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In Felipão’s debut, Cruzeiro went to Ponta Grossa, in Paraná, and beat the Operator 1 to 0, with a goal from Arthur Caíke in the 39th minute of the second half (see offers above). In the first press conference since he returned to the celestial club, Scolari evaluated the game – within the possibilities of those who have days in office – and admitted that the victory did not come with a great performance. Then he asked:
“We won the game in the strangulation. Easy, very easy.”
– (The victory) was not of a very good quality, no. It was about delivery, fights, placement, situations in which we worked and that happened, that the players positioned themselves, but there is still a long way to go. We are not going to celebrate this victory much, because we are down there. We have a long way to go, and we are going after that.
Felipão in his debut with Cruzeiro, against Operário – Photo: Gustavo Aleixo / Cruzeiro
It is unanimous that the Cruzeiro’s performance this season is below expectations. But for what exactly? What is the team’s goal for the year? Can you still talk about access to Serie A this season? Felipão avoids this audacity, at least for now.
“For the love of God, people. I have clay up to my neck. Do you understand?”
– I’m down there. First I have to leave where I am, where we are, because today I am part of that group. So there are still many, many games left, a lot of quality, a lot of training, a lot of points to get out of this situation. First, I understand that we must do this: game by game, point by point, objective by objective. We win one position (actually two). We have to play on Sunday to gain another position, or two positions. So come on, getting better.
“Suspicious of themselves”
With his usual sincere style, Felipão admitted that he found a group without confidence. And that the job, in this first moment, is to give back to the players the belief that it is possible to give more.
“They are suspicious of themselves, they don’t fully believe in their qualities, and we know that some things are different in a Series B.”
– (…) If we want to make Cruzeiro come back, we will have to do it another way. This is what we are talking about. This made me come here, with my group, and convey the confidence I have in them. After all, we all have difficulties in life and we always had the opportunity to come back better, to make things progress. I just passed that on to you. We did a tactical training, 45 minutes, nothing different. We have to thank them for the victory, but there are still many steps to climb. And there are still situations so that people can improve technically, to face other teams in better conditions.
Felipão guides the Cruzeiro athletes in Ponta Grossa – Photo: Gustavo Aleixo / Cruzeiro
Other responses from Felipão
“I am doing this work with love, with affection, but I get paid”
– About the team, I don’t have much to say, because it’s two days. I just talked to the players a little bit, I tried to give them a little more confidence. We have a project, this project is interesting. I want to tell all Cruzeirenses that I am a professional. I do this work with love, with affection, but I get paid. I am a professional, I am not here for free. People like me may like it, but I want to say that I am working professionally here too.
– I want to praise the attitude of the president in starting a project. It is difficult for us to tell you everything we talked about and what we had the opportunity to idealize and what we can do. So the first step, the steps we have to take, are very big. It was a first step. We have many situations to improve, so we do not have the difficulty that we are experiencing. But I am happy with the group that I found. In some situations, I’ll even talk to the president so we can get off the ground. And see if we can do what the project idealized.
Régis, one of the cast’s experts, in action against the Operário – Photo: Gustavo Aleixo / Cruzeiro
More experienced player picks
– The choice is for quality, for experience. At that time, younger players will experience greater difficulty than more experienced players. We are not doing very well, otherwise we would be in a much better situation. Whenever there is a situation for the youngest, they feel much more. So we opted for a group that has a little more experience, especially the midfielder, because we were young, but up front there were three or four players who could help a lot.
– We also believed that as the game progressed, if we had a chance, if things had been defined, Airton (would come in). I already know Airton do Palmeiras, I know that he has speed, disposition, that he participates very well in counterattacks. In the last 20, 30 minutes we were able to put it on as they put it on, and it did its job perfectly.
