Edmundo Olfus, DT of Los Cóndores 7: “Our goal is to be among the top eight players in the world”

A heroic qualification for the Sevens World Cup in South Africa was achieved by Chile after beating Brazil in the last breath In the semi-finals of SARS 7, which awarded him one of the tickets for the competition to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, starting in September of next year. from Costa Rica, where the tournament was held, Edmundo Olvos, DT of Los Cóndores 7, analyzes with El Deportivo the high-profile national engagement.

“I am very happy. The truth is that qualifying for the World Cup is very special and very important for our sport and for the boys. For their families who are working hard, for the national sport.” It is always important that our country is in the largest planetary designations in various disciplines, it provides us with a gallery that includes various supports. Very happy with the group, there are some players that are the basis of the seven program, with the complement of the M20 players that have been added. Five players made their debut in this team.” He adds: “We did not have a great tournament in terms of performance, but the most important thing was to qualify and we achieved this goal. I’m really excited about what that means: The third time we go to the World Cup and the second time in a row. It pays tribute to what we do in Chile Rugby.”

About the sensational victory over Brazil, the coach admitted that he had not lost confidence. “We were very confident of qualifying with five young players. Although we prepared well, the match with Uruguay left us with a lot of doubts internally for the group. We handled it well, we did a very good analysis at the end of Saturday; Lots of learning, especially for those new players who were playing at this level for the first time. So it was very emotional how we beat Brazil. The truth is, I’ve always been confident that we can change that. I remember talking to the bench that they were responsible for flipping the match in the air they were going to put, because of what they saw how the match went.”reveal.

Additionally, for the strategist, the manner in which this victory occurred reflects a clear change in the mentality of these new times. “This speaks well of the character of the players, the character of the Chilean rugby player and I think that is the character of the national athlete himself. We’ve shown through the years that we’re here to win things; that we should classify the important examples; That we’re going to switch matches, something that was hard to do before, because We lacked that mindset, that personality and that collective conviction that came with our history and our idiosyncrasies, but now we’re flipping it over. And this is very important, and even more so against a competitor like Brazil, which for many years brought up the topic of professionalism, even before us; Dedicated rugby players, good players. They were one of the candidates, with us outsmarting us. That’s why it was so emotional and meant so strong a feeling that we won like that, which later left us so exhausted to play a final with Uruguay that was so complete,” he says.

The national success increased the prestige of the Creole team, an appreciation the coach shares, due to various factors. “Of course. It is clear that we have succeeded in transferring the high performance culture, which started many years ago and which has also been carried over to the XV programme, which today has a base and is very close to qualifying for the World Cup. For the first time, something historical will be of great benefit to every national rugby player. We’ve been able to keep some of the seven program specialists, like Felipe Pranger, and me as coach,” he says.

In that sense, he insists on the amount of discipline today and sets goals for what’s to come. “We are a strong center in South America, along with Argentina and Uruguay, who have done things very well. Uruguay who started professional five years ago and maybe a little more, so we have been able to be a strength and we are ready to fight on a global level, as We have already shown. First it was about qualifying and now we have to prepare to do a good job, to get into the top eight players in the world. We think we have to do it, and now we’re getting it ready to be there,” he stated.

After obtaining the rating, the condor is rated 7 They will begin their preparations for the event by competing in the Challenge Series, which qualifies for the stage of the World Tour in Hong Kong. The tournament is held in the country in the second or third week of February. “For South America, there will be Chile and Brazil; only Jamaica will be at the top; for Europe, it seems to me it will be Germany, Russia and Portugal. Then Hong and Korea. And for Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe. They are the strongest team under the World Tour, and they are the top 16 teams in the world ‘, says Olfus.

“If we go in, we will play in April in Hong Kong, but Covid will be affected by it, and after that, obviously we will look for another tournament close to the dates in South Africa. Concentration or focus in South Africa, which we have done before, will be part of that preparation.”, concludes the National Coach, a new teacher engineer for this discipline.