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Duel of two offensive teams, fighting at the top of the table Brasileirão. Saints me Athletic-MG They promise a great game this Wednesday, at 9:30 p.m. (Brasilia time), for the ninth day. In addition to the confrontation between the good players from both sides, the match in Vila Belmiro marks a double reunion on the reserve benches. Sampaoli will face Santos for the first time since leaving Peixe. Cuca returns to face the club in which he won the biggest title on his resume: Libertadores 2013.
Duel for Brasileirão marks Cuca’s meeting with Atlético-MG and Sampaoli’s meeting with Santos – Photo: InfoEsporte / ge
In theory, the Argentine has an advantage over the Brazilian: he knows his opponents better. Santos’ squad is very similar to the one Sampaoli commanded in 2019. He plans the confrontation.
– They are all the players I had. It is a very strong team, which comes from winning in Ceará. It is a group that, even in the face of many inconveniences, surpasses them, because it is a very noble group. Surely in Vila, where it is a very difficult place, we will have a very demanding match. I know them very well, I know this is going to happen.
Next to Atlético, the group has very few vestiges of the “Cuca era”. There are only three on the squad: Víctor, Réver and Diego Tardelli, and only the former has been with the club uninterruptedly since 2012. None of them, however, will start. The goalkeeper is Rafael’s current reserve, the defender has not even traveled to Santos (due to a flu condition), and the forward is in the DM with a serious ankle injury and will only play again in 2021.
Santos and Sampaoli: unresolved love
Jorge Sampaoli is an unsolved love story in Santos. Despite not having given Peixe titles, the Argentine coach made his team have one of the best performances in Brazil, but the fans guarantee that they did not miss him.
Sampaoli led Santos to the Brazilian runner-up. In total, he led the team in 63 games and earned 35 wins. At the end of 2019, however, he left Vila Belmiro suing the Fish, in a fight that continues until today in Justice.
Jorge Sampaoli, in Independencia, during an Atlético-MG x Santos – Photo: Ivan Storti / Santos FC
He also accumulates requests that were not right, such as center forward Fernando Uribe and midfielder Cueva. After leaving Santos, he was still in charge of requesting, at Atlético, the signings of Everson and Eduardo Sasha.
Cuca and Atlético: divorce that took a long time to overcome
Cuca came to Galo in 2011, had six consecutive defeats in the first games and difficulty escaping relegation. He remained on the board – then led by Alexandre Kalil -, he had the autonomy to change squad and, in 2012, he led a very strong team, which was runner-up in Brazil with beautiful football and without losing a single match in Independência.
The base of that year supported the historic team of 2013, champion of the Libertadores. Cuca entered the history of the Rooster. He left after the Club World Cup that year to coach Shandong Luneng of China. The numbers that remained: 153 games, 80 wins, 34 draws and 39 losses. Three titles (in addition to Libertadores, Mineiros 2012 and 2013). He is the coach who has had the most work at Gallo in this century.
Cuca is champion of the Libertadores with Atlético-MG – Photo: AP
Since he left, Cuca has counted on several occasions with the long-awaited return of the majority of the athletic fans. The flirtation never became a hammer beaten by the return, but the coach always gives statements reiterating the affection he has for the mining club. The overcoming of the “divorce” on the part of the athletic fans had a decisive character this season: Sampaoli. Gallo fans are just joys, so far, with the Argentine’s work. Cuca, for now, is in the past.
If Cuca gave Atlético the unprecedented title of Libertadores champion, Sampaoli tries, this season, to give Gallo the Brazilian champion cup, won by the club only once and a long time ago: in 1971. For Peixe, the title That Hitting the Post in 2019 hasn’t come since 2004.
The confrontation this Wednesday is an important step in the trajectory of the two teams in the competition. Only one of them will keep the three points. Or, of course, they each take home a point, which is unlikely considering the aggressive and fearless profile of the two teams. Galo, curiously, is the only team that has not drawn at Brasileirão 2020. And he goes to Vila to try another victory. Sampaoli takes seriously the motto that the best defense is attack.
– We have to attack. We have to improve the attack. The sides of Santos are very demanding. Basically the extremes: Soteldo, Marinho. So, we have to see. If the game develops too much in the field (of attack) of Santos, attacking us, we will suffer. If we attack, these players will be immersed. If Santos dominates, they will surely appear and be very dangerous for us – said Sampaoli.
