The coach praised the performance of rookie Piero Hincapié, 19 years old.
June 13, 2021 – 10:42 p.m.
Due to its rebound in the second half, “Ecuador did not deserve to be defeated” against Colombia in the premiere of both selected in the Copa América in Brazil-2021, said the Tricolor coach, Gustavo Alfaro, at a press conference after the match played this Sunday in Cuiabá.
“Beyond the fact that soccer is a sport that is won by goals and not by merit, Colombia took advantage of a stopped ball play that in my opinion was born with a foul that is not a foul, because Sebastián Méndez anticipates the ball of (Juan Guillermo ) Cuadrado, the referee charges a foul and from there the play of the goal was born, in the first half where we had controlled it but we needed more to try to play behind their midfielders to be able to add laterals in attack and be able to have more gravitation towards the arc of Colombia ”, Alfaro pointed out.
Alfaro and his team are at the lowest moment since October 2020 the Argentine coach began his stage. The DT has three consecutive defeats this month, counting the two of last week in the framework of the tie towards Qatar-2022 at the hands of Brazil (2-0) and Peru (1-2), in that order.
“Although until that moment (minute 42) we had control of the game, we had not been able to dominate it, nor had Colombia been able to use the ball, transform it into dangerous situations.”
“I think that in the second half we reduced the spaces more, we insisted more, we looked for it everywhere; Although we did not have many arrivals, we had many approaches and I understand that what remains is to finish the plays, because we had seven or eight plays with dominated ball in the crescent zone to be able to shoot from medium distance and force the Colombian defense I had to leave and that is where, perhaps, we would delay a while longer or we did not finish the play and (this) allowed Colombia to recover its defensive positions ”, analyzed the helmsman.
Regarding the form, the attitude, the predisposition, the search, Alfaro was apparently satisfied with his players and justified that the current squad of Ecuador “has many young players and very few have experience in the Copa América. ”. That is why he pondered that if the National Team “begins to assimilate things, it can continue to grow in what we want.”
Regarding the debut of 19-year-old defender Piero Hincapié, he highlighted that the Talleres de Córdoba element “did it at a great level.”
Asked about where Ecuador loses the game, Alfaro mentioned that “a distraction in a stopped ball” takes its toll again, however, the coach this time did not hold his players responsible for “defensive deconcentration” that also cost him a defeat in the previous one. qualifying game against Peru (1 to 2 in Quito). (D)
