Back in Sao Paulo after four years since the first pass, when he took the club from a title line with the winning of the Paulista Championship 2021, Argentine coach Hernán Crespo said he has the main task at this time to take the team from the uncomfortable situation in which he is in the Brazilian Championship.
Tricolor is the 14th in the classification table, with only two wins in 12 rounds disputed and only one point of distance from Internacional, the first in the relegation zone.
“The urgency is the Brasileirão,” said Crespo in his presentation on the cold morning of Tuesday (24) in Morumbi. Sao Paulo is also in the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores and the Brazilian Cup, with Atletico Nacional, Colombia, and Athletico-PR, respectively.
The first commitment of the new coach, which arrives to replace the countryman Luis Zubeldía, should only be in the second half of July. At first, São Paulo would face Flamengo on the 12th, in Maracanã, but the date is not yet confirmed by the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), awaiting the performance of the red-black at the Club World Cup.
Filipe Luís’s team is already confirmed in the round of 16, waiting for the definition of the next opponent that comes from a group with Boca Juniors, Bayern Munich and Benfica. Palmeiras and Botafogo are also guaranteed and make the Brazilian confrontation in the knockout. Fluminense enters the field on Wednesday (25) against Mamelodi Sundowns, from South Africa, also keeping an eye on a place in the next phase.
One of the leading strikers of his generation in Argentina, with stints in Internazionale, Milan and Chelsea, Crespo said that the Brazilian is one of the most difficult championships in the world and, therefore, is not surprised by the performance of Brazilian teams in the United States.
“The Brazilian Championship, if not the hardest in the world, is very close to it, because there is no easy match, whether away or indoors,” he said. “It was demonstrated at the Club World Cup, which [o futebol brasileiro] It’s very competitive […] To me, really, the situation today doesn’t surprise me. The quality of Brazilian football worldwide, in club level, “added the coach.
Having disembarked the day before in São Paulo, Crespo preferred no use which will be the tactical scheme to be adopted and either wanted to go into detail about the characteristics of the main players. But he stressed that he wants a team with identity and an offensive DNA that is the mark of his work.
“The first to do is try to compete and try to put an identity to the team,” he said in Spanish, ”he said he would still prefer to speak for now only in the native language, rather than risking in Portuguese as at the end of his first pass, to express exactly the ideas he would like to convey to the fans.
Remembering his victorious career as a player, having formed the attack duo alongside names such as Drogba and Shevchenko, Crespo stressed that, regardless of positional and tactical variations on the field during matches, which considers the most important to maintain the entire group in search of results.
“The players with whom I played had different characteristics, and sometimes played further or more backward, but one thing that didn’t change was my hunger to score goals,” said Crespo. “The team can play at 4-4-2, 3-5-2, but the identity of wanting to win the match, being offensive, generating situations, it won’t change.”
With important names of the out -of -law and cash out of action to bring heavy reinforcements, the coach also said that young people at Cotia base will again add to the cast in major competitions, as well as in his first stint at the club, when he gave the opportunity to names like Rodrigo Nestor, Gabriel Sara and Liziero. “If the player is 38 or 18, personally, is exactly the same. Who deserves to play, will play.”
