Coach Martin Anselmi, who has won two international titles at the helm of Independiente del Valle, has responded strongly to criticism leveled at the club by public opinion for his decision to include seven foreign players in the starting line-up at the start of 2023. season..
One of the protesters was Carlos Tenorio, president of the Ecuadorian Footballers’ Association (AFE).
And the Independiente del Valle youth academy? None of the starters against Flamengo were born at the club
Anselmi told TV ESPN He believes “this routine” of Independiente winning titles is “not compatible”. “We have five championships this year, we’ve already won two (Supercopa Ecuador and Recopa Sudamericana) and we’re going step by step for each one.”
Regarding the process of the match, he highlighted: “In the end, both in the first leg and the second leg, we always knew that they were playing with four midfielders in the middle and we faced a risk in the first leg where we were playing with three. Midfielders and one less, and one of the lanes on the opposite side. Try to adjust; it was too far, but we wanted to play with two strikers.
“In the second leg, with the advantage, we understood that a striker was good for the two central defenders (of Flamengo), hitting four flyers against their four midfielders, and trying to balance the game,” he added.
The key to Independiente’s success as the year began was “team, team; We have been a family since June last year and we have been building it.
As for the criticism about the number of foreigners he puts in the starting eleven, he responded that the comments “don’t make sense” and suggested that opponents better talk about “what plans Ecuador has”.
“Criticism is pointless because criticizing Independiente is ridiculous”37-year-old Anselmi started.
“Independiente has a history of fifteen years, I don’t have enough time to list the number of players we sold, we trained. 150 children in that house have breakfast, training and study every day. We have a state-of-the-art school where we provide resources to Ecuadorian children (…) The teams are fully represented by our players. There should have been such a program in my country. Instead of talking about foreigners, let’s talk about what plans Ecuador has.He said emphatically ESPN.
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