Joaquín Caparrós: ​​”It is difficult to train players who are thinking about war”

Joaquín Caparrós (Utrera, Sevilla, 65 years old) is one of those coaches convinced that the movement is demonstrated by walking and that the benches have no borders. His long experience in Spain (Recreativo, Villarreal, Sevilla, in various stages and positions, Deportivo, Athletic, Mallorca, Levante, Granada and Osasuna) is punctuated by his short adventures in Switzerland and Qatar and now in Armenia where he has a contract until November 2021. His last stopover. Also his latest hit. He has managed to promote his team to group B of the Nations League. His next goal is to compete in the qualifying phase for the World Cup in Qatar.

What seemed like just another soccer experience turned into an adventure to write a book and a movie script.

Yes, confinement due to the pandemic came first, and I had to return to Spain as soon as I signed a contract on March 15. Later, when I returned, the war against Azerbaijan broke out, which unfortunately we have lived all the time in the first person and too close, it is true. But you have to accept things as they come and I'll take the ending that couldn't have been more exciting.

How do they convince you to go as coach to Armenia?

You are always a coach. I was fine at Sevilla, which is my home, but Ginés Meléndez called me, he was my teacher at the School of Coaches, in Albacete, back in the 80s and who had just signed as a sports director for the Armenian Federation. He speaks wonders of the project. The president of the Federation came to see me in Madrid and convinced me. There was feeling. Good empathy. We were shaping it. Javier Miñano, who had already been there, was also returning. I went there and saw that everything they told me was a reality and I signed.

That becomes a Spanish embassy.

In my team, in addition to Luciano Martín, who has been with me for 15 years since the days of Deportivo, there are Miñano and a physio Pablo Llanes, who worked at Real Madrid with Del Bosque. In addition to Ginés, in the sports direction, there is Antonio Flores and Rubén Lezcano… We have connected well with the people there. I explained to them that we were going to contribute our experience so that Armenian football could take a step forward and that we were open to their collaboration. The ideas of its leaders are very European and they want to grow.

What country are you in when they arrive?

We find ourselves a happy people within their personal situations and, above all, very, very soccer. There the League is seen more than the Premier. Then Italy and France. There are many fans of Madrid, Barça, Atleti. I'm doing some of the Sevilla.

When he returns after confinement, he even leaves with the family … How did your wife handle living there, especially during the war period?

First I went alone in July. Then in September it was Rosa. She knows that football is my passion and she has always gone with me to all the places where I have worked, except in Qatar because the situation was more complicated. It surprised him at first, but he accepted it. The situation was tough. My son, Adrián, tested positive and we had to be confined. The tension for me was great. The hospitals could not handle the war wounded plus the covid positives. It was not easy. My son went because he collaborates in a documentary that they are making about my life since the time of Athletic, almost nine years.

How do you coexist, how do you carry your daily work, with a war 200 kilometers from Yerevan?

It was difficult. A coach is used to motivating a soccer player to achieve a goal, but motivating a group of athletes who have other priorities because sports no longer count, is very complicated. They were already personal situations. Almost all the players knew people who were in front or close. Relatives who had passed away, friends who were there. The first day of the rally after the war broke out, there were players who shed tears. We had to put ourselves in their situation, draw empathy. Let them realize that at that moment we were one more. We get to be a family. They told us that the risk we had was zero, but you always worry.

Curiously, the last two games won, as soon as the peace of the conflict was signed, but for the Armenians that truce had the taste of defeat.

Yes, it was, they told us that it was the saddest day in the history of the country. They had lost many thousands of lives in that conflict and for them peace was a defeat. Receiving those players with those feelings was tremendous. We had to suspend training sessions. Other factors prevailed, but what football and sports have is that. Within hours we won in Georgia. For them it was historic. He was his great rival and they had never beaten him. We gave great joy to that people at the time of greatest suffering. Then we also managed to beat North Macedonia, who had just qualified for the European Championship. We finished first and made the jump to the second division of the Nations League.

What are players told at times like these?

I just told them they had a chance to make history. That they could be in good clubs, earn good money and achieve sporting success, but that this opportunity was unique to be the history of their country and a very special situation after all they had suffered.

And how did you come to shout for the anthem after the game?

On the progress. It came from within me. We were without an audience, of course, and we had to celebrate on the pitch because when we won in Georgia we had celebrated it in the locker room and the result was that there were 12 or 13 team members who tested positive, including five players. Then, with the counter-analysis, they were left in three, but it was necessary to prevent. They really liked the hymn and it was a demonstration that what we were saying to them, that we felt like them, was a reality. Things that come out spontaneously are worth more than a speech. The players were crying with joy after everything they had been through.

How is Armenian football, the national team, how do they play …?

We played a 1-4-4-2. We are a rather physical team. Our best player is Mkhitaryan but Roma did not let him go in these games. Mark the difference. Technically we may not be like others, but we have to take advantage of the involvement that the players have. When they come to the national team they bring out a very great patriotic sense. And that is a plus that if we know how to handle it is a very important weapon. The best thing for us is that the results give you confidence. Now people believe more in what is working. For that country to rise and win those two games against those two rivals was like being world champions for Spain. It has been something extraordinary. The pity is that it could not be held in the Plaza de la República. We are a team that has to push hard and we have great physical wear and tear. One of the objectives we had was to convince the players that they could not accept losing always and that nothing would happen no matter how much they were used to. We convey to them that losing has to hurt. Whoever wants to win us will have to sweat and suffer. We have to become a team that competes within our limitations.

What is a working day like as an Armenian coach?

At 9.30 in the morning I am at the Federation Academy, it has 10 well-kept soccer fields, a residence that is like a five-star hotel. We work all morning with videos of all the league games and of the guys that we are following. We ate there and in the middle of the afternoon I was coming home. We would go around with the whole work group, have dinner and sleep. On weekends we watched the league games. We did not stop the truth.

A truce until mid-January, but it has brought homework. Armenia is now awaiting the qualifying matches for the Qatar World Cup 22 and intends to take advantage of the winning wave.

He went to Armenia and broke his link with Sevilla. How was the relationship, can you come back when it's over there?

Perfect I had two and a half years left on my contract. When the offer reached me, I spoke with Monchi, with the president. They understood me and gave me all the facilities. Back, no. I think it is already a past stage in my life. Sevilla will always be my home. The president had the detail of giving me 'the golden bench'. For my family and for me it was an enormous pride. Now from Erevan I follow all their matches and those of the League in general, of course. I don't miss any. I saw the final of the Europa League and I enjoyed it; the final of the European Super Cup, which we suffered, but it was a piece of the game, a shame …

His Seville is like never before.

It takes a few years. It is the consequence of the management of recent times at all levels of the club. Of the work of the president and his Council, of Monchi, of the technicians and the players, of course. Lopetegui works well. Right now in Spanish football, Sevilla is a model and has many differences with others. Now he is a great man in terms of management, although he has less economic resources than other leading clubs not only in Spain, but in Europe. This year Sevilla will have another award at the end. Insurance. For what it transmits. I do not see the greats well, both Madrid and Barcelona. It's going to be a tough year for both teams.

They are hesitant, irregular …

More than doubts is that they do not transmit things to you throughout the Championship and yet Sevilla, Atlético de Madrid transmit that they are two teams. Teams in the broadest sense of the word.

This afternoon, Sevilla-Real Madrid… How do you see Madrid?

I see, (Think for a few seconds)… I see it very fair. I see it with many doubts. The club took priorities … (Think again) Sevilla, right now, have much clearer ideas than Madrid can have. Both in the offensive and defensive aspects. As a team, as a team …

As an experienced coach, how can a team be as irregular as Real Madrid? He goes to Barcelona and wins, he goes to San Siro and wins, but nevertheless he loses with Alavés, with Shaktar, with Cádiz… How do you explain these drastic changes?

Because he lacks the team mentality. A team as such is much more regular. We are talking about footballers who have a high level, who are very talented and in big matches their mentality at the individual level is great and the sum of all the individuals is worth them for those matches, but in a Championship consistency prevails and a mentality is required collective that Madrid is missing now.

Then you would be one of those who would bet that this year the League is out of the eternal Real Madrid-Barcelona equation.

Yes, yes, yes, yes … and some of them can take a good hit. Any of you two. Not both, I would not bet on which, but it is what I think. A good slip. This is what the templates convey to you. I see other stronger teams. It is a very rare League with everything that is happening. Many injured, many games that require a mindset that these two teams can notice. I see them very similar now. They do not transmit the power that they have transmitted during the last years.

It is time for Atlético, Sevilla, Real …

Yes, Atlético is strong. The incorporation of Luis Suárez has been important, a success. If he has continuity, he can perfectly be the top scorer in the League. Another thing is that injuries or technical decisions do not give that continuity. I don't get in there. Now his style has changed a bit. He has come to play with Diego and Suárez together. And it has very physical players in the middle. It is the same as Sevilla, which has very strong men, with a good bench and people believe in what they are doing, there is a good group atmosphere and all that adds up. In addition, they are already used to playing both competitions and a third, the Cup if necessary. They know how to demand of themselves… We cannot forget that the League is very strange, that we lack the most important thing in football, which is the people, the heat. Football without people and if we add the VAR is another football.

You don't like VAR, I see.

No, not to me. Absolutely nothing. And I said it at the beginning. It is another football. When I started in the coaches course and we were with the rules of the game, we discussed one, another, the teacher came and told us, what prevails is the zero rule and they know what the zero rule is, the referee's decision. The referee rules. That has now been lost. Now it is not the decision of the referee. Rule zero in soccer is VAR. The VAR decides, therefore it is another football … Another world. He has not contributed anything to football. What are the assistants doing now? We have had the best in the world, they were almost mathematicians and now an assistant is about to do a number on the field. It is another story. It is my opinion. They tell us that it is a more modern football … FIFA wants to introduce us to technological football and it will go further. There will be more stops to get the money you need. I have no doubt that the publicity will come in those breaks … and it will be another football.

Caparrós in its purest form. He always says what he thinks.