10:04 AM
The Costa Rica coach, the Argentine Gustavo Alfaro, assessed as positive an eventual draw in this Friday’s duel against Colombia for the second day of Group D of the 2024 United States Copa America.
“I told the players: if you can’t win, draw, because this is about adding points,” said the coach at a press conference in hot and stifling Glendale, Arizona, where the match will take place.
In addition, he responded to the statement of Miguel Ángel Borja, who expressed that he hopes that Costa Rica does not get behind. “I hope they come out to play.”
“No matter how much adversity there may be, I like to try to compete. I don’t take defeat very well,” he added, clarifying that his and his team’s “dream” is “always to win.”
“I like to try to compete, I don’t get along with victory, competition and pressure is a privilege, order is fundamental, that doesn’t mean I don’t want freedom. For me, the best coach is the one who supports the structure and makes a team’s performance grow. We played against Brazil and my desire was to win, the dream is always to win a game, beyond respect for a team. Attitude is not negotiable. I hope I can guarantee results.”
He also remembered the defeat of Colombia when he was coach of Ecuador, 6-1, in the qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
“I was a defensive player in Ecuador and we had beaten Colombia and Uruguay. They always tell me that I’m defensive. In Ecuador we won, but we couldn’t keep a clean sheet. One day I said: ‘A clean sheet will take us to the World Cup’ and that’s why they killed me, but Ecuador continued with the goal average. The other day Vinicius He was doubled up in the marking, Luis Díaz and James have to be marked differently,” he said.
With the youngest squad in the competition, Costa Rica surprised Brazil by drawing 0-0 in their opening match on Monday in Inglewood, California, with an ultra-defensive stance.
Alfaro, 61, played down criticism of his lack of offensive approach, saying that “defending well means attacking well.”
“It’s very easy to shoot with other people’s shotguns. I’d like to see how many coaches dare to play against the five-time world champion with eight players under 23,” he said.
The Argentine, on the other hand, surrendered to the current level of Colombia, unbeaten in the last 24 games it played and which will qualify early for the quarter-finals if it obtains the three points.
The Colombian team, led by the Argentine Nestor Lorenzo, had a victorious debut against Paraguay (2-1) on Monday in Houston, Texas.
“Of all the times I’ve seen Colombia arrive at a Copa America, they never arrived in this state, if you will, of well-understood arrogance, of aspiring to win the cup,” he said.
“They have always had competitive teams, but never as competitive as this team. They have forwards that are as dangerous or more dangerous than those we faced against Brazil, with different characteristics,” he added.
Center back Juan Pablo Vargas, for his part, defended his coach’s defensive approach.
“We have an approach that no statement is going to change. Our approach is to defend ourselves very well and attack very well. What we do intend is to defend ourselves very well and keep the goal at zero (…) If one day you can’t win, don’t lose. That phrase is greatly underestimated. To many people it may sound mediocre, but I think it is an intelligent phrase,” said the Millonarios de Bogotá defender.
