For the past week - the news has been all about the National Football Team, the Jaguars. We've had extensive coverage in the Dominican Republic and in Belize. But, through it all you haven't heard very much from Brazilian Head Coach Jorge Nunez. He lets his assistant Charlie Slusher do all the talking to the press. He does that, primarily - we suspect - because his English isn't very good - but also because it's his style - he's naturally very laid back and shies from the spotlight. But, there must be something substantial behind the shy exterior - because this Brazilian Coach has Belize playing the beautiful game. Yesterday his assistant told us it has a lot to do with coaching continuity:..
Mose Hyde
"Coach Nunez, is not the man who wants to be in the light, but how effective has he been as the head coach of the team in your opinion?"
Charlie Slusher
"Well I think one of the good thing about it, just like me, he respects Belizean football and players. I think one of our biggest problem we had in the past is a lot of coaches come here and not have any respect for Belizean football or players on a whole. But just by us knowing what Belizean players can do in the sense that when you look at Deon and Shane, those guys can compete against anybody in the world at the best and I think coach Nunez and myself knows the players, we know Belizean football and that's a big plus."
But more than just a constant presence - Nunez also has a very deliberate counter-attacking style that he coaches his team to play. Last night our football color commentator Freddy Cantiliano asked the coach in Spanish about his vision for the team. He said, it starts and ends with hard work:...
Jorge Nunez
"We must continue working, I've always said that football can only progress by working hard, we'll continue working hard. For now the guy will be given two weeks of relaxation, and after that is right back to training again."
Fredy Cantillano
"Your middle fielders were criticized heavily in the first match and today was different thing, what do you think happened today that they could deliver much better?"
Jorge Nunez
"Like I said, the state of the field has to do a lot with playing a better game, our team is a team that like to touch the ball a lot, back in Dominicana it was difficult to touch the ball, we had to do a more direct game, a more direct contra-attack, here we contra-attack with ball well controlled, also this field is our field where we trained every day, that a big difference. The other field was very small and in bad condition, which made it difficult to play a touch - touch ball game. Thank God the player were confident, we have being training for the past 8 months, I believe we will get very far."
Fredy Cantillano
"What do you see coming in the future for the national team of Belize?"
Jorge Nunez
"Well we are in a process, as you know all processes take hard work, we are a young team for instance Polanco has only eighteen years, Jerard has twenty, Casey has twenty as well, practically a young team. Consequently, we need to give it time, they require a lot of work, patience is require, the players need to have patience, the fans need to have patience with the coaching staff because things will not change overnight, I see a very good future for Belize once there is continuity to the process in which we are."
So since his continuous presence is a factor in the team's success - will he stay on, or can the Federation keep him on? Tune in tomorrow night for part two of Freddy's interview with the coach to hear how he answers that question.
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