Vicente Moreno, the jump from LaLiga to Saudi football: "We balance the hours of prayer and training, there are no psychologists and in nutrition... we have to convince them"

The coup de effect of the

(SPL) with the signing of

has hit

(Massanassa, 1974) squarely in recent days.

The former coach of

and

has been in Arabia since July leading

, the team that is hot on the heels of

, the Portuguese's new club.

He has Argentine Ever

and

and, landed in this new reality, X-ray Saudi football.

The arrival of a star like Cristiano has had the objective intended by the Government: to look at Saudi football.

But there is much more than the thick line.

The cultural shock of those who come from abroad is also joined by sports.

Facilities, methodology, customs... everything is under review and improvement, «but you cannot expect to change everything suddenly.

You have to be respectful, ”warns the coach.

Convince and not impose.

How is this competition?

«It is not the League or the Premier, but it is competitive.

You will see how

and put all his interest in it," Vicente Moreno tells EL MUNDO in the hotel where he lives in Riyadh, far from the bustle of the city, "almost in a bubble that It allows us to focus only on football.

And it is that, although he does not give the feeling that football is breathed in the city, Moreno warns that the interest is not imposed.

«It is true that the Government is now promoting it a lot, that they see a way of expansion to reach the whole world, but there was already interest.

This

and there is a lot of following.

", bill.

In its stadium, now in full renovation, 15,000 spectators gather "and we are not a club with a lot of fans."

"

, which is the team with the most fans in Saudi, plays in the King Abdullah Stadium, with 60,000 spectators, and fills it up.

The same thing that was already happening to Al-Nassr.

They like football".

The clubs, despite an attempted privatization in 2016, remain either directly controlled by the government or in the hands of members of the royal family.

They have even begun to receive help to attract stars.

Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, the current Champions League champion, and Al-Shabad are the ones with the most potential, with good squads in which their eight foreigners have a high level.

Of them, only seven can be in the eleven.

The bulk of the teams, not the lineups, are local players.

Clubs without academy

«

.

That concept is not yet developed.

For this reason, they have room for improvement in the tactical and physical aspect, "says Vicente Moreno.

His Al-Shabab has, like any academy structure, a subsidiary that does not compete, an U-19 team and an U-16 team.

"If I need a player, they have to come up from these teams, which have a competitive rhythm."

Routines that are already very present in European football have not yet been internalized either.

The

are in the afternoon and are adjusted, like everything else, to their religious precepts.

«Life here is more nocturnal, because there are temperatures of 50 degrees, so the custom is to train in the afternoon.

In addition, they see it as very logical that the games be prepared at the time they are played.

These sessions may be conditioned by prayer times.

«They

and we try, whenever possible, to balance the hours, so that they have their space to be able to do it... There are times when they have to get up to pray at five in the morning, and that can condition the rest of the day," he describes.

Concepts such as

control , body fat or the weight of the players are not internalized either.

Having a sweet after dinner is a deep-rooted custom in the country, also among the players, and the menus are different.

«You have to adapt and, in matters such as nutrition, which you think would help them improve, you have to try to convince them.

But it is not always easy”, the Valencian coach confines himself to confessing without further details.

Another aspect that is not addressed is psychological.

«

.

For him to be effective, he would have to be a person from here and, since we don't have that custom... he is a very important figure, at least for me, but he will take time to arrive here », he warns.

Nor has the woman been incorporated beyond her presence, and timid, in the stands.

«

, although perhaps she does.

Yes, I have seen in the Federation and even our club has created a women's team, which trains in Jeddah.

The three phases of the players

These differences make the adaptation of foreigners go through different stages.

«They live in

, which are a kind of gated communities where Western life is lived and they go through different stages.

They arrive and everything is different, with almost no time to think.

Then it can give them a drop, even in performance, and the third phase appears when they already know how everything works and choose between giving up again or leaving ».

Argentine

is one of their players who, with three seasons at the club, has adapted so well that he was voted best player last season.

"I remember our first conversation in which he told me that

."

-Is it difficult to convince a player to come?

-I haven't had the opportunity yet, because I arrived when the squad was closed.

Surely

in that .

There will be footballers who did not value this League and who now see it with better eyes.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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