be interpreted at different speeds. You can’t play at one speed forever. You attack at one speed, defend at another speed, and there are pauses. Warren is passionate, fast, hard-working, and all over the place. It was a cool fight, and although I was able to be there Try to find these locations, try to give those game concepts, and later you don’t know if that’s the truth, but you do know it’s true. I believe that Vladimir, the teacher at Saprissa Sports Club, has succeeded in shaping these kids.”

On the other hand, the strategist does not rule out working again in Costa Rica and demonstrating his abilities, even if it is another Central American country.

“I wanted to have it, but no, listen, this year I can’t tell you which team or who. Yes, I got a call from a sports manager from Costa Rica to meet me, find out the situation and be able to get in. It didn’t happen. Yes, it is true that I have a thorn in my heart because of losing that final and not being able to show more as time goes by, the most important thing is the process and growth of a player. So, not at all, Everardo, I do not rule out the possibility of going to Costa Rica or Central America again. More than that, it excites me and I hope that one day it can happen, it can happen.Alonso said.

Finally, the strategist also talked about the national team and what he can expect to see at the World Cup in Qatar, admitting that he saw an unrecognisable team against Spain but that things improved afterwards.

“At the national level, I was interviewed by two of the most important newspapers, imagine that I was on a full page and the coach, the national team coach, Luis Enrique, was on another page. I saw Costa Rica as a team that I thought would be very competitive because what I experienced in those six months in Costa Rica was the football, the games, the competition of the players, that is, it is contact football, it is intense football, especially when the important games come, the playoffs, people get passionate, and I did find in that game what I think is my DNA. The Costa Rican national team will have him on the field, especially on the defensive level, the 1-5-4-1 formation that led Costa Rica to turn things around and win in the second stage of qualifying. It was not the case, and when they asked me again, I said, I hadn’t seen the Costa Rica that I thought was going to happen. Then he came, I think Japan came, where I could already see Costa Rica, and there were a lot of people, so he told me, sir, this is it, right? Indeed. I think it was a surprise, a cure for the humility that was not normal that day. It was not normal because everything went right for Spain that day. I didn’t see Costa Rica biting the knife, and I didn’t see the same competitive spirit that I believed the team had at that time.”, concludes Inaki Alonso.

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