The Catholic Church held the existence of limbo as a doctrinal statement, and Christianity trusted that it was the place where souls had to rest, occasionally, until they received an indulgence. Abstracting from that Catholic belief, in common practice we use the colloquial phrase “being in limbo” to indicate that what is discussed is disconnected from reality, due to confusion or inexplicable circumstances.
The great Dante Alighieri, in his masterful work The Divine Comedy, went further by placing limbo in the first circle, just at the outer limit of hell. Catholics have gradually forgotten that limbo existed, when by pontifical decision of Pope Benedict XVI he abolished it. The common and current citizen still uses the term “being in limbo” and does so when faced with an uncertain fact, he believes that he still exists in an instance capable of redemption. Something like this happens to our Selection led by Gustavo Alfaro. The DT has been dedicated lately to show us that all that virtuosity and confidence that he enjoyed, due to the fruitfulness of the triumphs and the just accolades, is for now a reservoir of water that runs through the fingers and that suffers the risk of becoming a dam dry.
All his innovative ideas, with the passing of the games, are part of the past because in the present they shine, but by their absence. Going to a Copa América and competing at the level that the National Team has shown us is very strange. It is incredible that, in such a short time, the course is changed by 180 degrees. The only way to lose the north is through your own intellectual loss – which is something that can happen – or can be induced, which would be complex. When it comes to the first cause, it is always susceptible to being reconverted, but the second is usually verified late because its consequences are slowly detectable and its effects end up being of a successive tract, until failure.
In my previous column, when he asked me if Alfaro was capable of straightening the course of the National Team, I was encouraged to urge him to commit himself and comply with those phrases and facts that made a hobby who has been drinking bitter drinks with the Tricolor for years. I also stated that “Alfaro will surely return to the lost course, as long as he lands in reality, he will be self-critical, logical, coherent, firm and above all autonomous.” But the days go by and few hints about the aforementioned are observed. That makes me suppose, from what we see on the field, but especially those that he observes and knows, that Alfaro does not tune in with our concerns.
It is time for Alfaro to clarify issues, as appropriate, because his sayings that seemed transparent, his phrases that looked cultivated, and his thoughts based on his maturity and experience, are now, after each press conference, the reverse of the coin. Your explanations are contrary to reality. You just have to stop to analyze his sayings, after the failure represented by the confrontation with Venezuela to verify it: “I know that the team’s response is still intact and we have to insist and change this streak. I am convinced that this tie is the kick to return to victory, because we did not deserve to lose to Colombia and we should have beaten Venezuela. We have paid a high price for deconcentration, it is a painful learning process ”. All this that sounds deep and sincere is nothing more than very distant notions of what really happened with Ecuador.
But the most painful thing is that after a result as damaging as the 2-2 draw with Peru, after winning comfortably 2-0, Alfaro again shows us his state of confusion. When asked about the meager result, he replied with admirable candor: “We would have to calmly have 7 points and go to dispute with Brazil the chance of the leadership of the group. But we have 2 and we continue to qualify on goal difference. The Cup has been good in terms of performance, bad in results ”. I ask you, Mr. Alfaro, head of the coaching staff of the Ecuadorian National Team, about what was said after the game with Peru: Is it true that that is what you think, or is it a joke?
With this background, Alfaro’s ulterior thoughts exclude him from the possibility that he is the one to explain so many pending issues to us such as: 1) the absence of players with a better level were not called up; 2) what will they do to be convinced that Byron Castillo is of Ecuadorian nationality, after he went through an investigative process by the Ecuadorian justice and that Conmebol itself enabled his participation by Barcelona in the Copa Libertadores; 3) It is also necessary that, once and for all, it is explained if the National Team returned to unfair discrimination against Ecuadorian soccer players by naturalization; and, 4) above all, what are the extra-football reasons that are used to justify the defeats.
Convinced that no one from the coaching staff will have the integrity to answer, for obvious reasons, I think it is appropriate that those same concerns be transferred to the higher hierarchy of Ecuaf Fútbol. I would believe that both Francisco Egas, Michel Deller and Carlos Manzur himself should appear before public opinion and absolve these concerns that take shape and form. The abstentive silence generates more doubts than certainties with the passing of the days.
The only certain thing is that at this point not everything is football. The themes also come from another lifeline. For example, the recurring exclusionary calls, the line-ups of players that do not correspond to the football level that is required to be a starter, the reasons for the emotional imbalances on the field by the players. Or if there is the desire to ‘showcase’ of some selected to achieve future transfers and that is why they give priority to individualism and undermine the basic principle in football, which is the community. All of these are not minor issues, I am sure they are reason enough for the continual contrasts in results.
At this point qualifying for the other round, which is still feasible, should not be the primary exercise to restore us to sleep. More important is to resolve the obstacles that are obstructing the road. National football has revived what we suffered for some years now: a complicated emotional state when the qualifying rounds began. We did not know if the intention to qualify for a World Cup was going to be a dream or a new trauma.
I remember perfectly that for the qualifying rounds of the 1998 World Cup in France, the Colombian Francisco Maturana, DT of the National Team at that time, knowing each other without possibilities, wanted to convince us with a numerical equation that could be classified; as expected it never happened. After so many years, Gustavo Alfaro seems to want to imitate him by making calculations on a classification that, although true, at the moment is unconvincing.
Gentlemen leaders of the Ecuadorian Football Federation, for the good of all, let me remind you of something that I imagine you know: that theory that says that without timely proactive behavior there is no future. This means, in simpler terms, that they must act soon. At this point, being passive reactive is no use. In short, the solution is in your hands. (OR)