Joaquín Caparrós: ​​”Sergio Ramos will continue to break records”

Joaquin Caparrós (Utrera, 1955) is full. The Andalusian, now on vacation in Seville, signed in March 2020 with the Armenian national team and things could not be going better for him. His balance as coach is six victories, three draws and two defeats in 11 games, numbers he “did not expect” because, among other things, he gave the 'yes' without knowing the players he would have at his disposal: ” I could imagine the level, but all I wanted was to be allowed to work. I was excited to work with a national team. ” Nor did he think about it when they offered him the renewal: “I had a contract until November, but the possibility of extending it arose and, as the feelings are good, I have a great relationship with the footballers and the Federation and I feel the affection of the people, I decided to continue one more season. “

Caparrós will continue to lead the Armenian team until at least the end of 2022. The Andalusian already wanted to lead a national team. What was not in their plans was having to overcome a pandemic and bear the consequences of a war, which Armenia and Azerbaijan wage in the Upper Karabakh region. “We have lived through very difficult situations, but we are a family and we know that we need each other. That is translating into good results,” he reveals. “The pandemic is worldwide and the whole world is suffering, but the war is big words. Armenia is a very happy country and it is difficult to see the sadness on the faces of the people. It has received many blows along the way. of history, but he has always gotten up. I have put myself in their situation to be able to understand them. This is how I have been able to connect with them “, adds Caparrós, who resorted to sentimentality to motivate his players at one point – the last escalation of the conflict in Upper Karabakh was between September and November 2020- in which football went to the background: “They were dead, but they said: 'Mister, I am 100%. I want to play.' They did it for a country that I was living in a very delicate situation, some lost people. That internal force can with any physical fatigue “.

Joaquín Caparrós had never seen a match in the First Division of Armenia, but now he is an expert. “They try to set the schedules so that we can see all the games. As they are played in Yerevan, we see one and then we go to another,” says the Andalusian, proud to see more and more Armenian footballers in major leagues. Without going any further, your captain, Varazdat Haroyan, signed for Cádiz, and Norberto Briasco, one of its bastions in attack, is the new '9' of Boca Juniors. “When we arrived, there were clubs in Armenia that did not have any Armenian players. The Federation forced there to be at least two in the eleven and this season there are already three. That is great for us, because we go to the games knowing that, at least, we are going to be able to see six players, “discovers Caparrós, also aware of the recruitment department, which is looking in the diaspora for footballers with Armenian roots who can reinforce the national team, or the BKMA, the team with which footballers of the age of 20 compete. to render military service: “There are between 25 and 30. Some have already been able to debut with the absolute”.

Focused on getting the most out of the players at your disposal, Joaquín Caparrós confesses that he would like to play differently, “but if there are no players for that …”. The Andalusian implanted in Armenia a classic 4-4-2 in which the order and aggressive pressure in the opposite field are non-negotiable. This is how the victories against Georgia and North Macedonia arrived that allowed him to ascend to League B of the League of Nations or the hat-trick of triumphs – against Liechtenstein, Iceland and Romania – that allow him to dream of the Qatar World Cup. Joaquín Caparrós had never been in charge of a national team and he likes his new work dynamics. “You can't train day by day, but football has changed. Now you train less and recover more. With the national team, we try to do a two-in-one: we recover at the same time we train because there is no time for more,” details the Spanish, which has used non-verbal language to communicate in a changing room in which four languages ​​coexist: Russian, Armenian, English and Spanish. In Armenia, where he will return in August, Caparrós feels like a fish in water: “When I walk through Yerevan people know me, and we are one of the few who wear a mask. I really like it. They are very grateful and they convey to us a lot of affection, both children and adults. People respect us a lot and that, both for me and for my 'staff', has been fundamental to renew “.

Joaquín Caparrós is very aware of what is happening in the Eurocup and is seeing “very well” the Spanish team. “It's going from less to more, which is how you have to go in this type of tournaments. It is not easy to enter and less when many of the players are newcomers, the level of demand is so high and you know that you have a whole country pending. It's a team with character, that competes well and has confidence, “analyzes the Andalusian, for whom the important thing is not that Spain is already in the quarterfinals, but rather” how it has progressed to the quarterfinals. “You can see that the players support each other and there is a good internal atmosphere,” adds a Caparrós who would have called up Sergio Ramos. “I would take him anywhere. He is a player who has written very important pages both in Madrid and in the national team. It will be difficult for someone to exceed his numbers. Now he has decided to leave Real Madrid, but I am sure he will be around for more years. competing in the elite. Everyone knows that Ramos has many years of football left. He is very demanding and has a very strong mentality. He has between eyebrows to extend his professional career and will continue to break records. Sure”.