Well, here goes: (I suppose after this I will deserve the Real Madrid forum medal 
)
That is, if Jan doesn’t ban me after such a long post...
From Marca Digital ( http://www.marca.es )
I have spent all my life with interviewing magical giants. From Mick Jagger to Paul McCartney, Bono, Bob Dylan, Madonna… And I only know one thing: Camacho is a star. As big as they are, as important as the biggest one. We won’t lose him.
The idea of making a long interview with Jose Antonio Camacho left me a bit surprised but I didn’t elude the challenge. Since I knew his personality, I knew that he wasn’t in for lots of talk. And I confess that I was wrong. Camacho showed me that being a friend for a long time serves for something.
I called him on Monday.
"Jose, I want to talk to you for Marca but I need time for a calm talk."
The answer surprised me: "Whenever you want and however you want it. Should we do it tomorrow in your place? Well, I think it’s marvelous. Come on, tell me where you live."
The next morning we were in my house, I put on a Minidisc and started the conversation. And I’m saying conversation because I didn’t have any questions prepared. It looked more like a talk between friends and he also took it like that wholeheartedly.
-Tell me the truth, how do you feel, a bit depressed, frustrated?
-Oh no, no. I am very well. We played all four games to win, we dominated them. We lost two of them unfairly. Now we’re at home. I have done everything I could. The opponent plays as well.
-I called doctor Gonzalez Ruano yesterday and he told me that you moved him. He told me that after the defeat from France you thanked one by one all the players, the whole selection. And that there was emotion, sparks of feelings.
-This is true. I am grateful to all of them, they did the most they could. And I know how they had arriver at the gathering. I know how a Spanish player is like in the month of June. And very well.
-You don’t have complaints for anyone, for sure. But some of them must have surprised you in a bad way and others in a good way.
-I’m not going to speak badly of anybody. And it’s the truth. If you had seen the atmosphere we had… This is a war. The media want something to happen. We don’t want anything to happen. We were like that. And it was delightful in there.
-And the pressure? I know that you were nervous, doubtful…
-Oh no, no. The only pressure was losing the game against Norway because of a mistake. And it costs to play the whole tournament up front. But nothing else.
-You are not going to confess that you were wrong, at least one or two times?
-No, no, I was not wrong. If we hadn’t dominated the games, if we had looked like "martians" or asleep, I would tell you that I was wrong. But it wasn’t like that.
-Not even with Valeron and Aranzabal...?
-We already knew that in such a Tournament there were bound to be changes. Look at Aranzabal. The other day they were telling me that nobody understood the reason why I didn’t start Sergi. And the explanation is very easy. Sergi goes up to the front a lot and it this game I didn’t want the wingers to go up front attacking because with a pass from Zidane to Henry they would have killed me. Moreover, with such "beasts" like Thuram, Blanc and Desailly I needed tall players for the high balls. Aranzabal looks taller than Sergi to me, doesn’t he?
-You didn’t give a single order when you saw Raul taking the ball to hit the penalty.
-No, nothing. I noticed that Alfonsito also wanted to take it. And maybe Guardiola. But Raul dared to do it. He was decided and I let him. Something else would have happened if Mendieta was still on the field. He have established that penalties are for a specialist. If in that case I had seen Raul wanting to take it, I would have stopped him and would have ordered for Mendieta to take it.
-Excuse me Jose, but why did you take Mendieta out?
-He was very tired. Had played already three games in an incredible rhythm. I saw him a bit hurt. In these moments, as you can understand, I wasn’t thinking of penalties or golden goal. The only thing I knew was that we could beat the French.
-I think that you were certain of winning the French
-Well yes, I confess. But as you can see I was wrong.
-If you had won, what team would you have started against Portugal? Would Molina play?
-Well probably yes. Look, I don’t know. The fact is that it’s all over.
-The national team you like the most is France, isn’t it ?
-Yes because it’s a team with great tactics. And in the end the future of football is tactics. You know what player I like most? Emerson, the Brazilian. He always knows where to place the ball, when to commit a foul, to evaluate the positional situations of the teams. He is phenomenal. Di Stefano was always saying: when you miss an opportunity, commit a foul immediately after because they can surprise us… When we hit a corner I’m always concerned of the defense because if we score a goal, then we have to celebrate. And what if they score immediately in a counter-attack? France is very good at this.
-Let me at least tell you that you were mistaken in not taking a forward like Morientes...
-Well, OK. I was wrong. I accept it. But we have scored seven goals. Seven. It wasn’t bad at all. And before, Urzaiz always played that role successfully.
-Maybe you were afraid of the insecurity, the depression that hits Morientes when he doesn’t score.
-I don’t know… I don’t know him that well. But he has always been a good guy for the National. For sure I couldn’t take eighty players and you can also count Guerrero in the mistakes but I couldn’t fit in all of them.
-For sure, you were pretty cruel towards Molina...
-And I wasn’t cruel to Canizares, not starting him in the first game?
-Well, you have always liked Canizares better.
-But I also like Molina. And Casillas.
-You didn’t want to put pressure on the youngster?
-No, I only thought that Canizares and Molina were better options for the team.
-It caught my attention that the day of the game against France Hierro asked you to play and you didn’t let him. We are always suspicious that he is only interested in playing…
-Attention. Hierro was not to play. And wouldn’t have played against Portugal if we had passed. Hierro would have been in my disposal only if we had reached the final. What happened? Hierro was something like the talisman of Madrid. He had to play a lot of games without having fully recovered. Only because it was necessary. And now he’s paying for it. But I think that he has a lot of football years ahead.
There’s one thing characteristic in Camacho. The deepness of the look. Sometimes with a smile, sometimes with a touch of passion, another of timidity, of enthusiasm.
-Why do you think Anelka didn’t play?
-Because they had respect for us, no more, no less and they know that Dugarry is more of a fighter and that with Spain they could have problems.
-As a madridista, you’d stick with Anelka?
-Me yes, for sure. He is a great player. You know what happens? In today’s football they want to have a quick return for the money invested in a big transfer. In the case of Anelka I think we should have waited for three seasons patiently for us to be able to get the return of our investment.
-And you would have waited?
-Yes, I think I would.
-It seems to me that you speak like a Real Madrid coach a lot of times, as if you knew that you’re going to be one. I am convinced that you want it and that you are going to accomplish it.
-Well, it’s possible, but the Real Madrid thing has already happened to me and I have already explained it many times.
-Has anybody asked you to become a Real Madrid coach?
-Yes, Lorenzo Sanz, when all that mess occured.
-About five months ago?
-Maybe more, I don’t remember, but I told the truth. I said I had given my word to the Federation and I was going to keep it. I am not thinking of Real Madrid at the time, it’s like a train that has passed me.
-Has Florentino asked you also these days?
-Well no, maybe because he already knows the answer. I am very happy being the coach of the National team. I like it and I’m tied to it.
-Who do you support, Lorenzo or Florentino?
-I am a madridista and that’s it. The election wars have nothing to do with me. They are not going to get a single word from me.
-You want to wait for Real Madrid?
-I know that my time will come, I’ll wait.
Who doubts that Camacho’s life is football?
-I can’t imagine myself doing something else, on top of that I think that you resist any profession or weird thing that happens in your life and leaves you the feeling of wasting your time.
-And the Internet?
-I like it, but I think it’s the quality of pages that exist on football is bad, they are telling so many lies. I know that there are some pages of myself and I have nothing to do with them.
-Your own page would mean a lot.
-It’s possible, but I didn’t have the time. On top of that, if I had a page of my own, I wouldn’t have given this big interview, it would have been in my page.
-Is it true that you had forbidden the press from the training sessions?
-I hadn’t forbidden them, I just recommended that they shouldn’t be there. It could affect them.
-It didn’t affect you ?
-I’m already cured from this fear. I’m not interested in criticism, I only care about the ones that present reasonable arguments on my being wrong and them right.
-The war from the media has an effect on how things are ?
-It affects them enough because it can destroy coaches, players and administratives. I am not interested in listeners that have this or that. What I want is not to be affected, neither myself, nor my environment. This is going to change soon. More that we think.
-Were you displeased with "enough of Guardiola"?
-I saw that it was unfair because Guardiola was guilty of nothing. But in the end they have to sell.
-You are not "untouchable" any more...
-This makes me laugh. Well, I can be touched. Let’s see what happens next.
)That is, if Jan doesn’t ban me after such a long post...
From Marca Digital ( http://www.marca.es )
I have spent all my life with interviewing magical giants. From Mick Jagger to Paul McCartney, Bono, Bob Dylan, Madonna… And I only know one thing: Camacho is a star. As big as they are, as important as the biggest one. We won’t lose him.
The idea of making a long interview with Jose Antonio Camacho left me a bit surprised but I didn’t elude the challenge. Since I knew his personality, I knew that he wasn’t in for lots of talk. And I confess that I was wrong. Camacho showed me that being a friend for a long time serves for something.
I called him on Monday.
"Jose, I want to talk to you for Marca but I need time for a calm talk."
The answer surprised me: "Whenever you want and however you want it. Should we do it tomorrow in your place? Well, I think it’s marvelous. Come on, tell me where you live."
The next morning we were in my house, I put on a Minidisc and started the conversation. And I’m saying conversation because I didn’t have any questions prepared. It looked more like a talk between friends and he also took it like that wholeheartedly.
-Tell me the truth, how do you feel, a bit depressed, frustrated?
-Oh no, no. I am very well. We played all four games to win, we dominated them. We lost two of them unfairly. Now we’re at home. I have done everything I could. The opponent plays as well.
-I called doctor Gonzalez Ruano yesterday and he told me that you moved him. He told me that after the defeat from France you thanked one by one all the players, the whole selection. And that there was emotion, sparks of feelings.
-This is true. I am grateful to all of them, they did the most they could. And I know how they had arriver at the gathering. I know how a Spanish player is like in the month of June. And very well.
-You don’t have complaints for anyone, for sure. But some of them must have surprised you in a bad way and others in a good way.
-I’m not going to speak badly of anybody. And it’s the truth. If you had seen the atmosphere we had… This is a war. The media want something to happen. We don’t want anything to happen. We were like that. And it was delightful in there.
-And the pressure? I know that you were nervous, doubtful…
-Oh no, no. The only pressure was losing the game against Norway because of a mistake. And it costs to play the whole tournament up front. But nothing else.
-You are not going to confess that you were wrong, at least one or two times?
-No, no, I was not wrong. If we hadn’t dominated the games, if we had looked like "martians" or asleep, I would tell you that I was wrong. But it wasn’t like that.
-Not even with Valeron and Aranzabal...?
-We already knew that in such a Tournament there were bound to be changes. Look at Aranzabal. The other day they were telling me that nobody understood the reason why I didn’t start Sergi. And the explanation is very easy. Sergi goes up to the front a lot and it this game I didn’t want the wingers to go up front attacking because with a pass from Zidane to Henry they would have killed me. Moreover, with such "beasts" like Thuram, Blanc and Desailly I needed tall players for the high balls. Aranzabal looks taller than Sergi to me, doesn’t he?
-You didn’t give a single order when you saw Raul taking the ball to hit the penalty.
-No, nothing. I noticed that Alfonsito also wanted to take it. And maybe Guardiola. But Raul dared to do it. He was decided and I let him. Something else would have happened if Mendieta was still on the field. He have established that penalties are for a specialist. If in that case I had seen Raul wanting to take it, I would have stopped him and would have ordered for Mendieta to take it.
-Excuse me Jose, but why did you take Mendieta out?
-He was very tired. Had played already three games in an incredible rhythm. I saw him a bit hurt. In these moments, as you can understand, I wasn’t thinking of penalties or golden goal. The only thing I knew was that we could beat the French.
-I think that you were certain of winning the French
-Well yes, I confess. But as you can see I was wrong.
-If you had won, what team would you have started against Portugal? Would Molina play?
-Well probably yes. Look, I don’t know. The fact is that it’s all over.
-The national team you like the most is France, isn’t it ?
-Yes because it’s a team with great tactics. And in the end the future of football is tactics. You know what player I like most? Emerson, the Brazilian. He always knows where to place the ball, when to commit a foul, to evaluate the positional situations of the teams. He is phenomenal. Di Stefano was always saying: when you miss an opportunity, commit a foul immediately after because they can surprise us… When we hit a corner I’m always concerned of the defense because if we score a goal, then we have to celebrate. And what if they score immediately in a counter-attack? France is very good at this.
-Let me at least tell you that you were mistaken in not taking a forward like Morientes...
-Well, OK. I was wrong. I accept it. But we have scored seven goals. Seven. It wasn’t bad at all. And before, Urzaiz always played that role successfully.
-Maybe you were afraid of the insecurity, the depression that hits Morientes when he doesn’t score.
-I don’t know… I don’t know him that well. But he has always been a good guy for the National. For sure I couldn’t take eighty players and you can also count Guerrero in the mistakes but I couldn’t fit in all of them.
-For sure, you were pretty cruel towards Molina...
-And I wasn’t cruel to Canizares, not starting him in the first game?
-Well, you have always liked Canizares better.
-But I also like Molina. And Casillas.
-You didn’t want to put pressure on the youngster?
-No, I only thought that Canizares and Molina were better options for the team.
-It caught my attention that the day of the game against France Hierro asked you to play and you didn’t let him. We are always suspicious that he is only interested in playing…
-Attention. Hierro was not to play. And wouldn’t have played against Portugal if we had passed. Hierro would have been in my disposal only if we had reached the final. What happened? Hierro was something like the talisman of Madrid. He had to play a lot of games without having fully recovered. Only because it was necessary. And now he’s paying for it. But I think that he has a lot of football years ahead.
There’s one thing characteristic in Camacho. The deepness of the look. Sometimes with a smile, sometimes with a touch of passion, another of timidity, of enthusiasm.
-Why do you think Anelka didn’t play?
-Because they had respect for us, no more, no less and they know that Dugarry is more of a fighter and that with Spain they could have problems.
-As a madridista, you’d stick with Anelka?
-Me yes, for sure. He is a great player. You know what happens? In today’s football they want to have a quick return for the money invested in a big transfer. In the case of Anelka I think we should have waited for three seasons patiently for us to be able to get the return of our investment.
-And you would have waited?
-Yes, I think I would.
-It seems to me that you speak like a Real Madrid coach a lot of times, as if you knew that you’re going to be one. I am convinced that you want it and that you are going to accomplish it.
-Well, it’s possible, but the Real Madrid thing has already happened to me and I have already explained it many times.
-Has anybody asked you to become a Real Madrid coach?
-Yes, Lorenzo Sanz, when all that mess occured.
-About five months ago?
-Maybe more, I don’t remember, but I told the truth. I said I had given my word to the Federation and I was going to keep it. I am not thinking of Real Madrid at the time, it’s like a train that has passed me.
-Has Florentino asked you also these days?
-Well no, maybe because he already knows the answer. I am very happy being the coach of the National team. I like it and I’m tied to it.
-Who do you support, Lorenzo or Florentino?
-I am a madridista and that’s it. The election wars have nothing to do with me. They are not going to get a single word from me.
-You want to wait for Real Madrid?
-I know that my time will come, I’ll wait.
Who doubts that Camacho’s life is football?
-I can’t imagine myself doing something else, on top of that I think that you resist any profession or weird thing that happens in your life and leaves you the feeling of wasting your time.
-And the Internet?
-I like it, but I think it’s the quality of pages that exist on football is bad, they are telling so many lies. I know that there are some pages of myself and I have nothing to do with them.
-Your own page would mean a lot.
-It’s possible, but I didn’t have the time. On top of that, if I had a page of my own, I wouldn’t have given this big interview, it would have been in my page.
-Is it true that you had forbidden the press from the training sessions?
-I hadn’t forbidden them, I just recommended that they shouldn’t be there. It could affect them.
-It didn’t affect you ?
-I’m already cured from this fear. I’m not interested in criticism, I only care about the ones that present reasonable arguments on my being wrong and them right.
-The war from the media has an effect on how things are ?
-It affects them enough because it can destroy coaches, players and administratives. I am not interested in listeners that have this or that. What I want is not to be affected, neither myself, nor my environment. This is going to change soon. More that we think.
-Were you displeased with "enough of Guardiola"?
-I saw that it was unfair because Guardiola was guilty of nothing. But in the end they have to sell.
-You are not "untouchable" any more...
-This makes me laugh. Well, I can be touched. Let’s see what happens next.
