FIFA EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RAMON DIAZ

Insatiable and intense, the Argentinian coach’s eyes light up when he talks about his next challenge with Al Hilal, about this week’s opportunity to play for another title, about the chance to celebrate one more time. Excerpt:

Who is Ramon Diaz?

I have to be thankful for football because it gave me the chance to get to know the world, get to know other people’s quirks and other countries. I’ve been all over the world, more or less, and now that I’m a coach I try to pass on my experience to the young men in my care. I think in Saudi Arabia, where I work at the moment, I’ve been lucky to have some really good times. I’ve had the chance to win three league titles and two cups.

What we’ve been able to do, my coaching staff and I are really important. We know the country very well, we know what the management is like where I am, which is at the biggest club in Asia, where you always have to win and play well. We try and play attacking football, to play the game the right way, and for the moment we’re getting good results.

It’s because I know the club. I was one of the pioneers. Sure, Jorge Solari (who coached Saudi Arabia in the USA in 1994) and other coaches came before me, but I was lucky to arrive at a moment when the club wanted to take things to the next level. Saudi Arabia has changed a lot, in every way, and in the investment in their teams. Before there was a limit of four foreign players; now we can have eight.

You can have some of the best players here. Money is not a problem for them. The biggest difficulties are whether a player can adapt to the way of life and to the heat. There are times when it’s really difficult, but if you can adapt and if you come with the intention of staying, you’ll get on fine.

Well, I’m at a very good point. We’ve just won a league title and a cup. And I’m at a club that’s going through its best time ever. It’s won the Asian Champions League twice, three domestic leagues, and cups too. The majority of the players – 80 per cent of the Saudis – are internationals.

We’re at a super competitive club, which gives you the chance to win things. It’s a club with the economic power to get you the players you really want, and that gives you the opportunity to win too. We’ve got a team that plays good football, players who are technically very strong, eight really good foreigners, so I’m really enjoying being here because I really like the team we’ve got.

For us, and I think for the club as well, it’s hugely satisfying. It’s the third time that the club’s taken part, and there’s a lot of international experience, so, of course, we want to do well, we want to go through to the latter stages. The team’s in good shape – really good shape – we’re battling for the title. We won everything there was to win in the last few seasons, so there’s a lot of expectation on us here.

Playing as we play at Al Hilal: with a lot of character, with a lot of possession. We have a team with a lot of experience, with really talented players. And of course, we’re going to have to be focused and not make mistakes if we are to win.

With the conditions being as they are, and the team being in such a good state, I think we’ll win the first game. After that we know we’ll have to play Flamengo and then Real Madrid, but I want to take it to step by step because I know that the squad is good. They’re ready, the foreigners are ready, and they’re accustomed to playing this kind of match.

Al Hilal have won two AFC Champions Leagues on the run, the last three Saudi league titles and the King’s Cup. We’ve got players with lots of experience, and we hope they can produce a good performance, just like all Al Hilal fans do.

Yes, the wear and tear of the World Cup have left us with a few important absences. But this club is so big that the replacements are pretty strong, there are some young players who are improving all the time and they’re going to get their chance to shine. We’ve got everything planned and we’ve done all the work, so we’re ready to kick off.

We’re certain that we’ve got a team that can compete here, we’ve got eight foreign players, and with them and almost 20 internationals in total. Of course, we’re going to compete. It won’t be easy, but if we believe in the team, believe in the players we have, we know that this group of players have played in the World Cup, played in the AFC Champions League and won the last edition. We’re a big club, we have good, mature players, and they’re going to give it their all.

Yes, they’ve changed a lot. Their attitude, and their work ethics. Lots of foreign players and foreign coaches of a really high level have come into the league. Most of our players are internationals, whether that’s with Colombia, Peru, or wherever, they’re internationals and they have the class and the level we need.

So Saudi football has grown and it’s going to keep on doing that because the country has set itself really ambitious objectives for bringing the best players. The possibilities are there, and they can do it economically. It’s more and more competitive, and better and better to be part of it.

He’s very talented, really quick and also incredibly fit. He can dictate tempo, he’s very good on the ball and scores goals. We’re really confident that he’s going to show off all that talent here.

No, because he’s a talented kid. He had the chance to go and play at Villarreal. It was a good experience for him, he and the others who went had that contact with the international game. Saudi Arabia is very close to Europe, to international football, and it’s grown a lot as a result.?

What I want most of all is to win more trophies with this club. I want to win another league title, then we’ll decide what happens after that. For now, though, I’m focusing on the present.