Jorge Cuenca: ‘Getting all 3 points at El Toralín is the only thing on my mind’
The centre-back would like to go to the European U21 Championship with 3 points in his suitcase. He emphasises that the team are in automatic promotion
The last time Jorge Cuenca packed his suitcase for a match with the Spain Under-21s squad, he scored a vital goal for UD Almería before joining La Rojita. The central defender is hoping to do the same again this weekend before the UEFA European U21 Championship because, as he confessed to the club’s official media, getting all three points out of the next fixture in Ponferrada is the only thing on his mind for the time being: ’It’s obvious that I’m really excited to go and compete in the European U21 Championship with Spain but right now, I only think about El Toralín and Ponferradina. I’ll have time to think about the national team from Monday, although I just want to be prepared to compete on a pitch that we know is one of the toughest places to win in this league.’ Cuenca talked about a ‘sports battle’ with ‘three important points for both teams’ as he mentioned at the end of the last league match. The Rojiblanco player considers it important ‘to know how to adapt to many circumstances because we can expect the game at El Toralín to be one way and then, a thousand things happen and it’ll be another different way. We must impose our style of play to have more options for victory.’
The UD Almería's top scorer will miss the next official match due to accumulation of yellow cards and therefore, Cuenca's words on this setback are clear: ‘Of course, it’ll be an important absence but we’ve got plenty of team-mates to make up for any player out of action; I trust each and every one of my peers because they’ve already proved to be able to rise to the challenge and that boosts confidence. Whoever plays, will do so at his best.’
The 21-year-old born in Madrid has not only previewed the game but also talked about his preparation. The centre-back seems to know the key to success: ‘We must keep a cool head and stay calm to take the last result in. It’s obvious that that draw hurts us because we wanted the victory and all three points but the thing is that we continue in automatic promotion, we sit second and there’re still many games to come. It’s being a close-run competition as the promotion-hunting teams are narrowing the gap. Every single second-tier team has a lot to play for and in the end, you can tell that everyone is going all out like us. We must stay calm this week. We cannot take the credit away from Alcorcón, they played a great game,‘ he concluded.