Santo Domingo, Aug 1 (EFE).- The Spaniard Ibai Gómez, former national football coach of the Dominican Republic, recommended that the directors undertake the structuring of this sport in the Caribbean country so that it continues growing after leaving a satisfactory balance in the group stage of the Paris Olympics.
“If we want Dominican football to grow, we have to want it,” said the current coach of Arenas de Getxo, a Spanish club in the fourth division.
“We must have a structure designed for the medium and long term so that investment can arrive,” he added.
He said that the managers have shown signs of wanting to introduce rapid changes, “because they miss the opportunity and there is no structure.”
He said that, despite lacking adequate logistics and time to concentrate with the players, it was “crazy what they have achieved with 16 days of training” in Paris.
Gomez said he is leaving in peace because he has «left the soul» and thinks that the team has been “much closer than it seems to advance to the next round” at the Olympic Games.
“I think that if it were up to us, we would have won the match because we tried to keep (the players) from finding out about the other match, but they found out”, He explained this in relation to the last day of his group, where a victory for his team against Uzbekistan and a victory for Spain against Egypt would have given the Dominicans the pass.
RD’s performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics
In the last day of Group 3 Spain lost to Egypt 2-1 and Uzbekistan and Dominican Republic tied 1-1, which frustrated the qualification of the Caribbean team, who in their debut tied 0-0 with Egypt and in the second round fell to the red team by 1-3.
Ibai Gómez also felt that the absence of Junior Firpo, who was not loaned out by his club, Leeds United, was detrimental to them.
Thinking about the future and in relation to the players who made history for Dominican football in Paris, he said he knows for sure that “The boys want to qualify for the 2030 World Cup with the Dominican Republic”but “they have to offer a serious project, they want things done well and with a structure.”
Gomez said he has not ruled out the possibility of returning to the Dominican Republic bench.
“I have offered to contribute selflessly. When they offer me how they want me to collaborate, I will decide,” he concluded.
