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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Sports

Gustavo Costas: ‘As long as we still have the points we need, we are not dead’

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Interview Named sources Outcome reported
  • Cerro Porteño coach Gustavo Costas said his team must keep fighting after a hard-fought win over neighbourhood rival Nacional.
  • Costas acknowledged that a congested schedule and limited training time affected the team’s performance, and said he may have made mistakes with substitutions.
  • Cerro Porteño has taken seven points from its last nine available, keeping its title hopes alive despite a difficult position in the table.

Gustavo Costas refuses to let Cerro Porteño’s difficult position in the table end the team’s title fight. After the club’s tense win over neighbourhood rival Nacional, the coach said the players still had to believe.

We had to win. To get out of the situation we were in, we had to win. These matches are important for us. They are finals. We cannot throw away the championship. We are a big team and we cannot throw away the championship.

· Gustavo CostasThe Cerro Porteño coach explained why the victory over Nacional was essential.

“We had to win,” Costas said. “To get out of the situation we were in, we had to win. These matches are important for us. They are finals. We cannot throw away the championship. We are a big team and we cannot throw away the championship.”

The coach acknowledged that the mathematics are unfavourable and that the top of the table appears far away. But he said the team would continue to dream while points remained available. “We have to go for it, get excited, we have to dream of winning. Then, I know we are very far away, but anything can happen in life. As long as we still have the points we need, we are not dead. We have to keep going, we have to keep winning.”

We have to go for it, get excited, we have to dream of winning. Then, I know we are very far away, but anything can happen in life. As long as we still have the points we need, we are not dead. We have to keep going, we have to keep winning.

· Gustavo CostasCostas said the team’s title hopes remained alive despite its difficult position.

Costas also accepted responsibility for a performance affected by a relentless schedule and limited recovery time. “Maybe my mistake today was that I should have changed some players because we were very tired,” he said. The team had little time to work on his preferred style, based on intensity, pressing and keeping possession. Training sessions often focused on players who had not played, while the regular starters recovered for the next match.

Maybe my mistake today was that I should have changed some players because we were very tired.

· Gustavo CostasHe accepted responsibility for not making more substitutions during the congested schedule.

Even so, the team’s latest run has brought seven points from a possible nine. Costas said he was pleased with the result but insisted that Cerro Porteño needed to improve significantly to dream of winning the championship. He praised players who refused to come off despite exhaustion, saying some had to be removed because they would not ask for a substitution themselves.

I am very happy because we won, but we have to improve much more to be able to dream of this championship.

· Gustavo CostasThe coach assessed the result and the team’s remaining work.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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