Gustavo Quinteros: “There were conversations with two South American teams, but not with Bolivia”

Gustavo Quinteros, a well-known in the Bolivian soccer environment, a few days ago he won the Chilean soccer title with Colo Colo, a team he saved from relegation in 2020 and now celebrates a championship. The contract of the Bolivian nationalized Argentine is automatically renewed with the ‘Cacique’ after winning this historic title.

The title won as coach with Colo Colo adds to the ones I already had with Blooming, Bolívar, Oriente Petrolero, Emelec of Ecuador and the Catholic University of Chile.

The coach, 57 years oldacknowledged having a good friendship with Gustavo Costas, current DT of Palestino and who will soon take over as coach of Bolivia. He revealed that they talked about Bolivian soccer and the national team, which Quinteros managed between 2010 and 2012.

What does it mean to have achieved the title with Colo Colo?

A great pride, enormous happiness, because when we arrived in Colo Colo the team was in the direct relegation zone, with many institutional problems, etc. We have been able to reverse a historic and dangerous situation at that time and today, already celebrating a title after a short time, we value it twice as much, for me it is an enormous happiness, one of the most important achievements of my career due to all these situations.

This title could have already arrived last season…

Last year due to the pandemic, the virus and that also prohibited us from many situations that we could also win the title. All this makes this achievement much more valuable and means a lot to me, not only this title but also that of 2020, which I also value as one more title, for having been able to save the team from relegation.

What was the key to saving relegation and then winning a title?

A project was carried out in common agreement with the club, we made changes to the squad. When I arrived, the squad was made up, it was finishing a championship, endangering the club’s situation, so many changes were made. We did a complete renovation of the squad, now we have one of the youngest squads in Chilean soccer, many club players have been valued and many young talents have been sold. About five or six foreign and national players have joined who contributed their own so that this could be possible.

The transformation process, the work of this year and a half was essential to grow as a team, the institution is now totally different, it is an exemplary institution, there are no problems, everything works perfectly, a comprehensive job has been done that culminated in a national title that Colo Colo did not achieve several years ago and that also fills me with satisfaction of tranquility, of having fulfilled that project that we started back in 2020.

How long is your contract with Colo Colo?

I have a contract for one more season, when I am champion the contract is automatically renewed and now what remains is to get together with the club’s leaders, try to reach an agreement on the sports project, try to be in common agreement, to go for a step more. We will try to be an even more competitive team, especially at the international level, in which Chilean football has not achieved goals or goals for a long time and one always aspires to be able to participate in international cups.

Is your continuity guaranteed in Colo Colo? There were versions that wanted him independent of Avellaneda…

Throughout the season I had offers from clubs, I also had contact with South American teams, today a club from Argentina also appears, but I am calm, I have a contract here at the club, I am going to wait to finish the season because there are two games left and I am going to wait for the important meeting with the directors of Colo Colo to agree on the next sports project and if we agree on everything, of course I will continue and if not I will analyze some options and proposals that may come up, but that later, For now I’m still finishing the season and I don’t think about the future.

Among those offers you received, was there something from Bolivia, either from a club or from the national team perhaps?

No, in these times there were conversations with two South American teams, but not with Bolivia, and also teams from Brazil, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Ecuador from the club that I always managed there (Emelec), so I’m very happy because all this process that we had with Colo Colo that ended with a title made us have all these options as a professional, which I will analyze at some point and we will see what happens for the next season.

Speaking of national teams, did you have any contact with Gustavo Costas, coach of Palestino and who will soon take over as the new coach of Bolivia?

Yes, of course, Gustavo is a colleague friend, we have met here in Chile to have coffee, he is a great professional, a great coach, a winning coach, and I have no doubt that he will do well in Bolivia, yes He has the full support of the clubs for his work and of all the people I have no doubt that he will do well. I hope it goes well for him, that he makes a good process, that he can take Bolivia to the top.

It is the wish I have because he is a friend, because I love and have great affection for Bolivia. I am in permanent contact with former teammates in the group that we have from the national team, also with other boys directly that I have directed or that we have shared footballingly, I hope he has an excellent process and that he does very well.

Did Gustavo Costas ask you something about Bolivian soccer, to arrive in our country with a formed idea of ​​what you are going to find?

Yes, of course, we talk a lot, we talk about the fact that to do a good job you need a lot of time, because it is difficult to compete against other South American elections, but if they give you the opportunity to work more days for the preparations, you can take advantage of much more. I believe that a competitive team can be formed that is capable of fighting for a classification, I have no doubts about that.

What do you think is happening with our football? The coaches do not achieve the expected results with the national team and when they leave they are successful in other countries, it happened with you that you left the Green and you did well in Ecuador and Chile, or as it happened with the last coach César Farías who now in Ecuador managed to qualify for the first time to a final to Aucas…

I said it many times, because I worked in clubs, I worked in La Paz, in Santa Cruz, I played in La Paz and I also played in Santa Cruz because in the teams that I played for we were going to play there. I know well how the Bolivian leader thinks, how the players think, I said it as a player and as a coach too, Bolivia has an excellent quality of players, the Bolivian player is very technical, but the solution lies in working, in organizing tournaments, especially in youth , that all youth tournaments be more competitive, Bolivia needs more boys playing soccer, it is a country that does not have many inhabitants, so we have to achieve more competitive tournaments there.

Is the key to target the young?

That the boy study and play football, we have to get the majority of the boys to play football and for that we have to offer them competitive organized tournaments, that the FBF organize those tournaments where the boys participate, grow and are trained as professionals, that clubs have the economic opportunity to give them the best for training, not only as a player but also as a person.

Do you mean that there is a good element in Bolivia?

If you work as I said before, Bolivia will be stronger because the technical quality of the Bolivian player is enormous, I have had fellow players and I have directed players with a technique that I did not direct in other places and I know well how they play, what they are like and It would be good if at some point they start working on all this so that in the future they have a stronger team and stronger clubs in international tournaments.

The Qatar 2022 World Cup is just around the corner, which team do you think can take the title?

Argentina, I think that Argentina arrives with the best player in the world at a great moment, with great enthusiasm, with a great desire to win, because it is a pending task for Messi and that now he is surrounded by a lot of young players with a lot of quality, he found a good goalkeeper or more than one good goalkeeper, they have good defense, they have dynamic midfielders who play in Europe and are doing well, they have Messi and a striker who is doing very well in Italy (Lautaro Martínez) I think it is that Argentina is a candidate, Brazil is always a candidate, in addition to France, it could be Belgium and Germany.