While in the institutional part, Deportivo Cali is still looking for the next coach of the professional team, in the sports part, the sugar team continues to prepare to improve football and face a complex commitment next weekend, when they visit Junior on Sunday In Barranquilla. Precisely a former Junior, striker Teófilo Gutiérrez, spoke about that moment the team lives.
“They are occupational hazards, it is the life of the footballer that at times you have to know how to handle it, you also enjoy it. It is a lesson what we experience when you are well and things do not work out, you have to assume with height, level, the fans always want you to win, being very demanding like all of them, but we are here to reverse the situation and everything improves. The knowledge we have, experience and with the youngsters, we have to show character on the field to be a fast and competitive team. I’ve learned a little from everyone, everyone has approached me, they’ve helped me grow as a player, as a person and as a group”.
He said about the weekend’s game that “Junior is a great team, now they played a final that they are winning with the open series, at home they become very strong, we have already faced them before in finals, where we got a good result there, we hope that It’s a nice game, it’s a good experience for the youngsters who will be on the field and go out to play like Cali does with height, good feet, good football and may the best team win”.
He was questioned about his continuity in Cali: “the commitment will always be there, I have a contract with Cali, I am very well here, they have treated me like one of the family and that is very important. There is always the commitment, beyond the fact that the results do not occur, I will always show my face, I have always put my face on it even with the fans in front of me and they value that. Afterwards, beyond what is said extra, it does not concern me, because I am a very happy soccer player and I enjoy life. The day I want to say goodbye, I do it publicly before you.”
He was then asked if he sees himself as a coach in the future and highlighted his previous coaches: “as a coach they take me out of one, then they will say that
two games and we took it out. I think this is part of life, Mayer was a great footballer, he hurt us all because of how the situation unfolded, Dudamel, teacher Arias, Ítalo and now Checho. I learned from everyone and I take something very nice with me, great human beings and then like all coexistence, not everything that glitters is gold, here we all respect each other, we got along very well”.
His contract with Cali ends in the middle of next year and as to whether he will continue as a player, he announced that “I don’t know, I still enjoy it and I don’t even know what I’m going to do for football, I hope God has me here for many years, to be able to help my colleagues, young people who have a huge future and then I am allowed to continue winning important things in the club that I am. Hopefully it will be at Deportivo Cali for everything and if at some point I become a coach, I can do it here and close to the national team one day”.
Lastly, he was asked about the possible arrival of Jorge Luis Pinto, a coach who also has a strong character and who has a place at Cali: “Without a doubt, everyone has always had a place here. All the coaches who have passed through here, we have always offered ourselves as the professionals that we are, with the experience that each one of us has. It is a complex situation that hurts us all.
Juan Andres Arias Arias
Correspondent Futbolred
Cali
And Twitter: @AriasJuan_15