Gustavo Alfaro and ten questions about the Ecuadorian team that he has not answered

The inability to communicate, or the decision not to do so, is one of the features that characterizes the current administration of the Ecuadorian Football Federation. The more relevant the issue linked to the FEF, the greater the secrecy of its directors. This Thursday, four hours after the journalist César Luis Merlo reported it from Buenos Aires, Ecuafútbol woke up and confirmed, through its social networks, that Gustavo Alfaro will not sign a renewal contract as DT of the Tricolor.

Gustavo Alfaro ‘decided not to continue’ as Ecuador coach

When 44 days have elapsed since the National Team, the “so-called everyone’s team” – a nickname that does not apply when it comes to accountability – was eliminated from the Qatar 2022 World Cup, because a foreign journalist anticipated it, the FEF was forced to issue a newsletter. In a text with various euphemisms, they agreed with Merlo. “The parties (the Federation and Alfaro) have decided to be free to seek and evaluate new options,” the statement read.

Selection of Ecuador: Is Byron Castillo the reason why Gustavo Alfaro distanced himself from the FEF and did not renew?

On November 29, Ecuador faced Senegal, in the closing of the actions of Group A of the World Cup. With a tie, the Tricolor would have advanced to the round of 16, but it was a 2-1 national defeat. That day was the last in which Alfaro gave statements. Meanwhile, the leaders of the FEF stopped giving signs of life (they did not appear even in Thirdfrom Santiago, a newspaper where a member of the federation spoke with remarkable frequency when the Byron Castillo case, challenged by Chile, was at its hottest moment).

With what face does Gustavo Alfaro summon Ángel Mena to the Ecuadorian team?

With Alfaro’s tenure over, praised for qualifying for Qatar 2022 despite the setbacks he faced when he took over, but criticized for his lack of audacity in the World Cup when he faced the Africans, some questions remain that cannot be answered. Do you know if the Argentine responded to his employers? Neither did he have contacts with the members of the Selection Commission, the body that supposedly supervised the work of the coach.

For example, questions like these have already left Alfaro without answering:

1. Why didn’t you give Pedro Ortiz opportunities? In 2022 the Emelec goalkeeper had a superlative level. His season was much better than Alexander Domínguez’s. He was designated by Conmebol, several times, as a member of the Team of the Week in the Copa Libertadores. Ortiz was chosen by the Spanish company Olocip, specialized in Artificial Intelligence, in the ideal eleven of the group stage of the Libertadores 2022.

2. What else did Romario Caicedo have to do to have space in the Tricolor? Alfaro did not take the right-back, who performed well at his club, into account even when Byron Castillo was not called up to the National Team, in the first year of the process. Caicedo had just 24 minutes in the qualifiers, against Brazil (1-1, in Quito), on matchday number 15. On matchday 16, in Lima, he was sent to the stands.

3. Did Alfaro receive pressure to summon soccer players? The case of the winger José Hurtado, from Independiente del Valle, drew attention. In 2021, during the qualifiers and the Copa América in Brazil, he was part of the Tricolor. In the World Cup he played 57 minutes and in the other contest he was always on the bench. Once Hurtado was transferred to Bragantino, he was not cited again.

4. Why did it bother you that the FEF leadership asked you, on November 14, not to take Byron Castillo to the World Cup in Qatar, after the TAS sanction? Alfaro’s position was not coherent. Between October 2020 and September 2021, DT did not protest when the Federation suggested not to quote the winger because they considered that it was risky to do so. Castillo just made his debut in the qualifiers on September 2, 2021, against Paraguay, on the ninth day.

5. Why did he ‘stumble’ twice over the same stone? In the 2021 Copa América, he called Carlos Gruezo, who was off the payroll and inactive for several weeks due to a COVID-19 recovery process. He lined it up in the quarterfinals, against Argentina. Gruezo only played the first half, his lack of rhythm was notorious. At the 2022 World Cup Gruezo arrived with a three-week stoppage due to injury. Alfaro put it in the third game, against Senegal. And as in the Copa América, due to poor performance, the midfielder did not return after the break.

6. Did they pressure you to include Kevin Rodríguez in the list of the 26 World Cup players? The then Imbabura player, from Serie B, and now a member of Independiente del Valle, only played 27 minutes in the last friendly before the World Cup. But Alfaro took him to Qatar and made him play two games without respecting the process.

7. Why did Ángel Mena ruin the chance to play in Qatar 2022? The León midfielder, from Mexico, played 15 of 18 games in the tie and was a fundamental element in the World Cup qualification. Alfaro did not put him for a single minute in the World Cup.

8. Has Alfaro already delivered a technical report to the FEF Selection Commission to explain the change in scheme to measure Senegal? When it was enough to tie to go to the round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup, DT disrupted the system that gave Ecuador such good results against Qatar and the Netherlands (he discarded, for example, the line of three centrals).

9. Has anyone from the FEF asked the coach the reason for postponing José Cifuentes against Senegal? The midfielder played only the second half and that was enough for him to receive, from international newspapers, the highest rating among all the footballers who faced the Africans: 6 points. Alfaro gave away 45 minutes with Gruezo, who from his performance seemed to still be convalescing from his injury, and with Alan Franco.

10. Will Alfaro, a coach known for being overly cautious – but called “balanced” by his followers in national sports journalism – say why he wasn’t bold, daring, daring against Senegal? To The country, from Madrid, Ecuador, because of Alfaro, “committed an original sin: he went out onto the field to speculate with the score and the stopwatch.” (D)