In the photographic archives of Deportivo Cali there is an image in which Teófilo Gutiérrez and Rafael Dudamel appear shaking their right hand. They smile. They smile with that gesture that only champions have. And each one raises in his other hand the trophy that accredits them as the best player and the best coach of the Colombian League of 2021.
That happened last month, when the members of the Colombian Association of Professional Soccer Players voted to give them these distinctions. A month ago, ‘Teo’ and ‘Rafa’ were still savoring the honey of the tenth star.
Today, things are not going well. The team has not been able to get out of the basement of the table when half of the League is over and a greater challenge is approaching, the Copa Libertadores. But the club has turned the page on a chapter marked by the disbandment of several of its main players and looks ahead with its head held high, because there is still a way to go. And as long as there is that possibility, the canvas does not exist.
These days in which the League is in recess due to election day in Colombia have had to serve for deep reflection. Reflection and work. How to rebuild the path of the champion, who will return to competition in three days when he visits Bucaramanga? The captain, Teófilo Gutiérrez, agreed to tell El País about it. He has faith that a photographer can once again capture his smile and that of ‘Rafa’.
How to get the team out of the pit?
With work, with group union. New pieces have arrived and it’s great that they are already fitting well into the team, you can see the improvement. In every way and at all times we have to face things with height. When everything is fine, you have to continue to avoid slipping, and when everything is not very good, you have little margin for error. It happened to us last year, when Professor Rafael Dudamel arrived. We couldn’t be wrong and we knew how to handle the situation. We assumed it responsibly, with height and the team accommodated to that. Now we are in an almost similar moment and this situation does not condition us. On the contrary, it makes us stronger and more fluid in football.
The pressure is much stronger now…
Pressure is important to you as a leader. We are many leaders, many captains in the team. We have talked a little about that and we are all on the same line. Very important games are coming up, where the leadership of all the teammates will be reflected on the field and I think that Deportivo Cali has always been characterized by having great teams, great players. Now we have to continue serving the team and give much more. It’s not reaching us, we’re aware of that, but we’re working, I think these days of recess have been good for us with the work of the ‘teacher’ in every way and I think we’re going to get better at the auction of the tournament.
10 games left, 30 points. Do you think there is still a way to recompose the pace and be in the finals?
Yes, I think we all have to push towards that illusion that the Cali fan has and that we also have with the help of our families and God. It is not easy to build that path to achieve the objectives. We are going to encounter many difficulties and anxieties, which we have to face in the best way, with level. This is a very mature group, aware of this moment. The rivals themselves have asked us what is happening to us. These are circumstances that every team goes through, the key is that the situation catches us with the upward curve in these remaining games, and that is going to show what we are in this tournament for.
Many things are said on the street: that the team is broken, that there is no union, that things are not going well due to circumstances unrelated to football. What can the Cali captain say to his fans in that regard?
Perseverance and love for work cannot be changed by the circumstances that the team is going through. This moment, on the contrary, should make us stronger mentally and physically for what is to come. What is coming will be harder than what we are experiencing right now. We are a team that plays ball well, we are finding ourselves with that again and at the end of all the most important thing is the path that we build from now on, because it must be that of resilience, maturity, group union. Each one must put the best at the service of the team. The captains know it, the young people know it. The coaching staff is aware of that and we have been transmitting it to them, so that is the goal, the path that we must build fans and team. Some extra-football things that can happen have hit us. We are a team that plays well and they will always be watching us from all sides. I think that’s part of the game too.
Because of the sanction, you couldn’t be against America in the classic, nor will you be against Bucaramanga on Wednesday. How do you live from the outside not being able to compete when the team needs it?
People know that I love my job, I love football, I live from it. My teammates know it: when I don’t play, I suffer a lot, because I always want to contribute to the team. But hey, there are other elements within the team that should and can also assume that role, they have already done so and they will continue to do so. We are a team and that is why we must all be very well prepared and contribute to the maximum so that everything can flow in the best way and we can achieve the results.
Did the Dimayor sanction surprise you?
Yes, the truth is that it was a pity. I always want to play, be in the team, for people to see the work that one does throughout the week with the ‘teacher’, with my teammates and unfortunately I haven’t been able to be, and even more so in a classic, where the city feels this a lot match. They are decisions that I accept, but I do not share. I suffer not being on the field. I don’t enjoy being in a grandstand because my thing is to work during the week to enjoy what I love most in games and perform for the team.
Is there something against Cali, against Teófilo? How do you analyze it?
You see the bad intention. But hey, only God can judge people, I’m nobody. So against everything we have to play and bring joy to this. My teammates are doing very well, the results have not been given, but football gives revenge, and with work, team unity and strength, everything turns out well in life and in football. Football rewards you when you do things well, it rewards you and it rewards the team.
Six of the starting players of the champion team left. Do you feel that there is another team and that they do not play the same ball?
It is the same team with other elements, technically and tactically. Those who left are great players who contributed a lot to the team and went after their dreams. That is very important for a big team like Cali, which brings out players with international level. It will always be like this. Good players will always be taken from the big teams. And all that Deportivo Cali owes to the coach, who is a very capable man, who has the support of all the players, the captains, who has built something very important within the team, that people out there don’t know , which is difficult to explain. Cali has a great coach who has our support and we are going to give everything so that he too can enjoy the results.
Were you surprised to see that image of the players standing behind Rafael Dudamel in the press conference after the classic?
I had no idea that was going to happen. I went to the locker room to greet my teammates before the game. Then I saw the image of the press conference and the truth was that I interpreted it as a very nice act of charity for the ‘teacher’. An act that very few players do in a team, and I congratulate all the teammates who were there. I couldn’t be there because of the expulsion and it was difficult to be there. But it is a sign of height, of sincerity, of respect and of the affection that we have for the ‘teacher’. The results have not been given, but this is football and everything can change for the better at any moment. We have a great coach, a great squad, and we enjoy playing in this league and abroad, because we are going to represent Colombia in the Copa Libertadores and that fills us with pride.
The Libertadores is a bigger challenge. It could happen that they reach that tournament playing for the classification in the League at the same time…
The Cup is the award that everyone wants, the party where everyone wants to be well dressed, and we are going to be there assuming that challenge with a lot of responsibility, but enjoying it, because if you don’t enjoy it, it’s as if you weren’t competing. Then the pace of the matches and the competition will tell you how far you can go.
From what I interpret, the worst thing that could happen to Cali at this moment, despite the results, is to lose the coach?
I haven’t even thought about it, I don’t see it, nor do I think it will happen because of the state the group is in. In the table we are down, but we are the champion team of Colombian soccer and the road will show us how strong we are as a team.
There is a photo that shows Teófilo and Dudamel posing with two trophies that distinguish them as the best player and the best coach, respectively, of the last League. How to match those talents again?
‘Rafa’ is a very capable coach, who works well on a daily basis. No one knows him on that stage, nor can we show him to everyone, because the great coaches don’t show him how he works. In the final, the work is shown on the field, playing soccer well and being a champion, and being in international competitions. With a short and young payroll, last year we were the best team in Colombian soccer, demonstrating our humility, the faith we have and of which the Cali fan should feel proud.
The champion is alive…
The champion is alive and sticking his head out little by little.
Data
Deportivo Cali occupies the 18th place in the Colombian League with 7 points, after 10 games played.
It is 8 points behind the eighth —where it closes the group of teams partially classified for the finals—, which is América.
His next rival, on date 11, will be Atlético Bucaramanga, who ranks 13th with 12 units.
Bucaramanga is trained by Armando el ‘Piripi’ Osma, one of the renowned players he had at Deportivo Cali in the 1980s.
The game in Bucaramanga will be at 6:05 in the afternoon.
