THE INTERVIEW Marchena: “The 2008 Selection was born from previous suffering”

He never hung the media label, nor did he monopolize the same covers as his travel companions, but the powers of Carlos Marchena (Las Cabezas de San Juán, Sevilla, 41 years old) in Spanish football, especially when the National Team comes into play, are only available to the chosen ones: U-20 World Champion (Nigeria 1999), Olympic Silver (Sydney 2000), European Champion (2008) and World Champion (2010). It would not be fair to forget his two Leagues, a Cup, a UEFA Cup and a European Super Cup with Valencia, with which he completes an admirable track record.

In the middle of the European Championship, with La Cartuja as the headquarters of the matches in Spain, Carlos Marchena's memories pile up and it never hurts to share them with the neighbor. They are the experiences of a privileged ball who now learns in the sports management of Sevilla together with Monchi and Pablo Blanco and who when he is older would want to be a coach, who has studied for that.

They told me that on Monday at La Cartuja he wanted to take the field … that he lived the game as if he were playing it.

Yes Yes. I was nervous, it seemed like I was going to play. I was going as a fan and wanted to enjoy, but could not. I had to stop, try to disconnect and say Carlos, wait a minute, that you are wearing street clothes. They are special moments. You remember the moments you spent in there and when I smell the National Team I can't help but get inside. Those were such glorious moments that we lived.

In his case he has lived through everything. Before winning the European Championship and the World Cup, Portugal 2004 and Germany 2006 suffered.

I do not forget it. I lived both stages. In the first one, he always got scalded because things didn't go well. 2004 was tough. Sáez took over and with him came a series of players from the lower teams. We came from working without focus, with tranquility and we found what absolute meant. We pay not to have peace of mind. Conflict in everything, in everything. Each decision was a world and we young people paid for it. That Euro Cup did not turn out as he had dreamed of. It was my debut and I came out a bit disappointed. I thought that this was not as beautiful as I thought or as what I had experienced with the inferiors: winning, enjoying. The absolute were already major words.

He arrived hanging on medals and he found the pure reality of what the National Team was.

Our illusion was to change how badly we had been when we were ‘boys’ and we suffered so much because we saw that nothing was ever won in the European Cups and the World Cups. The current with the sub-20, sub-21, Olympic, could not be better and when we arrived we tried to change course, but we realized that it was not going to be that easy. We went with the illusion that we could do things, but without the real conviction that we could do it. We weren't ready to get into the top four

2006 was also a hard blow, especially against France. We were a little grown up and they broke our chests.

As a team we no longer had the innocence of two years before. We started well until the game against France. It was sold that we were going to find a half-retired rival, with older players and we realized that maybe in his last stage but that he had players with a lot of talent. We do not measure the times well. We were very daring and we paid for it. We could have gone further. That defeat matured us and made us stronger for what was to come.

Luis always said afterwards that the Eurocup began to be won in the defeat against France.

Well, if he said it for something, it would be. Luis should not be taken from him in that kind of thing. You learn more from clubs than from victories. You turn your head a thousand times looking for reasons. In the triumphs you give it almost everything for good and the reflections are not so slow.

I have found a phrase of hers that said exactly that Spain, the champion of Europe and the world, is born of humility and sacrifice and suffering.

I like to use those words because they fit what happened. Since we started the interview we have almost talked more about the bad times, knowing how to suffer, being humble. To know, in 2008 when everything was going well for you, that it had cost you many bitter moments and that had to be given importance. Everything bad that happened to us was good for us. Now I tell the guys who go to the National Team that they go to a much more winning team than before, but that it cost a job and you have to value it. The generations that come now find another Selection, not the one we find ourselves.

The game against Italy in the quarterfinals is always talked about as the turning point. But at the end of the day they were penalties. The two that for Iker and those that Spain marks.

Yes, but it was a penalty shoot-out that meant a lot. It was going to the quarterfinals, beating Italy, winning a shootout… They were simple penalties, but after a very hard game, a very even overtime, after so many things that always fell to the other side. And that day fell in our favor. That day we said, now yes. And the ghosts and complexes that we had are over. That day Spanish football took a big leap. The next two games were the best because we played them without that psychological barrier. You let go and it's you, you let go of all the talent and confidence that you have and what appeared appeared, the tremendous football that that generation had.

From behind, from the cave next to Puyol, as he saw those who were ahead.

I had the best ticket without paying for it. It was to enjoy. Now the center-backs are required much more than in my time, but you always have to know who has to have the ball. The best thing is that the good guys have it and these are the ones from ahead. You have to know how to give it to them and be prepared for when they lose it. But the people on that team never lost her. It was an enjoyment. They gave you confidence. They asked for it, even if they had one on them. Give it to me, give it to me … and you gave it to him. And it was a joy to play behind them.

But Marchena always liked to go out with the ball played. In his own way he was also a gamer.

I did like it. I played for a long time as a midfielder, but I understood that the less those behind us had it, the more damage we were going to do. Those in front were infinitely superior to us with the ball at their feet. Next to those we had, it was disrespectful to say that I was a gamer. I learned a lot from them and above all I really enjoyed them. The rounds of that selection were excellent. You never wanted to get in the middle. As you entered it cost you a life to get out. Going to the national team made you improve because of the high level there was.

After the 1999 World Cup in Nigeria, Franz Beckenbauer said that he had seen his football details in you… Did it benefit you or did it harm you?

Man, did it benefit me! He came to say that he could be his successor. It was a compliment that gave me a lot of confidence. Just being able to associate one name with another was a wonderful thing. The pity is that I had a photo with him and I lost it. I am not a souvenir, but that photo I would have liked to keep and have.

Of that double champion team, Capdevilla and you were the least mediatic.

Perhaps for not having played for Barcelona or Madrid. I don't like the focus very much either, I find myself more comfortable in the background. My character is calm. I run from the cameras. On that team it was easy to feel important. There were no distances with the star players, nor with those who came new. We were a team above all else. And that must be thanked to them, to the most mediatic. Above all, to Xavi who was the flagship of that group. We all felt important.

You for them were the 'pater' or the 'father' …

-Some told me in English, others in Spanish. He came for that, because he tried to talk to everyone, in moments of euphoria to lower his tone a little. Because of my character more than anything. I have always been older than my share and tried to make us responsible people. I did not consider myself a leader as such, what I was trying to do was to pause everything and if something important or unpleasant had to be said at some time, I considered myself legitimate to say it. Things have to be said in the dressing room. We used to wash the dirty laundry inside, which someday there were, as in all families.

If Piqué had not appeared, until when could he have continued as a starter in the national team?

I do not know. Gerard has been one of the biggest center-backs we've ever had and I understood that I had to keep rowing, keep doing my bit. More from the outside but always proud and ready to play when the coach deems it appropriate.

Helping as in the World Cup final in which he got into the field so that the Dutch could not get out of the center quickly after Iniesta's goal.

That speaks of how I live and feel the games. Intensely. He felt like he was playing, even if he wasn't at the eleven at that moment. I'm even a little embarrassed to talk about it. At that moment I also reflected my character, in a moment of euphoria trying to do what I believed was most correct.

If so many years later they give him to choose which one he stays with the Eurocup for being the first or with the World Cup for what it means.

Phew… I've thought about it many times. The Eurocup was very important because it came from where we came from, because of everything we had suffered. It was impressive…. But a World Cup is a World Cup. That is to say, I have won the Eurocup and now I am going with all the good things I have to win the World Cup and I win it. It was one dream after another. My mother has memories of everything. I don't really like having things at home. I do not want my children to grow up in what their father has been in the past, but to live in the present and know that life goes on. The past must not be looked at, it must be enjoyed.

You have the title of coach, after the draw against Sweden, would you like to be in Luis Enrique's shoes now?

– Coaching the National Team has to be something very beautiful and a source of pride. Being in their shoes would be difficult. Spanish football means being on everyone's lips, but always with pride. Everything that is done can be questioned. You must weigh the pleasure of training the best soccer players in Spain with the fact that any situation or decision will be criticized. We are talking about football and knowing in the world we are in.

On Monday at La Cartuja did you go looking for Sergio Ramos…?

Ha ha ha… I already knew he wasn't there. The decision about his absence will have been agreed between the two, thought a lot. In any case, it is a tough decision, very tough because of what Sergio has meant and means in Spanish football, but I can't put myself in Luis Enrique's shoes, or Sergio's. I am missing a lot of information.

How do you see this team after the first game?

-I see her well, with a good game, creating chances. On Monday I was near the bench and I saw a very good atmosphere. I looked at details on the bench and you could see the team together. Young people are experienced for their age. The game against Sweden may take away a bit of confidence, but I think it has to be maintained.

– When you see a match in Spain do you see it as a former international or as a coach?

-A bit of everything. At times it seems that I am just another player. On Monday I would hit a few jumps when we did not score that scared even me, but then I also had a vein to analyze. What would I do at this time? Who would it take out? What is good for the team?

– And in what minute would you have gotten Gerard Moreno?

– Ha ha ha… I can't say what I would have done. That stays for me. I still have a lot, a lot of training to do. From the outside there are millions of details that escape us and that Luis Enrique knows from within. Sure you have reasons to do everything you do. It is so difficult to be a coach that only whoever is inside knows the reasons why.