The Mexican Luis Fernando Tena, coach of Guatemala, said on Tuesday, May 20, during the ‘Media Day of the Concacaf’ to repeat the historic fourth place of the Chapines in the 1996 Gold Cup is complicated.
“It’s very difficult,” he says, but is confident that his team can sign a “great performance” in the next edition of the Maximum Concacaf team tournament.
“Promise a place like fourth place in 1996 is very complicated, although Yes I think we are going to make a great performancen. I see the squad we have, the quality and determination of our players, “said the Mexican coach in response to a question of the EFE agencyduring the virtual conference organized by Concacaf.
Tena was optimistic for the continental tournament: “I trust that we will make a great tournament. Today, no one can guarantee a position, and less in a competition as demanding as this, ”he said.
On the rivals of Group C – Panama, Jamaica and Guadalupe – the strategist recognized the difficulty of the painting.
“We had a very hard group, with very competitive selections. We have already faced Guadalupe two years ago, he is playing very well, for something he eliminated Nicaragua, who had been playing from improvement. But we trust our capabilities And we believe that we can advance to the next round, as we did two years ago, when we classified first with seven points, “he recalled.
Before the Gold Cup and the start of the World Cup qualifiers, Guatemala will be measured in a friendly against El Salvador at the Finley Stadium, in Tennessee, United States.
“It will be a very useful match for both. We are a few days after playing the first qualifying match and we need to do a general essay of what we intend to take to the court,” said the coach, who assumed the direction of the Guatemalan team in November 2021.
Tena also stressed that, in the face of the next commitments, one of the aspects to be reinforced will be the definition. “We have defensively been solid and we are better coordinated in our movements, but we must work to get more strongly to the attack and populate the rival area more,” he said.
Guatemala will debut in the Gold Cup On June 16 against Jamaica, he will face Panama on June 20 and close the group stage on June 24 against Guadalupe.