The magic quad? Sao Paulo plans to have James, Lucas, Luciano and Calleri play together | Sao Paulo

james rodriguez, Lucas Moura, Luciano and Calleri were playing in Sao Paulo last Saturday, in the 0-0 draw against Botafogo, but at no point were they playing together. It hasn’t happened since the backup duo arrived, but the potential for the quartet to step up looms large.

The four never played together. Lucas has played in four matches since his return, and James has had his second. Against Flamengo, a week ago, the two were on the pitch at the same time for just ten minutes, from James entering until the number 7 shirt left.

James Rodriguez watched the epic victory over Corinthians in the Brazilian Cup from the bench. Against Botafogo, James and Luciano started to play, but in the first half the Colombian was replaced by Lucas Moura, and only later Caleri entered.

The day will come when all four will be together on the field, and São Paulo will make plans.

– We still haven’t managed to work this pose (the four of them are training together). It was a very long series of games, but from now on we will have more time, with a break to choose. We’ll work on these situations,” said Lucas Silvestre, assistant coach Dorival Jr.

– It will depend a lot on the four. If the defensive functions are implemented, there is no reason not to put great players on the field – Silvestre added.

Luciano and Calleri are already matched at Sao Paulo, and Lucas Moura has arrived and shows he has a lot to contribute. The formation of the quartet seems to depend more on James Rodriguez, who is still going through the process of adapting and getting up to speed in the game.

James played about half an hour on his debut, playing against Botafogo for 45 minutes. He tends to gain more minutes little by little, having gone four months without playing between Olympiacos’ departure from Greece and his arrival in Sao Paulo.

– He has developed a lot in the material part. It is a progressive burden, because the risk of injury at this moment is very high for the returning athlete. The basis is the physiology data, which provide us with games as well as his training – explained Lucas Silvestre.

The trend is that the four will be linked for the trip to Ecuador, where LDU will visit Sao Paulo in the Conmebol Sudamericana quarter-finals on Thursday. Next up, Tricolor faces América-MG, in Brazil, on Sunday.

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