The talkative Hernán Darío Gómez revealed in March 2012, without a direct question, in an interview with a Colombian station antenna 2who in his first phase as coach of Tricolor (1999-2004) included in the lists the names of players proposed by the leadership of the Ecuadorian Football Association.

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counted Roll, ten years ago, the way he acted in the FEF chaired by Luis Chiriboga (now suspended for life by FIFA, due to corruption): “In Ecuador, for example, I went through my list of 15 and sometimes they talked to me about the players. My 15 and then I submitted the list (to the FEF); here are 25, and how 25, 15 of mine and 10 of yours, but mine always go”.

“Ecuafútbol will not surrender without a fight”, says Francisco Egas, at the request of Gustavo Alfaro at FIFA

Was the practice that Gómez acknowledged in the national team repeated in the following years, with other coaches? Once, for fourteen months, the marginalization of Felipe Caicedo while he was a goalscorer for Spanish Levante (2010-2011) was neither understood nor explained. Without confirmation, it was leaked that the gunner’s ‘freeze’ would stem from a change of employer.

Félix Sánchez Bas and the ‘surviving’ tricolor from Ecuador and Australia in 2014.

‘No suspicious hands’

Antonio Valencia said this Thursday that “we have to support the new coach (Félix Sánchez Basa) so that he can take us to the World Cup”, but the former Manchester United captain made it clear that he hopes that everything in the process that starts this Friday a friendly match in Australia must be conducted properly. The bimundialist spoke on Radio Área BraveQuito.

It was direct, Valencia: “I hope it goes well (for Sánchez Bas). You have to take care of this generation. Let there be no shady hands of businessmen who put players in the national team. This is a very good choice that can make us very happy, ( but) when these businessmen come, with bad intentions, then everything collapses.”

‘Cheapest’

Regarding the inclusion of the former Qatari coach in the 2022 World Cup, the Amazon woman, who will turn 38 next August, thinks like this: “They chose the cheapest that exists now. Everything has already been said by (Luis) Chango. I think that the FEF takes very intelligent care of the budget. Just as a million dollar DT can come to you, so can a $10 million one.”

Valencia, who played at the World Cups in Germany in 2006 and Brazil in 2014, also looked back at predecessor Sánchez Bas. “Professor (Gustavo) Alfaro did a good job for me. He knew the boys, he knew the environment and he was ready, but that’s FEF stuff, otherwise he couldn’t have continued. There was also (as candidate Ricardo) Gareca, a good coach who took Peru to the World Cup. I don’t know why that didn’t happen; These are matters of managers and budgets”. (D)