They still remember a few power plants in Riazor that they had painted over the years. The physical exuberance of Jorge Andrade and the elegance of Pablo Amo. Portuguese with imposing steps, a native of Madrid, although he is called an Asturian for the goal he scored in the Sporting youth team, with a tactical mind that can read the game and always predict the opponent’s play.
An “elegant and smart” center
“Pablo always stood out with his intelligence on the field. “He knew how to decipher the opponent’s play, and this allowed him to anticipate the forwards by half a second and intercept many passes,” he recalls. The person who was his coach at Deportivo at the time, Javier Irureta. However, Pablo Amo suffered injuries during his stay in A Coruña. Injuries that were not serious but prevented him from achieving regular performance in the star squad.
Then he took his suitcase and tried his luck in Valladolid, Recreativo, Zaragoza, Greece and Cyprus. A career that started at Moscardó and When he hung up his boots in 2012, he began an even more fascinating journey as a coach in countries such as China, Guangzhou Evergrande-Soxna, Australia, India and Mexico, where he worked in the training categories. He won the SuperLiga title with Atlético Kolkata, assistant to José Francisco Molina in India, and went to Mexico’s Atlético de San Luis with the former Deportivo and Atlético goalkeeper. Molina was later appointed sports director of the RFEF and soon after, in October 2018, he appointed Pablo Amo as deputy sports director, opening the doors of the Federation to him.
He also studied other areas such as social networking, sports marketing and coaching. All skills he practices, as well as his coaching role at the Spanish Football Federation, where he holds positions such as the Spanish U-18 or U-19 national coach.
Luis de la Fuente chose Amo for Amo in a consistent decision that favored the continuation of a coach who had recently won the European Under-19, Under-21 and Olympic silver medal. . . An assistant with a discreet profile, hard-working and comprehensively educated. From the very beginning, De la Fuente and his team had an idea: Forming a team. According to Pablo Amo, “The common characteristics of champion teams are based on the strength of the group, teamwork and leaving ego in the background. There were plenty of super nice gestures at the Nations League Final Four highlighting this. I think we were able to guide them very well. First of all, there is a sense of team. And there is no other key. “It all boils down to creating a cohesive group where everyone, playing and non-playing, feels important.”
close to players
And this is one of the key points of his work. Get close to the players, the players and the non-players, and know how they are, what they think and what they demand. Keep them involved. “Some things are easy in this group because it’s been that way since day one. This has always been passed on and has been lived out, and not only to young people, but also to experienced people who come with an incredible desire to help, to experience this and to enjoy it. “That is undoubtedly the key to this team.” Amo is one of the closest people to football players; he talks to them, comments, and even discusses suggestions from De la Fuente’s staff. A dialogue and communication that describes the good atmosphere that exists in the environment vote.
The absolute team works with the methodology applied in other categories; This guarantees a way of working that football players already know and that works well in lower categories. “Players want normalcy. They are still young kids who love football. Most of the time there is a long distance between us and them, and we have tried, above all, to maintain normality so that a very good atmosphere can be created. and they can be themselves,” states the second of the team. This normality defines Pablo, a discreet and kind man with whom players, Federation employees and the press maintain cordial relations.
Amo is responsible for commenting on other staff members’ notes to De la Fuente when there is an important matter to convey to him during matches. It is common to see how he approaches the coach and says something into his ear, after which a conversation begins between the two and Haro covers his mouth to avoid giving a hint to his opponent. Pablo is also the person who gives the final instructions to the players before entering the field when changes are being made. At that moment, the coach’s assistant prefers to give few and very clear ideas., tries to reassure them, “because they are very good and know what to do. In reality there is very little advice to give them. If anything, qualify something.
This is the second coach of the national team, Pablo Amo, and many people hope to see one day on the Deportivo bench, just as they expect Pablo’s former teammate and good friend Lionel Scaloni. Amo does not refuse to return to Riazor, to his beloved Sporting or to the clubs where he was a player and always emerged as a supporter.