Interview with El Pais in Spanish. Translated by Google Translate.

Published right
before WC2018.

DIEGO TORRES
Madrid 19 JUN 2018

From Figo to Cristiano, from Portugal to England, from Real Madrid to Manchester
United, from Sir Alex Ferguson to the Iran of the Ayatolas, there is a footballing
cosmos in the head of Carlos Queiroz (Mozambique, 1953). Few people have made
more pilgrimage through more varied fields. On Wednesday in Kazan this avant-
garde theorist will lead the Asian team against Spain on the second day of the Group
B phase.

Question. How did you become a football coach?

Answer. I started very soon. My first experience in federated football was in children's
football in the 80-81 season with lower Belenenses categories. I have been wearing
this garment for a while now.
Q. From the point of view of tactics, in these four decades, what was the most
transformative moment?
A. In my professional life as a coach the most important, most significant stage of my
entire career, curiously happened at the beginning. I started on the two banks of the
river: in the countryside and at the Technical University of Lisbon. I dedicated the first
stage to doing a lot of research. In 1982 I made the first master's degree in soccer.
This was almost a revolution because the Technical University was very traditional and
conservative. There were master's degrees in biomechanics and physiology, the
scientific disciplines that support training, but not in football training. I battled to the
last drop of my blood to do a masters in football training methodology. It was not
systematized. There was no bachelor's degree in football. I was the first and with that I
opened many things in my life in the intellectual field as a coach. I made a break that
was a giant step.
Q. How was the process?
A. I studied for years all the most characteristic training schools: the South American,
the Southern European, the Northern European, England and Germany, and also the
training concepts of the Eastern countries. I characterized them until 1982 when the
idea occurred to me to start talking about something that I called 'the simplification of
the complex structure of the game'. When I presented that work I started to extract
the basic elements of the reduced games: 11x11, 8x8, 7x7, 4x3, 3x2, 2x1 up to the
simple elements of the game. In that work I concluded that the game was based on
three basic elements and an element that synthesizes and harmonizes the other three
and transmits the complex science of teamwork. I presented a study to address the
methodological change of all training based on these three elements: space, time
and number. With these three vectors I structured a fourth observation component of
the relative complexity of the game that formed the cohesion and the team game.
That changed my life. When I had the opportunity to apply my vision to work with the
lower categories of the Portugal team, I won two World Cups. Then I led my whole life
as a coach with the methodological foundations of that time. I observed that the
training had to reflect the nature of the game and I showed how to do it and why.
Those children that I caught with 12, 13 years old, Figo, Joao Pinto, Rui Costa ... all
have worked with me with that differentiated vision of training. That has been the
most important framework of my entire life.

Q. Guardiola, Lillo, the coaches of the Oporto school, who talked about the
integration of all the elements in practice, the "tactical periodization", etc. Do not they
refer to the same idea?
A. When I did my thesis I observed that when we played in a playground,
spontaneously, we organized ourselves. We were four, five, six, seven or eight, we
always played. Three against two, four against three, and the goalkeeper-player ...
How is it possible that if my dream is to be professional, I am going to play and they
put me up stairs and do a continuous career? The children arrived at the soccer field
and were confused. That has stimulated me to study with another angle. In the end,
what we were offering to children in education was not soccer. And more serious still:
a work of division of the technique was made. The theories of learning that have to do
with pedagogy told us that the sum of the parts makes the whole. That has been a
disaster for years for football. First they trained physics, tomorrow technique, past
tactics. And the sum did not give the whole! That's what I wrote. "The sum of the parts
of all is what gives the whole: and more, has to give the whole with a very important
component, which is the freedom of decision." Because that has been the mistake of
the pedagogy of football for many years. The coaches arrived there and we destroyed
the game. Because we became game directors. We create the abstraction of the
decision. We did not want players with decision-making skills. That is what has
changed. That's why football has changed in that century. Because most of the
trainers perceived that it is the part of all that gives the whole. And that imaginative
and creative players are built by stimulating freedom of decision. That's why the street
before was very important.
Q. Are the trainings in schools more important now?
A. It shows in the spiral of quality in Europe. What is the biggest break in European
football with Africa, and even with South America ... and Asia ...? The spiral of quality,
teams and players. In Europe of many strips one. The more qualities you have in the
base, the more differences are made at the top. The spiral of quality enhances the
excellence of the whole. That is why Europe is moving at a speed that will take many
years ahead of Africa and Asia, including America. The only countries that are
surviving in terms of selection work are the teams that are lucky enough to have
players of formative age in Europe. They benefit from this spiral of quality. When you
have a lot of quality in the base competing, if you want to make the difference
Cristiano, Messi and Neymar have to be more great than ever. The Americans say:
"from many comes one". This is not entirely correct. You have to say: "from many
comes one but in quality". Because quantity alone does not increase quality, but
quantity in quality increases genius.
Q. How is this change reflected in the competition?
A. The evolution of the matches and the competition reflect the new conception in
the methodological basis of the training. Coaches are the agents of game
transformation because each year, when they introduce new, more perfectionist
elements, more adapted to the nature and essence of the game, they manage to
change the formation of the players and transform the game itself.
Q. Do not you think that this has led to teams being ordered more and more, and the
order has made the players alone can not transform the games as in his day did
Ronaldo Nazario, Zidane, Maradona or Cruyff?
A. It is not normal. Let's talk about World Cups. Think of Italy 90 or USA 94. That is
true. It was a period a little monotonous, dictatorial, in which the players were a little
imprisoned, tied to the static systems and the discipline of the game, of the norm of
the team. But if we think in 1982, in 1986, in 2008, in 2006 or 2010, it is different.
There we could observe great teams that were not subject to the dictatorship of the
discipline. A football that respected the cohesion of the team, the principles of team
mentality without breaking with the fundamentals of freedom, creativity and decision
of the players. We saw it in South Africa. We saw the exaltation of individualities based
on the power that teamwork can give them. To the correspondence of a great
cohesion and game discipline rises the possibility of individual risk. We have also
observed two characteristic types of great players. I can compare two players that
everyone compares: Cristiano and Messi. Both have four equal foundations: superior
athletic ability, superior technical and tactical superiority, a very strong mental
preparation, and the ability to synthesize these elements in teamwork. Cristiano
differs a bit from Messi because he is a soloist who says: 'OK, I'm a soloist but if the
orchestra is missing a pianist, a violinist or a cellist I have no problem if I have to play
the piano or the violin or the viola, I do it. ' Messi is a little different: he can be the best
soloist too but he lends himself as a teacher by making his classmates the best they
can be. In two different ways of playing we have two players who draw us a fifth
element in the game, which is exclusive to the geniuses: the final element of cohesion
and collective mastery. With two different base attitudes. Cristiano if he feels that
someone does not play the piano well, he says: 'I play it'. And Messi is the best
playing all the instruments. It makes them feel like they are a constant part of the
game. There are moments that yes, the dictatorship of normality traces us a boring
football that is not innovative, but I think that today we are living a fantastic moment.
Q. Why are you so sure?
A. Because the element of freedom and individual decision is promoted in the
collective rules of the team. Now the geniuses can do it in an incredible way because
the level of risk can be increasing. As a coach and a person of football, I'm excited
about this great rivalry we have about Cristiano and Messi. I compare them with
Lennon and McCartney. If one does well, the other wants to do better. If one amazes
us with the best, the other offers us excellence. The big question of modern football
is: how far? Attention: because Michael Jackson arrives, who is Neymar. We are in a
good moment. In some moments the kings and the princes of football have gone off
for a while but it is not normal. Football has always been characterized by stages with
kings and princes. Today princes and kings are at a level they have never been
before.
Q. It is true, but do not you think that in the end the collective order is imposed on the
heroic player? Messi collided with Germany in 2014 and Portugal without Cristiano
won the France of Pogba and Griezmann in 2016.
A. The beauty of football is that it always offers us the unexpected. We must also
consider that teams without talented players can not win. But soccer is a team game.
You win with the talents, but to leave champions is another thing. With talent you have
quality to win. In order to emerge champions, you need character, repetition, sacrifice,
players willing to sacrifice their egos for the team. Many times in football, basketball,
you see champions become teams with less individual talent and more
synchronization and power of synthesis, synergies for victory. To be a champion it is
not enough to have a team with great players you have to be functional. That makes
the difference. The rest is the game.
Q. What is truly novel in contemporary football?
A. Today we live an involution; we are subordinated to the dictatorship of the opinion.
All give opinions without morality. There is irresponsibility, impunity and injustice in
the opinions that often create environments around the team that condition the
results. It's a phenomenon ... Very early in my career I had the privilege of
collaborating for a while with the analysts of Brazil 1982. Probably one of the best
teams in Brazil. But look at the example of Italy: how Italy created a concept of "us
against the world". The coach Enzo Bearzot provoked a fight with the whole Italian
society and all the coaches. And they came out champions! That gave me a vision of
another component that for me is very decisive of the work with the players. Because
we can maneuver in time, intensity or training methodology, but we forget a lot about
the brain. We forget how to operate all the training through a thing that ... We as
human beings grow and develop using the brain to do everything, and the brain has
been the least used and researched element in human life. We do not know anything
about the brain. I think about mental training. Why exogenous factors can influence
so much in the definition of a team: confidence, self-esteem, conviction, character ...?
In summary: yes we can buy talents and try to win a championship, but you do not
buy character to become champion.
Q. You have seen Christian grow up close. Do not you think that each year you play
better to the extent that each year you play the ball less?
A. Normal! There is a very simple word that must be introduced in the reflection:
maturity. The coach can do everything with the player: technical, mental, physical
work. We can buy talent. But we can not buy character and experience. A player who
plays a World Cup and a European Cup with 31 years old is not the same as the
player who played with me in the 2010 World Cup. He is not a different player. It has
made a natural evolution. I remember some things well. One day I called him at my
office in Manchester and I told him something I have only said to two players in my
life: "We have worked for a while, I have known you since you played at Sporting, and
we are going to reach an agreement between the two: you were born to be the best
player in the world; if you are willing to work and walk to be the best in the world; I
am willing to work with you. There is a price to pay in life when you want to succeed. If
you want to go home, you think and tomorrow we talk and we start a new day of
work. Because you are already a great soccer player. But to become the best is
something else. " It was interesting because one of the things we started working on
was that we have to get to the area. He would say: "Cristiano, you have a goal, but you
can not score goals outside the area, being a service player, delivering the ball to the
others. Because it is in the area where you can make a difference and have a greater
impact. It's in the area where you can show why you're going to become the best in
the world. " Little by little, as an extreme ... The players of those characteristics, like
Cristiano or Figo, want the ball to the foot. They do not want to arrive. They do not
want to deliver the ball!
Q. They do not want to play without the ball.
A. It is very interesting. One day I was jaded and I was throwing the quarrel at the
players and Roberto Carlos came and said: "Mister, do not get mad, tell them that if
there is a problem they give me the ball to me! I solve. " The great players want the
ball to the foot. They have to understand that sometimes the mastery of the game is in
finding a way out without a ball. One day a great coach has taught me one thing: "The
coach has to know when to speak and what to talk, but the most important thing of a
coach is to know when he has to be quiet and let the silence speak." That has marked
me a lot. Transfer that to the players. The players affirm with the ball and without the
ball. That has been Christian's transition. It can not always be at the piano, on the
guitar, on the violin and on the drums. Because in the end the teacher has to lead the
collective making an impact, for example, making the goals. Messi in this is like
Michael Jordan. Jordan was in the rebounds, he was in the points and in the assists,
but in the end the team works functionally around him. That is not available to
everyone. That is within the reach of those who are not football. They are soccer.
Cristiano, Messi, Eusebio, Pelé, are football.
Q. Did you come to coincide with Sergio Ramos? You will find it in Kazan ...
A. Sergio was one of my defeats. The press knows well my defeats with Madrid at the
end of the 2003-2004 season. I speak of my defeats with President Florentino Pérez.
The president won with his decisions and those we wanted to bring Sergio Ramos of
Sevilla in 2004 lost. So it is that Florentino 5, and Queiroz and Valdano 0. They signed
him later, in 2005, and it was much more expensive. I fought a lot to bring Pepe and
Sergio. Remember when I said that a Ferrari with three wheels can not run?
Q. How do you assess the trajectory of Spain?

A. Fantastic! With Del Bosque the selection had a very accentuated tone in the
components of game control, collective dynamics and individual expression
throughout the field. You saw everywhere players with many initiatives and freedom
of decision with all players harmonized in a coherence of time, rhythm, pass,
penetration and progression. I feel that Spain has had an endorsement with the latest
results. For a simple reason. Soccer is very conservative. A few years ago it was said:
"team that wins is not touched". On the contrary: when you are at the top of your
game you have to change. Because when you win the others copy you, they imitate
you, they challenge you. That has been the problem of Spain in recent years: it has
not had a different approach based on players who over the years could not give the
same performance. I feel that Lopetegui observed this situation and gave the team
another speed. They were circulating in first, second, third fourth fifth ... and
Lopetegui has put the sixth and seventh. They do the same thing they did before but
in a more consistent and effective way. I think that with that Spain can be a serious
candidate to win the Cup. Of course it depends on many factors. Spain, Portugal,
Germany, France ... All players arrive with 60-65 matches in their legs. And the mental
fatigue factor can cause damage.
Q. The goal of Iran to overcome group stage. Do you have an advantage over Spain,
Portugal or Morocco? Can you concentrate your players more time?
A. I have to be honest with myself and with everyone. Responding directly to that
question, I am increasingly pessimistic. Why? Because we are not ... For everything in
life there is a price. For such a great, so miraculous success, for an almost impossible
mission ... To make it possible you have to pay a very high price. If you want to be
successful with a team that leaves Asia to qualify against Spain, Portugal and Morocco
you have to be brave. Make big decisions not compromise decisions and sympathy.
What happens? We have been the second team in the world to qualify for the Cup.
We had one year and four months to prepare. From the first day I said: to get the
qualification to eighths you have to pay a price. You can not succeed in the World
Cup at the price of balances. You have to have an intense preparation. Special. Only.
How are you going to do it? Following the rules of FIFA with a concentration four days
before the Cup, such as Spain and Germany that have players from Real Madrid,
Barça, Liverpool, Manchester City, United or PSG?
Q. Why could not he prepare the World Cup as he thought?
A. I thought we would put an intense preparation, worthy, very responsible. I think
about the responsibility and the dignity of the competition. The commitment, the
delivery. Those are not things that go out of style in life. They are present when you
want to achieve a goal. I'm just the coach. And what do I do? Put all my desires. On
May 5 we started a rally with local players. Theoretically we had to start with 20. But I'll
start with three. Better three than zero! It's reality. When there are four, four will come.
I can not do more but the possibilities that we have before the games start have to do
with the responsibilities and capacities of each one. What do we have to do? When
the draw came out we had three possibilities. First, change the World Cup. With the
group that touched us, let us take our place and we leave it for 2022. We do not want
to do it! If there is a team that thinks that we are going to offer our position, let them
forget. We want to go to Russia. The second: change objectives. If we consider
qualifying for the second phase against Spain, Portugal and Morocco, the attitude of
the players will go down. So, since we have the Asian Cup in January, what I say to my
players are two very simple things for everyone. The advantage of Iran playing against
Morocco, Spain and Portugal is one: we have two results. Spain Portugal and Morocco
have three: they can win, draw and lose. Iran can only win or learn. In one way or
another we have to come out winners. So that when the Asian Cup begins, Iran only
has one thing in its head: to win the Asian Cup. The second thing I say to the players
is very simple in every game: at the end of the 90 minutes they have to be sure that
the Iran shirt is in a better place.
Q. Did you try to concentrate the players and they did not let you?
A. I tried to develop a specific preparation plan since last year. Not only concentrating
the players in Iran. In the 2014 World Cup, of 23 players we only had three competing
in Leagues outside of Iran. Now, of the 23 we have 14-15 that are out. But you have to
sustain the success also with the local players. More than a year ago I introduced a
plan for the locals to have complementary training to compensate for the difference
in intensity and rhythm of the Iranian League with the European ones. But to do that,
you have to think about two things: strong leadership and making strong decisions,
you have to understand that you must make sacrifices and determine priorities.
Unhappily that has not been the case. We are limited. But that does not mean that we
are not doing a specific job. We are doing but not what I thought would be
fundamental for the Iranian players to make a world championship shining and with a
lot of dignity in the fight for the results. That was my goal. But if instead of ten months
you have six, you train six months; and if instead of having 18 players we have three
we train with three. And if I had to train with one I would train with one. The training of
one will contribute something that if not trained could not contribute.
Q. How do you define the character of the Iranian player?
A. For justice and morality, I have to make a statement about the Iranian players: I
have never seen players in my life who offer both football and the national team in
exchange for so few compensations. Nowhere in the world are there players who give
themselves with such enthusiasm and motivation and in the end there is not even a
"thank you". That speaks a lot about the character of the national team players. I've
been with them for seven years and it's a pleasure and an honor. They are very
educated people, very nice, very dedicated, and they have an ambition to learn, to
develop, to play football ... If you send seven hours of training in the field twice a day
they will always have a smile on their lips and working fantastic That has been the
most positive note. But when I arrived here I had a very weak point that was a trend
that they bring from outside, I do not know if it is cultural or social. Many times they try
to apologize and victimize the situation.
Q. What do you mean?
A. I will give an example. When I started my work I was analyzing the players in
previous matches and I saw the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup: Iran against Korea. At
the end of the game I saw all the players on the grass sitting or lying. Many crying. He
crashed me. See players crying while sitting ... When we met for the first time I
showed them the images and said: 'With me here your job is not to mourn for Iran;
your job is to make others cry for their countries. From today I do not want to see
anyone cry. They have to have the certainty of converting others into heroes who cry
for their countries. '
Q. And how does a totalitarian and clerical political regime influence your work?
A. I have worked with selection teams for many years. The virtues and defects of
football are common in all parts of the world. If there is one virtuous thing about
football, it has a common root: the political, social and cultural impact provokes the
same reactions throughout the world. Everyone wants to win, everyone has
opinions ... I've seen ministers in Portugal who did not have a political opinion but
always had a football idea and thought it was the best. The same happens in Iran. The
press is very aggressive in terms of criticism and coverage. People linked to politics
comment on football as in all countries. In these terms, Iran's soccer is as developed
as in the more developed countries of the world. In Iran there is no attempt to
influence the leaders in what happens in the field. You see that in modern countries
the political and administrative part is entering the four stripes. It is one of the great
problems of football. The commercial part is entering too much into the four lines. I
have the example of United and Madrid, where the rest time of the players is being
used as active time for commercial and financial issues. We have to know how to live
with that, but sometimes that incursion is anarchic. Out of respect: at least we should
take care of certain forms. You do not enter the president's office without knocking on
the door, but the executives are entering the field without knocking on the door. And
that's not good for football. That question is very curious: in the national team of Iran
you do not have that problem: they are very respectful of the areas of action of each
one.