Jair talks about moments of anguish and happiness in Vasco in 2023 and pays tribute to Alexander Matos

Anguish, relief, and happiness. These are the feelings that were part of Gayer’s year at Vasco. The midfielder started the season as a starter, but has been missing space all year. From the expulsion against Bahia to the goal against America MG, which took the team out of the relegation zone, the player lived days of tension and joy at the Rio de Janeiro club.

In an exclusive interview with GE, Jair recalled some moments from Vasco’s season and summed up the immediate feeling after the victory over Red Bull Bragantino in the final round.

– Great relief and a lot of happiness – celebrate the midfielder.

Jair was bought from Atlético-MG at the start of this year, and arrives at Vasco in a starting position after being a multiple champion in Minas Gerais. In Gallo, he met Alexandre Matos, the manager who will now coordinate football at Rio.

– Matos is a successful director who wins titles wherever he goes. In Gallo, we were lucky to win the title together, as I was able to score the goal in the Mineiro final against Tombiense. I’m sure it will help us a lot. We have everything to start a winning cycle in Vasco – praised Jair.

Read the interview with Gayer below. He is under contract with Vasco until the end of 2025.

ge: How did you feel immediately after the victory over Bragantino? What happened in the locker room?

Gayer: Great rest and lots of happiness. The group wasn’t worth this pain until the end, but we came together more in this final stage and trusted each other. you passed. After that, I think we all wanted to thank…God for the strength and thank our family members for understanding what the year was like.

You started the year as a starter, but ended up losing space after the arrival of Ramon Diaz. What happened at that moment?

I think the fact of losing space is related to the coach’s choice and playing style, because since arriving at Vasco I have always done my best on and off the field to be a starter.

I also believe that over time he was able to recognize my qualities better and take advantage of them, even positioning me as an option for the most decisive match this year.

The coach even said that he spoke to you and explained that you need to work more on a daily basis… After that you became a kind of wild card, regained good football and helped the team in the final stage. Have you had any changes in your daily situation?

We are exposed to this as players, moments of glory and tension. What’s more when we really wanted to achieve that goal, which was to keep Vasco in Serie A, we left more than 100% on the field. Of course I felt bad after the sending off, I was performing well in the match and I didn’t want to hurt the team either there or in other matches. But it happened and I was able to recover after that. The goal against America was undoubtedly one of the happiest moments of the season. We deserved to win.

As you rightly mentioned, within Vasco’s reaction in the tournament, you had two special moments: one was the sending off against Bahia, where the fans attacked you a lot; The other was the winning goal against América-MG, a kind of redemption…

Because of the threatening situation we were in, any player was more vulnerable to criticism from the fans. Few came out unscathed this year (laughs).

Regarding the expulsion, I was very upset. He was performing well in the match and did not want to hurt the team, on the contrary. I did my best and unfortunately I got the card right away. From the start of the second round, we viewed every match as a decision, so the goal against America had even greater significance and was undoubtedly one of the happiest moments of the season.

In the 45th minute of the second half – a goal from inside the penalty area scored by Jair do Vasco against America MG.

Ramon agreed to a contract extension. What has changed at Vasco and how important is business continuity? Will Vasco come stronger and more prepared?

I think every coach who stays for more than a season already has an advantage… he knows a good part of the group, he is already familiar with the day-to-day activities of the club and can plan the pre-season calmly. We have gained a lot with Ramon’s arrival… He and the entire committee are very hardworking and will continue to bring out the best in the players.

Source: J