FLAMENGO IDOL REINFORCES THE NEED FOR UNITY DURING THE BRAZILIAN CUP FINAL

This Sunday (17), Flamengo and São Paulo compete in the final of the Copa do Brasil. For the confrontation, Rubro-Negra arrives with the mentality of winning the fifth championship in the national tournament. During an interview with 'Jogada 10', Jayme de Almeida, former player and former coach of Mais Querido, commented on the final of the competition. Under Jayme's command, Mengão reached their third Brazilian Cup title in 2013.

“Ten years ago we won that title that really marked my life within football and Flamengo, which It was always my home. What marked the trajectory was the way I took over the team, after Mano (Menezes) left. It was very difficult at the beginning, as no one expected his departure, which happened after a defeat to Athletico. So, my construction was based on rescuing the self-esteem of that group that I knew very well. After all, I had been at Flamengo since 2010. I knew the players' characteristics, that helped me a lot”, he said.

Then, the former coach reinforced the importance to work on the confidence of its players: "My first big goal was to make them believe in themselves again and, along with that, to make the fans support the team. Flamengo's fans are a preponderant factor in the club's history. That's how it works." In this way, with the fans by our side, we could go very far in the Copa do Brasil”, he added.

“At that moment, when the team grew, with confidence high, they had a fantastic Copa do Brasil. Paulinho for his speed, dribbling and passing. On the other hand, Hernane, with his tremendous ability to score goals, was great. He was the top scorer that year. A player who many people didn't believe in, but who always worked very hard. He won the Flamengo guys with a number of fantastic goals”, he recalled.

“Paulinho, when I placed him on the left side, grew a lot in production. He had a wonderful championship, an excellent Copa do Brasil final. I don't like comparing Gabigol and Bruno Henrique to them. Both are phenomenal to this day, with a beautiful story. But, at that moment that Flamengo was going through, Hernane and Paulinho were fantastic”, he said.

Like a large part of the fans, Jayme de Almeida sees coach Jorge Sampaoli having difficulty getting his team to perform on the field. For him, there is a lack of a sequence of good performances for the team to take off. Thus, he dedicated his fans to the coach, so that he can help Flamengo win its fifth Brazilian Cup title.

“Flamengo has a lot of things to grow, to improve. It can be seen that Sampaoli is having difficulty making the team function in a cohesive manner during games. It has many ups and downs, with good and difficult moments. He is insecure about defending. We hope things work again. May Flamengo's players, who are of a high level, be able to get through this and make it to a great Copa do Brasil final. But I think it has to improve. We have huge expectations, due to the love we have for the club. There are many players there that we know and, therefore, we support even more. However, it is at a complicated time. Let's hope that Sampaoli makes Flamengo have great moments at Maracanã”, he pointed out.

About Dorival's departure, Jayme commented: “Dorival's departure is something that I, at least, cannot understand. His work was excellent, with two achievements. He raised Flamengo's level when he took over, the team played beautifully, together. Even he put Gabigol and Pedro together, it worked very well. But the news came at the end of the year that Flamengo would not renew with Dorival", he said.

"I'm not going to say injustice, but it's kind of inexplicable the his departure at a time when the team was doing well, winning titles. Even the arrival of a new coach, to get to know the squad and put together a team, takes time, and ended up hurting Flamengo this year. To this day, the team does not have an ideal game due to this continuous change of coaches", he added.


“Everyone has to be together. Players and fans, with unity, desire and humility for everyone to give the best. We hope so. That Flamengo plays two great games. São Paulo is a very difficult opponent. So, it will be a great confrontation. We have good expectations for everything this group of players has already done with the red shirt -negra. This way, I hope the team plays good football again and wins the fifth title of the Copa do Brasil", he said, hopefully.


“The Botafogo game came. Their total favoritism, but we got a draw in the first game and, later, in the return game, we won 4-0. From that moment on, the team started to believe in themselves more. Not only in the Copa do Brasil, but also in the Brasileirão, where we were fighting not to fall. So, at the end of the year, thank God, we didn't fall to the Second Division and ended up with the Copa do Brasil title, in a fantastic final against Athletico", he recalled.

“Flamengo wasn't favorite. In reality, we were a big underdog, due to everything that had happened during the year, including Mano's departure. But the players managed to restructure themselves and win the title. I am very proud to have worked together with them in this very difficult time . They came together, embraced each other and turned things around in a fantastic way. In those last three games, against Botafogo, Goiás and Athletico, very difficult games, we were very warriors, with great determination from these boys. That's how we won the titles." , he stated.

This Sunday (17), Flamengo and São Paulo face each other in the final of the Copa do Brasil. The dispute takes place at 4pm (Brasília time), at Maracanã. On September 24th, the clubs will face each other in the return round, to decide who will win the tournament title. The decisive game takes place at 4pm (Brasília time), at Morumbi, in São Paulo. If Rubro-Negro wins, they will be champions of the competition for two years in a row.