Crespo ends pre-season in Cotia due to poor pitch conditions, says report | OneFootball

São Paulo has changed its initial pre-season plans. While the team was originally scheduled to remain at the youth training center in Cotia (SP), starting this Wednesday (7), the squad will now resume training at the Barra Funda training center until their debut in the Campeonato Paulista, at 8:30 PM (Brasília time) on Sunday (11), against Mirassol, away from home.

Officially, São Paulo states that the decision to move back to the Barra Funda training center earlier was already planned and was motivated purely by logistical reasons.

However, according to information initially reported by the portal ‘UOL‘, there may have been other reasons. And this has caused some friction behind the scenes among the board, the coaching staff, and the squad.

The internal assessment of the quality of the pitches at the Cotia CFA at the start of this season has been disappointing.

In recent days, the coaching staff and football department concluded that the field conditions were not ideal for the continuation of their work, especially at a time when training sessions are more physically demanding and intense.

Sources told AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR that the coaching staff and the squad joined forces and pressed the board for a return to Barra Funda.

Coach Hernán Crespo, for example, took the opportunity to respond to the squad’s request to end the training camp, allowing players to return home after activities.

The pre-season in Cotia was part of São Paulo’s initial plans and aimed to provide greater focus for the squad and make use of the training center’s facilities. In addition, there were plans to completely renovate the pitches at some of the training center’s fields. But it was decided to only replace the turf.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.