Cruzeiro boss rests starters before Corinthians tie in Brasileirão Women | OneFootball

Cruzeiro will have a Campeonato Mineiro match before facing Corinthians again in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Brasileirão, but the Minas Gerais side’s priority is the national competition. Head coach Jonas Urias revealed that he intends to rest a good portion of the players who have logged the most minutes for this Wednesday’s match (2), against Venda Nova, at 3 p.m., at Arena Gregorão.

The decision is directly related to the second clash against the Brabas. Last Monday (31), Corinthians beat Cruzeiro 1-0 at Arena Independência in Belo Horizonte and took the lead in the battle for a spot in the semifinals. The decider will take place next Monday (7), at 5 p.m. Brasília time, with Corinthians as the home side.

Photo: Cris Mattos/ Staff Images Woman/ CBF

In a press conference after the first meeting, Jonas Urias explained that the physical recovery of the players who had the highest workload became the priority. Despite acknowledging the importance of the state championship opener, the coach plans to use other squad members and youth academy players.

“As for our Mineiro opener, obviously the full focus all week was on Corinthians. It was about playing this quarterfinal with the highest possible level of competitiveness. Now, the focus will be Corinthians in the second leg. Not that they are guaranteed to be the focus for the return match, but what we need is to recover this group that played more than 45, 50, 60 minutes today so they can be well. There’s no point in trying to put these players on the field now, because I think we’d be harming the whole week leading up to the second leg,” said Urias.

He then reinforced his confidence in the other options available to face Venda Nova.

“And even though this Mineiro opener has its importance, no doubt, we trust the squad, the group. We’ll make use of our youth academy, we’ll complete this group that will play in the Mineiro opener, and I’m sure it will represent the Cabulosas very well,” he added.

Cruzeiro prepares changes to try to get past Corinthians

In addition to managing the squad physically, Jonas Urias is already analyzing adjustments for the second meeting. Cruzeiro need to win in São Paulo to keep their qualification hopes alive, while Corinthians advance to the semifinals with a draw.

Assessing the first match, the coach highlighted characteristics shown by the Brabas when they are pressed in their defensive third. For him, one of the lessons from the clash in Belo Horizonte was the need to change the pressing approach and avoid fouls close to the box.

“Against Corinthians, when we press high, they don’t play short. That’s the first lesson. There’s no point in pushing the block high because they only go long and fight for the first and second ball. We need to commit fouls farther away, kill the plays at the source, and not allow them to progress so far up the field before we stop the moves. They’ve scored many set-piece goals this year, many. They have a lot of players who deliver the ball well and finish plays very well, they’re very strong in the air. So that can also reduce, in the next match, the chances they create,” he said.

Jonas Urias assesses defeat in the first meeting

The coach also analyzed his team’s performance in the 1-0 defeat. In Jonas Urias’ view, Cruzeiro managed to improve their attacking buildup after halftime, especially with greater involvement from the holding midfielders and defenders in playing out from the back.

The Cruzeiro boss regretted that this approach had not appeared from the opening minutes of the match.

“There are several types of defeats. There are those defeats that are disappointing, there are those we understand, when we really were much inferior to the opponent. This defeat falls somewhere where, despite being very bad, the game’s initial plan was to do what we did after halftime. But we didn’t start the match trusting our buildup in that first phase. So the difference you notice with us using the holding midfielders more in the second half, the ball going through them, the wide center backs breaking out more to create an advantage, and that progression up the field was better, it flowed much better. We should have started the game like that,” he continued.

Corinthians built their first-leg advantage with a goal from Vic Albuquerque. Now, the Brabas can draw next Monday to secure a place among the four best teams in the Women’s Brasileirão.

A Cruzeiro win by one goal would send the decision to penalties. If Cruzeiro win by two or more goals, the Minas Gerais side will go through. Whoever advances will face the winner of Palmeiras vs. Bahia in the semifinal.

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