World Cup – Independiente del Valle: Journey to the new cradle of footbal In Ecuador

Everything would now be possible for Ecuador. This is, in any case, the message hammered home by Gustavo Alfaro, his Argentine coach. “Whoever our opponent is, we’ll go out on the field to eat his liver“, he even threatened a few days before his team was the first to beat a host country in an inaugural match. It was only Qatar, and the opposition will be of a completely different ilk this Friday. , with the Netherlands, but in recent years Ecuador has become accustomed to breaking down international barriers one after the other, to no longer being a prisoner of its past.

The Valley Independent Specialized High Performance Club

In 2019, the under-20s won the South American championship in their category for the first time, before taking 3rd place in the World Cup a few months later. In the qualifiers, the Tri, without complex, brought down Uruguay (4-2), but also held Argentina (1-1), and especially Brazil (1-1), one of the only three qualifying matches not won by the Seleçao.

But to fully understand what is happening in the country of Antonio Valencia, you have to go to Sangolquí, a very colorful dormitory town on the distant outskirts of Quito. It is there, at an altitude of 2000 meters and 35 kilometers from the capital, that an ex-nihilo project began to develop ten years ago, to irrigate the Ecuadorian selection with its talent today. : the Club de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle, an extended name as if to better claim a way of doing, of training, apart.

“Ecuador’s success story has a name: Independiente del Valle“, even considers Luigi Marchelle, journalist for ESPN Ecuador, while half of the eleven lined up against Qatar learned their skills there: Angelo Preciado, today at KRC Genk, Gonzalo Plata (Real Valladolid), Piero Hincapié (Bayer ), Jhegson Méndez (Los Angeles FC), and with at the head of the gondola, the midfielder, Moises Caicedo (Brighton), promised a future with a great European.

The success of Ecuador also has another name: Michel Deller, the entrepreneur who took over the club in 2006, when it was in the third division. The slender sixty-year-old made a fortune managing large shopping centers and began investing in football with one conviction: Ecuadorian players have everything they need to shine at the highest level, but their coaching is too often lacking.

A new program based… on coaches

“When I arrived, he said to me: ‘Miguel, we need help, I think we can do things much better.’ He wanted Independiente del Valle to become one of the best training centers in the world” tells us the Spanish coach, Miguel Ángel Ramirez, responsible for training from 2018 to 2019, then coach of the first team from 2019 to 2020. At this moment in history, the Sangolquí club is already collaborating with managers He bet in particular on Roberto Olabe, current sports director of Real Sociedad, who, like Ramirez, had been recruited in … Qatar, where he officiated within the Aspire Academy.

Olabe didn’t stay long, only a few months, but like Ángel Ramirez, he helped put together a program to instill in the coaches at the academy a training methodology and a game model.”When I arrived I was told that the most important thing was to train the coachindicates the Spanish technician, because it is he who will have a daily impact on the player. It was the priority project.”

Physical trainers, doctors, psychologists are also hired, while the club continues to invest in its facilities (seven pitches, ten changing rooms, four buildings to house the nuggets of the center, a conference room…).

But to train well, you must also detect well. And again, Independiente del Valle stands out in Ecuadorian football. Methodically, the Sangolquí club thus carried out a study to find out which regions gave the most professional footballers to the country. Since then, IdV has signed agreements with a number of clubs in the coastal regions of Guayaquil and Esmeraldas to have priority in recruiting the best players, from the U12s.

Hincapié and Plata educated on site

Thus, the Hincapiés and other Platas arrived, who were educated on the spot, while a college that accommodates 120 students was built so that budding footballers can continue their education. “Ecuadorian players have great physical qualities, which is important in today’s footballconsider Miguel Ángel Ramirez, mBut they are also technically endowed, and with good coaches and quality facilities, talent can develop. IdV gives a global training to the player, on the field but also outside.”

When the Argentinian, Cristian Pellerano, arrives in 2018 in the black and blue club, his expectations are quite modest. After five years in Mexico (Tijuana, America, Veracruz …), the midfielder is simply satisfied to be offered a new contract, at 36 years old. In 2016, Independiente del Valle had already made their first big splash by reaching the final of the Copa Libertadores, but the Giants (the giant killer), his new nickname, is not yet well placed on the map of South American football.

In the hearts of Ecuadorians, it also does not compete with Emelec, Barcelona and other Liga de Quito, the major local institutions. “Once there, I discovered a young club that knew what it wantedwe say Pellerano, but he wasn’t the monster he is today.”

When he answers us, the midfielder has just won (October 1) a new Copa Sudamericana, continental equivalent of the Europa League, dominating (2-0) Sao Paulo FC, Brazilian giant. Three years earlier, with Miguel Ángel Ramirez as coach, he had already won this trophy.

IdV seems to have found the winning formula

With his talented youth and experienced players like Pellerano to mentor him, IdV seems to have found the winning formula. A success all the more remarkable as Ecuadorian football had so far only won one international trophy, in 2008, when the Liga de Quito won the Libertadores.

“The players trained at the club are really completesalutes Pellerano, who notably hatched Caicedo, Hincapié or Plata, they are fast, powerful, their technical profile is assertive, but they also have a great understanding of the game, and as the club works with the same idea of ​​play from formation to the A team, this facilitates their adaptation”.”In fact, we implemented a game of positionspecifies Ángel Ramirez, we want the player to understand the game, not just perform it. We give a major importance to the pass as a mode of communication and to the exploitation of the width“.

In-depth and continuous work, from which Gustavo Alfaro benefits today. “He was my coach when I was playing in Argentina, at Arsenalindicates Pellerano, and he told me that he loves what he’s doing here. In Ecuadorian football, IdV is an island”. An island of tranquility, while the Sangolquí club still does not carry crowds – its stadium contains only 12,000 seats – but which allows the Tri to dream bigger.

“We often heard negative comments about the mentality of the Ecuadorian playerindicates Ángel Ramirez, but by working as IdV, this generation is simply much better prepared. The previous ones could have the same talent, but they were not helped in the same way.”

The Spanish coach, like Pellerano, however believes that the Tri will have even more arguments in 2026, given the young age of the selected. Of the five holders against Qatar, the oldest, Jhegson Méndéz, is 25 years old. We have not finished hearing about Ecuador and the incubator of the Club de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle.