At Riazor they still remember that couple of power plants that they painted for many years. The physical exuberance of Jorge Andrade and the elegance of Pablo Amo always with his head up. The Portuguese with his imposing stride, the Madrid native, although he was always labeled as Asturian for landing from the Sporting youth team, with his tactical intelligence to read the game and always anticipate the rival’s game.
An “elegant and intelligent” center
“Pablo always stood out for his intelligence in the field. He knew how to decipher the opponent’s game and that allowed him to anticipate the forwards by half a second and cut off many passes,” he recalls. the one who was his coach then at Deportivo, Javier Irureta. However, Pablo Amo was dogged by injuries during his stay in A Coruña. Injuries that were not serious, but that prevented him from achieving some regularity in that star squad.
Then he took his suitcase and tried his luck in Valladolid, Recreativo, Zaragoza, Greece and Cyprus. A career that he began at Moscardó and that When he hung up his boots in 2012, he began an even more fascinating odyssey as a coach in countries like China, in Guangzhou Evergrande-Soxna, in Australia, where he worked in training categories, India and Mexico. In India he became SuperLiga champion with Atlético Kolkata as assistant to José Francisco Molina, and with the former Deportivo and Atlético goalkeeper he also went to Atlético de San Luis in Mexico. Molina was then appointed sports director of the RFEF and shortly after, in October 2018, he appointed Pablo Amo as assistant sports director, opening the doors of the Federation to him.
At the same time, he has trained in other areas including social networks, sports marketing and coaching. All skills that he has been applying, along with his role as a coach in the Spanish Football Federation, in which he has held positions such as Spanish U-18 or U-19 national coach.
When Luis de la Fuente was named coach of the senior team in a coherent decision that opted for the continuity of a coach who had just won the European Under-19, Under-21 and Olympic silver, the player from Haro chose Amo as his second. . An assistant with a discreet profile, hardworking and with extensive training. An idea obsessed De la Fuente and his staff from the beginning: Team up. For Pablo Amo, “the common pieces in champion teams are based on the strength of their group, on teamwork and leaving the ego in the background. In the Final Four of the Nations League there were a lot of super nice gestures that highlighted that. I think we have been able to guide them very well. There is a team feeling above all. And there is no other key. “Everything involves creating a united group where everyone who plays and everyone who doesn’t play feels important.”
Close to the players
And that is one of the key points of his work. Be close to the players, those who play and those who don’t, and know how they are, what they think and what they demand. Keep them involved. “Something about this group is easy because from day one it has been like that. That has been transmitted and has been lived at all times, and also not only with young people, but also with veteran people who have come with an amazing desire to help, to live it and to enjoy it. That is the key to this team, without a doubt.” Amo is one of the closest to the footballers, with whom he talks, comments and even discusses the proposals of De la Fuente’s staff. A dialogue and communication that explains the good atmosphere that exists in the selection.
The absolute team works with the same methodology that is implemented in the rest of the categories, which guarantees a way of working that the footballers already know and that has worked in lower categories. “The players want normality. They are still young boys who love football. Many times there is a lot of distance with them and we, above all, what we have tried to provide is normality so that there would be a very good atmosphere. and that they could be themselves,” points out the second of the team. That normality defines Pablo, a discreet and kind guy with whom players, Federation workers and the press maintain cordial relations.
Amo is in charge of commenting on the rest of the staff’s notes to De la Fuente during the matches when there is something relevant to communicate to him. It is common to see how he approaches the coach and comments something in his ear, after which a chat begins between the two, with Haro covering his mouth to avoid giving clues to his rival. Pablo is also the one who gives the last instructions to the players before entering the field when the changes are made. At that moment the coach’s assistant opts for giving few and very clear ideas., and tries to give them confidence “because they are very good and know what they have to do. In reality there is little advice to give them. If anything, qualify something.”
This is Pablo Amo, the second coach of the national team, whom many hope to see one day on the Deportivo bench, just as they expect Lionel Scaloni, Pablo’s former teammate and good friend. Amo does not rule out returning to Riazor, nor to his beloved Sporting or the clubs in which he was a player and from which he always emerged as another fan.