Gustavo Quinteros is the man Ecuador have turned to in a bid to reach the FIFA World Cup™ for the fourth time in their history. His appointment as Reinaldo Rueda’s successor came at the start of this year and was prompted by his achievement in becoming the first coach to win consecutive league titles with Emelec.
His task of steering La Tri to Russia 2018 begins in October and, as fate would have it, Ecuador’s opening two fixtures could not be more meaningful for the new man at the helm. “Isn’t it amazing that I should have to start against Argentina and Bolivia?” he tellsFIFA.com, unable to suppress a belly laugh at the fact that the fixture list for the upcoming qualifying competition should pitch his new side against the country of his birth first of all and then against the nation he later chose to play for.
Quinteros was born 50 years ago in Argentina and learned his trade as player there before forging a reputation as a dependable centre-half in Bolivia. So dependable was he in fact that, after taking out Bolivian nationality, he earned a place in the Verde squad that appeared at USA 1994. He further strengthened his ties with the national team by taking charge of it between 2010 and 2012.
Contemplating his conflicting feelings and struggling to put his thoughts into words, Quinteros said: “I’ve got a lot of affection for Bolivia and, as an Argentinian… facing Argentina... It’s a mix of emotions for me. I’ve always been an Argentinian football fan, and I always think about their qualification chances and whether they can win the World Cup or the Copa America.
“On the one hand it’s fantastic to be facing them, and on the other it’s causing me a bit of distress, the fact that I’ll have to hear the national anthem from the other side, the people…”
Collecting his thoughts, he managed to put the nature of his task into words: “You have to beat them and play better because you’ve put a team together and you’re a professional. I have to defend Ecuador 100 per cent, though I don’t like doing it. I don’t like beating Argentina.”
The right blend
Dislike it or not, Quinteros has made a habit of making life hard for the country of his birth. During his Bolivia tenure he twice faced La Albiceleste in Argentina, avoiding defeat on both occasions.  
The first of those games was a 1-1 draw in the opening match of the 2011 Copa America, a scoreline Quinteros' charges later repeated in the qualifiers for Brazil 2014. “They were historic results for Bolivia and the team played very well,” he explained. “We negated Messi and five or six others too. Messi’s the best of the lot, but Argentina have got a lot of other matchwinners and amazing players too. They’re the best South American team of the last few years.”
We need to make ourselves strong in Quito, give as good as we get against everyone when we’re on the road and keep our intensity levels up for the whole 90 minutes.
Ecuador head coach Gustavo Quinteros
Though Quinteros had plenty of time in which to plan for those games – time that he made the most of – his preparations for Ecuador’s trip to Buenos Aires on Thursday 8 October will be somewhat different, as he explained: “We’ve got less time to work with now but we’ve still got a strong team. Ecuador have some fine players and if we can be at our very best, then we’ve got a chance of coming away with a good result, and not just in Argentina, but anywhere.
“The key will be cutting off Argentina’s passing from the back and forcing them to mix it up a lot and hit long balls and then make them fight for the knockdowns,” he added, before making it clear that La Tri will not be sitting back waiting. “We need to stick together as a unit but also make sure we do so far away from our own area. If we let them bring the ball out nice and cleanly and get their passing game going, then they’re going to put a lot of dangerous attacks together.
“Any of their players could make life hard for us with a shot, a one-two or a pass, and we have to really press them, stop them from playing and force them to make mistakes so we can capitalise whenever they give us a bit of space.”
On the attack
That is the approach Ecuador will take in their nine away games, though Quinteros and his coaching staff believe the key to getting the edge in a tight qualifying competition is their Quito form.
“We’ll be up against five powerhouses in the qualifiers: Argentina and Brazil, because of their history and players, and Colombia, Uruguay and Chile, who’ve all had success in recent years,” he explained. “As for us, we’re changing the way we play and we need a fair amount of time to bring together everything that we want. We need to make ourselves strong in Quito, give as good as we get against everyone when we’re on the road and keep our intensity levels up for the whole 90 minutes.”
Following Ecuador’s inconsistent Copa America showing, a tournament in which he believes his side only began to play good football in their third match against Mexico, Quinteros knows what he wants from his players: “We want to be a more attack-minded side, one that presses further up the pitch, gets a few players in the opposition box and takes risks. In short, we need to do all the things a team has to do when it’s at home.”
Quinteros, who cultivated his footballing tastes during spells with Newell’s Old Boys and Argentinos Juniors, is convinced he has the players to achieve his aims: “With the exception of 2010, Ecuador have maintained a pretty high standard. Some important players left but then others came through, and the same thing’s happening again now with Enner Valencia, (Miller) Bolanos, (Angel) Mena and youngsters like (Juan) Cazares.
“Ecuador are engaged in a natural process of renewal and we truly believe we can be competitive and fight for qualification again.”