Tite had already answered all the questions chosen by Conmebol in its press conference after the classification of the Brazilian Team to the Copa America semifinal, with 1-0 victory over Chile, when he called the floor to make an appeal to the entity to change the location of the game scheduled for Monday, at 20:00, against Peru. Again, the state of the Nilton Santos lawn hindered the team’s performance and was the target of complaints.
“I, as a coach, was happy with the classification, because we are facing a team with good footing, the previous two-time champion of the Copa América. It could be a great show, much more beautiful, with teams that propose the game, but I was sad with the show , I was sad. If I were at home I would think: ‘hey, what a good game it could be and look at the level it’s at.’ . Find a better field for us to play on. Please, I speak in a very casual way. It’s dangerous to hurt, you’re top level athletes. Please find a better field for the show.”
In introducing his appeal, Tite praised the employees of Conmebol who are working on improving the pitch and organizing the Copa America, but did not reduce the tone of his criticism. He and the coaches and players from all the teams in the competition have been critical, especially to Nilton Santos stadium. Today, the bad condition was noticed once again: whitish areas with apparent soil, divided by the ball, loose tufts and the ball was always alive. In the second half, Neymar he even twisted his foot in a field fault.
Tite also made an irony about the topic in a technical response to the performance of his midfield: “Was he (Neymar) the one who gave the pass to Paquetá and the field disarmed? and the field disarmed.”
The coach of the Brazilian team has already been fined R$ 25,000 by Conmebol for saying that the Copa America was organized in a “shuffled” way. The CBF tried to take the game against Chile from Nilton Santos, but the suggestion was not accepted under the following arguments: when the contract with a stadium is signed, the value is already stipulated for a certain number of games, for a specific duration of days. Furthermore, changing a game of location involves not only the logistics of the teams, but of the entire staff of Conmebol, TV, etc. In the general context, taking the transfer of the game forward would favor the host country, which initially managed to trace the path of the leader of Group B with fewer displacements than the others.
Prepared for expulsion
Tite considered Gabriel Jesus’s expulsion for entry into Mena fair three minutes into the second half and completed the answer saying that the national team trains to deal with situations of inferiority, as it was in 48 minutes of the match against Chile.
“One of the goals of training is to anticipate game situations and we also anticipate this situation [de jogar com um a menos]. The expulsion was fair, but it was accidental, not for malice. We guided and trained in 4-4-1 or 4-3-2 depending on the needs of the game. We had a scoreboard in front, so I opened the two externals, leaving Neymar in a more advanced situation. You also have to score lower, so we are left behind, controlling Chile and looking for a counterattack.”
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