In Central America, too many cooks in one pot

By Alvaro Riet, www.sports911.com  

There are difficult subjects and then there are delicate subjects that can hurt.  Matters that can be misinterpreted but that, nonetheless, we must enunciate.  I believe that there exists an immaturity in regards to the soccer officials in Central America and it is a condition that does not allow soccer to evolve professionally in that part of our Latin America.

Still fresh in my memory is the appointment and dismissal of coach Salvador Bilardo from the Guatemalan national team.  Was it because of his somewhat huge salary?

If it was due to the one million dollars a year salary he received as coach of the Guatemalan national team, as the rumors claim, then Bilardo is not at fault.  If you are looking where to lay  blame, then let it be the Guatemalan soccer officials.  They assigned him that monumental stipend and allowed him to work at a distance, from Argentina. His exit was historical. 

During our sports show on Radio Unica that day, I called our correspondent in the land of the “chapines” (as Guatemalans called themselves) and learned from him of Bilardo’s dismissal that very same morning.  I immediately called Bilardo, the Argentinean coach, in Buenos Aires, on his cell phone and asked him: “Salvador, what happened? Why have they removed you from the Guatemalan selection?” Bilardo was surprised, “You’re mistaken, Alvaro.  I just finished speaking with Eduardo (his assistant and friend, Eduardo Lujan Manera, lamentably deceased just a short time later) and everything is well.”  “Salvador,” I told him, “all is not well.  This morning, you and Eduardo have been dismissed.  How is it possible that the Guatemalan officials have not yet informed you?” 

And now, we have witnessed the resignation of Bora Milutinovic from his post as coach of the Honduras National Team.  Another case of the immaturity of soccer officials in that zone of the Concacaf, without forgetting Primitivo Madariaga’s exit from that same “catracha” selection.  These “executive” decisions are not only costly; they also complicate what we call the takeoff process in the evolution of soccer in Central America.  In both cases, Bilardo’s departure, from a distant yesterday and Bora’s in a near today, provide evidence of the immaturity on the part of the C.A. soccer officials, which we have been talking about all along.  Why was it that they acquired Bilardo’s services as a coach, knowing very well how expensive he was and the form in which he was going to do his work?  Why then bring in Bora, if they were not ready to support and protect him from the harsh criticism of his methods? 

As much in Guatemala as in Honduras, reverse pitches were taken, money was spent and what’s worse, it has not fulfilled a process that should have been allowed to continue and be preserved.  Let’s not, however, dwell in the past nor look back to the time of Miguel Brindisi in Guatemala, nor closer in time, to Madariaga’s exit in Honduras.

I get the impression that the Central American soccer officials get themselves all excited with big names such as Brindisi, Bilardo, Milutinovic… without taking into consideration the costs and time involved in these processes.  The coaches we have mentioned are all hard working and honest men.  They are not magicians, but then, there’s only one Mandrake and that’s a comic strip in magazines…  The officials in these Central American countries we mentioned must show more responsibility.  They must think before making decisions, whether hiring or dismissing. Their tactics in manhandling coaches and their work is what causes soccer in Central America to be bogged down and  stagnate. 

How can the tremendous growth of soccer in the United States be explained?  And don’t tell me that it is due to the economical affluence or the excellent facilities, etc.  Here in the United States, no official at the helm of a team tries to take neither advantage nor thinks to destabilize a process or taint the reputation of a soccer coach.  It is true that there is already an availability of materials and resources to facilitate the coach’s work, but it is also true that there exist responsibility and ethics at the officials’ level.  They do not appear in the players’ dressing rooms to pressure players and coach.  Here in United States, there exists respect and each one has its own place in the team.  Respect and teamwork is what makes the soccer machine work, that is the truth in the growth of the North American soccer. 

Nothing is the same, the countries are different, and procedures are different.  What Central American soccer officials must hold true are the concepts of seriousness, responsibility and transparency of procedures, either behind the desk or in the field.  At the moment, they are in the red and accountable for the ineffectiveness of the results achieved by their administration.  Central American officials must improve largely and show due respect for their coaches’ work processes.