Rafael Paiva comments on the defeat against Sao Paulo

Rafael Paiva believes that the early goal that Vasco conceded on Wednesday, at the Brinco de Ouro Stadium, was decisive in the 3-0 defeat against Sao Paulo, in a match held within the 30th round of the Brazilian League. The coach expressed his regret that the strategy developed for the match was not successful.

In Campinas, Paiva started for Vasco with Payet and Philippe Coutinho starting for the first time. He explained in the press conference that the goal was to gain more possession of the ball.

– A match that was not appropriate again today. We tried to use Coutinho and Payet to have more possession of the ball and to control the game at times. In two games we suffered from something we were able to pin down: conceding an early goal. Again, we conceded an early goal, which really hurt your strategy of trying to keep more possession of the ball. The Sao Paulo team is very quick to transform. He said: We had a very clear chance to equalize, but we couldn’t.

– We came back with a different strategy in the second half, but then we conceded the goal within one minute. We had to come out and try to find the ball, and still try to score a goal to get into the game. “But then we conceded the third goal from a dead ball, which completely evaded anything we could have done to reverse it.”

On Saturday, Vasco will play the second leg of the Copa do Brasil semi-final against Atletico MG, who faced Fortaleza on Wednesday with the reserve team. Paiva explained the reasons that prompted him to be sent to the starting lineup against Sao Paulo.

– In terms of strategy (against Atletico MG), we have to compete a lot. I can’t say here what I will do first, so as not to give Atlético MGI any weapons. But we know we will have to compete a lot. Atletico MG is a very qualified team, they already have an advantage. “Going forward, we have to be organized, very organized and compete a lot,” he said.

– Regarding what Atletico MG did (rescuing key players), this is their strategy. We know that we need to score quickly in the Brazilian Championship, so we needed to try to get a better result here, because we did not achieve that in the last few games, so that we can get a result so that we can play more calmly. Moving forward, so that we do not suffer as Vasco has suffered in recent years. That’s why we chose. We had a week off. I have no doubt that this will not affect the match against Atletico MG, we will 100% look for this win.

With the Golden Earring result, Vasco has reached seven consecutive matches without winning this season, five of which are in the Brazilian championship. The last victory for Rafael Paiva’s men was on September 1 against Vitoria in El Salvador.

With open training scheduled for Friday, in São Januario, Vasco is now key to the decisive match in the Brazilian Cup semi-final. After losing 2-1 to Atletico MG in the first leg, Rio FC needs to win on goal difference to force a penalty shootout. Winning by two or more goals directly guarantees Vasco a place in the final.