A Hernán Torres team has to run double. A team of Hernán Torres has to fight the triple. They are teams that do not know naivety, that do not understand cowardice or indiscipline. His team will always be lively, pure fire. The eleven he chooses always come out to play like beasts. If they are thirsty, it will be triumphant. If they are hungry, it will be glorious. This is Deportes Tolima, a brave tribe that long ago learned the art of winning, because that is why Torres is their coach.
Hernán Torres, 61, born in Ibagué, a soccer exporter, a man of character, with a strong personality, with a voice like thunder, became an expert in finals. He has three consecutive with Tolima in the League. A year ago, Torres won the title with this same team, he won it from Millonarios. Six months ago he was installed in the final again, losing it against Deportivo Cali. He now returns to this definitive instance, against Atlético Nacional (Wednesday first leg, Sunday return), as if to show that the finals are already a way of life. And there is no rival who feels comfortable against Torres’s warriors, much less Nacional, because every time he sees that tribe on fire, he doesn’t get burned; it freezes.
But that doesn’t mean that Torres already knows them all; On the contrary, a few days before the first game of this series, he is restless, he thinks all the time how he is going to achieve it, he reviews every detail, his strategy goes around in his head like balls. And of course, Hernán Torres has nerves, and how not to have them if there is another star at stake.
Hand in hand with Hernán Torres
Have you gotten used to playing finals, to living these moments?
They are special, important moments, because not every time you can play finals, and more so with this rival as Nacional. I’m a little tense, thinking, checking that nothing is left to chance, with all the details, that none is overlooked, because those details are what make the difference, I try to make sure everything is adjusted and we get to the game well.
How do you get to three finals in a row, what is your formula, did you take the measure of the local league?
It is thanks to God, I trust in Him, I believe in Him, I ask Him, He is the first being to justify my campaigns, then, as soccer men we know that this is about human groups, soccer is teamwork; I have had very good groups, with spectacular campaigns, with three finals in a row; I have a group with a desire to win, with a hunger for triumph, they are fighters who overcome all adversity along the way.
When it is said that you are the coach of the moment in Colombia, what do you think?
It is the results that make one dream and say that one is the best, but there are very good technicians here, sometimes the results are not given to some, but they are very good, I could say that the best technicians in South America It’s the Colombians, the ones who work best tactically, we worry about having ordered teams, I’m from that school, prepared, studied for order, that was taught to me by the technicians I had.
But he is proud…
Yes, it gives joy, but this is football, I can lose and lose again and I will no longer be the good one but the bad one. You have to have balance, not be in the clouds in good times or under the canvas when things go wrong. Today we are important; when not, you have to accept criticism. That’s what this race is, not everyone likes the way Tolima plays, others do, everyone can evaluate my style, this is soccer.
How is a team of Torres, what does not negotiate?
The discipline! Torres bellows. I don’t deal with that, when I played you had to work to survive in this career, which is short. If you are disciplined, you have order; if not, there are sad, overwhelming circumstances.
That’s where his character comes from…
It is my essence, I have always been disciplined, with my goals. Working with the players is a process of improving in all aspects, I have gained maturity, experience, I have consolidated a style of play and management that gives me results.
What is that style?
The president of the club, Gabriel Camargo, is to put together important groups, with talented players, who adapt to the club’s economy, he is detailed in that, he does not go over budget, and we have important players, with a great group human, fast players, with good footing, aggressive, technical, there is youth, experience, that mixture leads us technicians to put together styles, different proposals according to the rival, without losing identity, with defensive solidity, ordered, with a block important.
Torres’ team, in addition to discipline, has courage, dedication, sacrifice…
When you are disciplined outside, you are inside, the Tolima player is that: attitude, concentration, fighting, not standing still when losing the ball, running, pressing, not letting the rival think.
You spoke of many difficulties to reach this final, which ones?
I speak in general: injuries, complications, playing every two days, the hustle and bustle since January, muscle problems, fractures; It is said that the payroll is large and he almost did not put together the team against La Equidad, he had 10 injured, against Envigado he had no central, and the trips, that wears out.
The results have prevailed in favor of Tolima, but it is football, Wednesday is a new story, we have to prepare, we have to plan to find the result.
Against Nacional there is morbidity, because Tolima took his pulse?
The results have prevailed in favor of Tolima, but it is football, Wednesday is a new story, we have to prepare, we have to plan to find the result. What has happened is relative, before with Alberto Gamero Tolima they also beat Nacional, but Wednesday is another story.
Do the players see it that way?
This is a mature group, they know that it is a new story, one cannot live from what happened.
What worries you about your rival?
Everything, Nacional had an important enhancement with Hernán Darío Herrera, he is solid, everything worries me, how he attacks, how he defends.
Tolima is already a great?
It makes me happy that this is said, and it is not from now, it is 10 or 12 years ago, that he is the protagonist, always fighting finals, always in international tournaments…
What is the great virtue of your team?
Humility, we have a good head on our shoulders.
What about your career as a goalkeeper do your teams have?
I listened to great technicians like Dr. Ochoa, Prince, who is my tutor, or Bernal, Otero, who said that you have to arm yourself from the back to the front, first solidity and then forcefulness or depth.
You are a man with a strong temperament, what amuses you?
No. They call me strong, but no, everything makes me happy, I laugh, I speak loudly, well, it’s my style –there is a burst of laughter that doesn’t come out–, as a goalkeeper I shouted, ‘close, enlarge’, but the player who I lead can tell you how I treat and manage it and how I have a happy team.
And what irritates him?
The injustice. Football is unfair, that keeps me up at night.
What is your ceiling with Tolima and what do you envision for your future?
The ceiling? I make short goals, game after game. My goal today is National, my God knows what he will have for me, where he will take me. God is my businessman.
Does your employer not talk to you about the National Team?
I don’t really think about that, things just happen, you never know.
PAUL ROMERO
Editor of THE TIME
@PabloRomeroET
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