Cristian Souza solidifies Santa Cruz's defence in Brasileirão Série C | OneFootball

Santa Cruz began the final quadrangular of the Brazilian Championship Serie C with a perfect record and, beyond the two wins, showed a trait that coach Cristian Souza considers decisive for the campaign: defensive solidity.

The team beat Maringá and Botafogo-PB 1-0 and has yet to concede at this decisive stage of the competition. The improvement is directly linked to the work developed by the coach since his arrival at the club.

Cristian Souza has been in charge of Santa Cruz for four months and has 16 matches under his belt, with nine wins, four draws, and three losses. In that period, the Pernambuco club scored 20 goals and conceded 11.

Adjusting the defensive system was one of the first priorities set by the coach. According to Cristian, the change required adaptations based on the characteristics of the squad and included different formations throughout the campaign.

“When you arrive in the middle of a competition, the team is usually conceding a lot of goals and not in a very good situation. Here at Santa Cruz it was no different. We first needed to tighten up the defense to concede few or no goals,” said the coach before continuing:

“We focused heavily on that and implemented some system variations, using either a back five or a back four. The team began to find that defensive solidity as the results started coming. We managed to get out of the relegation zone, which gave everyone more confidence,” Cristian Souza explained.

Defensive system became the foundation for the turnaround

The change in behavior also helped Santa Cruz gain confidence during the competition. For Cristian Souza, the process was not limited to organizing the defense, but also involved understanding the group’s characteristics and adapting to the club’s identity.

The Tricolor coach also highlighted the work done on set pieces. In 16 matches under his command, for example, Santa Cruz has not conceded any goals that way and has scored nine times from rehearsed plays.

“It’s about smoothing out the rough edges, adapting to the characteristics of the squad and the culture of the club. We have to do the main thing, which is get results. Our defensive solidity has given us the conditions to be more competitive and make life harder for our opponents,” said the Tricolor coach before concluding:

“And little by little, we also worked on the attacking side and on set pieces to make them more efficient both offensively and defensively. We haven’t conceded a single set-piece goal in 16 games and we’ve scored 9 goals. Those are the details that make all the difference in the work.”

Santa Cruz aims to keep the run going in the quadrangular

With two wins in two matches, Santa Cruz remains focused on the next stretch of the final quadrangular of the Brazilian Championship Serie C. The next match will be against Floresta on Sunday, September 20, at Arena de Pernambuco.

Preparation for the clash will be marked by maintaining the concepts implemented by Cristian Souza. The defense, which has not conceded so far in the decisive phase, stands out as one of the team’s main pillars in the pursuit of its objective in the competition.

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