This Sunday. On August 22, the departure of Harold Rivera as Independiente Santa Fe technical director was made official. The coach could not endure the crisis of results and made a joint decision with President Eduardo Méndez, seeking an air for the team.
“The desire of all is for Santa Fe to be better, in another position in the table, and unfortunately this semester things have not turned out as we wanted, one already supports it is the results. The desire of all is that Santa Fe is better, in another position in the table, and unfortunately this semester things have not turned out as we wanted, one already supports it is the results “said Rivera in conversation with TIME.
Rivera denied that he left due to internal problems with the players. “Now there is speculation, but this is a healthy team, it works well, we did not deserve to go through this because it is a healthy team. When you see the goal celebration, the only one who did not go to celebrate was Castellanos, but because he was on the other end. The emotional charge is there, we wanted to go out and reverse this and be in a better position. Yesterday (Saturday) at halftime everyone was in a good mood, the substitutes giving air to the others because of the heat. When a team is disunited, that does not happen. I had the fortune to play and I know what is better: a healthy dressing room than a thousand hours of tactics. I have no complaints about any player, with all of them there are good relations ”.
He also denied that he left due to the pressure of the results, because “there is always pressure in all aspects, in any work, this is about results and more in Santa Fe. When we arrived there was pressure of descent, after going to the final, after the Copa Libertadores … We technicians are used to this situation.
Harold Rivera between the lines
There are very telling statements from the former redhead coach. In one of them he accepted that he requested reinforcements of a higher level and hierarchy, but the leadership brought him other types of hiring due to lack of money.
“Santa Fe, due to its economic issue, did not have the men we wanted, we had players that fit the budget. I wanted to have the best this semester, but it couldn’t be done, ”Rivera said.
In addition, the 51-year-old from Tolima did not want to refer to the criticism he received from Luis Manuel Seijas, a reference and player he had until recently on his team. However, he left a hint: “I was a player and as a player I knew when to go and now” … Seijas didn’t know and that’s why the decision was made by the coach and the president?
Finally, Harold Rivera told the last thing he said to his clients. “I spoke with them and told them that the best thing they can do, and to keep me happy, is that they please win on Thursday and Sunday, get the victories. They must go out to win, I invited them to work and keep improving. We had difficult moments, injuries, Dairon’s (Mosquera), (Leandro) Castellanos. Someone told me that while many young people are consolidating, they have to endure a little, but Santa Fe is not there to endure. I am calm and with my head held high. I tried to do my best. “