Guillermo Almada on the possibility of losing a third final: “I’m not going to commit suicide”

Almada admitted that the finals he lost with Santos and Pachuca were two of the cruelest blows he has suffered in his career, but that won’t imply that he will be under additional pressure to win this year’s Apertura title.

“There is a path that brought us to where we are – it was not easy, we had to do something positive to get there, but I am not going to commit suicide if we don’t win. I will remain convinced of my idea. You win, you lose or you draw – nothing is absolute in soccer”, he assured.

The Uruguayan added, “It doesn’t put me under any pressure, it’s very satisfying just to be able to participate in a final – many others would love to be here, you have to have great merits to get this far. We’re going to give it our all, try to win it. But pressure? That’s what the guy who has to get up at four in the morning to provide for his children is under, that is pressure, this isn’t”.

Almada also spoke of the lessons learned from those two finals lost to Cruz Azul and Atlas. “Both are painful, but I try to focus on positive things; they were similar because in both we played better than the rival, but we couldn’t win. Now the young players have more experience and we have improved in certain areas, we are in a very good moment.

“You are always learning things,” he continued. “The Mexican league has made me grow a lot, but if you play better than your rival, a range of possibilities opens up for you. Mistakes are made, that’s unavoidable – they are part of the game, but we are in a good moment, the players have more experience, it will be a very difficult final”.

Nothing to say about the Mexico coaching post

Some see the final between Toluca and Pachuca as a separate, very personal duel between Ignacio Ambríz and Guillermo Almada in which the winner becomes a firm candidate to take charge of the national team after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. With regard to the Pachuca coach, he did not want to further the controversy and announced that he will no longer speak about the Tri. “The national team has a coach that we must respect, I am going to close this issue, I have already given my opinion, the important thing is that Tata gets it right at the World Cup and the national team does well”, he concluded.