Alfaro lifted Paraguay and his imagination flies: Chinese proverb to be a good tenant

Gustavo Alfaro He turned the story of Paraguay in the Qualifying He transformed a team that looked in the last positions into another that heads to get the classification for the 2026 World Cup. In a few months, after leaving the selection of Costa Rica – he directed in the Copa América – for a proposal that was more attractive from the economic and sports, the Argentine coach reached seven games to locate Paraguay third in positions, After obtaining 15 of 21 points (71 percent efficacy), keep the undefeated and write down victories about Argentina and Brazil, In addition to drawing with Uruguay in the centenary.

Paraguay will face Tuesday Colombia, In the heat of Barranquilla. Along with the good football event, Alfaro continues to cultivate in his press conferences the speaker profile that extends long in each response, with historical quotes, proverbs, comparisons between football and other activities. Many times it is repeated. A kind of preacher inclined to verbiage, which also intends to convince from the word and the message.

“Colombia in Barranquilla is one of the most difficult rivals. It’s like a kind of Frankenstein, It is a combination of all the games we play. It has a bit of Uruguay, a little of Ecuador and another little of Bolivia, ”he said in Asunción, before the trip to Colombia.

First of all, Alfaro does not want to get on the euphoria in Paraguay: “I say that the good fillet is the one who knows how to differentiate the good fish from the rotten. If I believe that (that Paraguay is already in the World Cup), we are buying rotten fish. The other day I told the boys: the only way that the head does not go beyond the shoulders is having the feet on the ground. Chinese proverb, boys: Every clove that stands out receives a hammer. We are closer, but it is missing. I told the boys that we are climbing the toughest part of the mountain slope, the most steep, With the backpack of the 16 years without going to a World Cup, it is a cement block for each World Cup that could not go. They are things that weigh, but in turn motivate us. ”

Many years ago, in which Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Eduardo Berizzo passed without leaving a good memory in the technical direction, that the Paraguayan fan did not feel so identified with his selected. Alfaro appealed to another figure to describe his method: “The historical patterns that defined Paraguay were recovered. From the beginning I said that I came to recover Paraguay DNA. Tactical rigor, individual disputes, the stopped ball. Try to recover the issues that always defined Paraguay. It was like going to an altillo where you have the stored things. At most it is to get the dust to the things we know where they are. The only thing I did was get on the altillo, open the drawers and say here, this is the identity of Paraguay. I grabbed it and agreed with the players as to the features that had to define us. People believed again because he saw a different attitude of the boys. ”

The last time Paraguay went to a World Cup was in South Africa 2010, with Gerardo Martino. Alfaro had very felt words for Tata: “I have a great affection for the tata, I love him very I said it was a very big loss because I had already done the work of the recovery of the selection. I hit the laces to Tata, it is a real great, in all aspects. ”

To face the last five dates of the qualifiers, Alfaro has a recipe: “The other day I was talking to Cyclists, with Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, And he said that in the end only those who are resistant arrive. This is the resistance time to cope with expectations, illusions, pressures. Historically, Paraguay is a country of resistance «.

Alfaro compared the management of a coach in a football team with that of the tenant of a property: “I am a tenant, I have to try to return to Paraguay better than I received. If I am a good tenant, I have to return with the painted walls, the garden arranged, with flowers. If the toilet lid is broken and the bath glass on the floor, I am not a good tenant. And I have no doubt that the Tata was a great tenant: he returned a better selection than he received. ”