The Argentine coach Gustavo Alfaro, who led the Ecuadorian team in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, said goodbye with an emotional letter in which he expressed his imprint as a motivator, praised his managers and wished success to whoever succeeds him.
“I wish the coach that succeeds me a lot of success, he is going to find an incredible group of people. With the philosophy of the Stoic warriors that when they went to war they could return in two ways: With the shield, or under the shield. They could lose the spear, but never the shield”, indicated the strategist.
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He recalled Ecuador’s World Cup performance and said he understood that “it lasted less than we wanted and deserved.” For this reason, he asked the players “not to lose sight of the fact that they were the third youngest team to play in the World Cup”, after Spain and Ghana.
And it is that Alfaro was played, since he arrived in Ecuador, by players who had just debuted in professional soccer, whom he consolidated until he reached Qatarwhere they made their debut with a 0-2 win in the opening match against the host team, although they could not get past the group stage.
Most of Alfaro’s letter is addressed to the players and in it he reviews his experience in front of the Tri: “It’s talking about nice things. Those were the ones we lived through these more than two years, ”she pointed out.
“I owe everything to them (the players), they were and are the true architects. How beautiful it was to work with you! As I told you on more than one occasion, you brought out my best version, they made it a round trip. When I was with you I felt like I was in the best place I could be.” express.
Alfaro assured that after 30 years as a coach, he can say with absolute certainty that he fully enjoyed this processwithout worrying about what tomorrow would bring, and he said he hoped that hopefully that flame that was lit would not go out, but would feed and grow.
He also thanked the directors of the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) for having given him this opportunity together with his coaching staff “in institutionally difficult times, with an uncertain future and little hope.”
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The strategist affirmed that a part of his heart will stay in Ecuador with the players and with the people: “With those on foot.”
Alfaro assumed the technical direction of Ecuador in the midst of a crisis in the Federation, with few players who at that time were reluctant to return to the national team as a result of the internal struggle of the organization.
The FEF, commanded by Francisco Egas, aspires to define in the next few days the name of the new national coach, with a view to the next qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
