Coach Martín Anselmi, winner of two international titles at the helm of Independiente del Valle, has reacted briskly to public criticism of the club for its decision to place up to seven foreign players in the starting line-up at the start of the 2023 season.

One critic is Carlos Tenorio, president of the Ecuadorean Football Players’ Association (AFE).

And the Independiente del Valle Youth Academy? Against Flamengo, none of the club’s starting players were born

Anselmi told TV ESPN He hopes that “the habit” of titles won by Independiente “isn’t a match”. “We have five championships this year, we’ve already won two (Supercopa Ecuador and Recopa Sudamericana), and here we are, step by step to each one.”

On the process of the match, he explained: “In the end we always knew, both in the home and away, that they play with four midfielders in the middle and we took a risk in the first leg by playing with three midfielders and having one less, try to adapt to one.” The lanes are on the other side; it was out of reach but we wanted to play strikers.”

And he added, “In the return match, with the advantage, we realized that the striker was fine with the midfielders (Flamingo), as four players scored against the four midfielders, and from there they tried to balance the match.”

The key to Independiente’s success once the year begins, Anselmi hopes, is “the team, the group; we’ve been a family since June last year and we’re building it”.

As for the criticisms he leveled about the number of foreigners he puts in the first place, he replied that the comments “do not make sense”, and recommended that the critics better speak “about the projects that Ecuador is carrying out”.

“Criticism is meaningless, because criticizing Independiente is absurd.”Anselmi, 37, started.

“Independiente has fifteen years of history, and I don’t have enough time to list how many players we’ve sold, who we’ve trained. The 150 boys who are on the property every day eat breakfast, train, and study. We have a modern school where we provide resources to the children of Ecuador. (…) The teams are fully represented by our players. I wish there was a project like this in my country. Instead of talking about foreigners, let’s talk about the projects that Ecuador is carrying out “he said flatly ESPN.

(Dr)