Cruzeiro, from lofty expectations to modest aims | OneFootball

Cruzeiro began the season expecting to compete for titles again, be a protagonist, and live up to the investment made in assembling a squad that, on paper, offered the options to do just that. The Campeonato Mineiro came in surprising fashion, with huge difficulties beating lesser opponents, goals in the dying moments, and inexplicable defeats at Mineirão, but when the final arrived, the weight of the shirt and the strength of a fanbase that pushed the team to the title prevailed. Then came almost ten rounds of the Brazilian Championship at the bottom of the table, elimination from the Libertadores and, now, the exit from the Copa do Brasil, precisely when the team had qualification in its hands. The season is not over yet, but the gap between what was imagined in January and what Cruzeiro is delivering in September has already become far too big to ignore.

The elimination against Atlético laid bare problems that had already been swept under the rug. Artur Jorge had a direct role in the outcome, mainly because of the choices he made during the match. In the first half, Cruzeiro had an improvised left back, the player was already on a yellow card, and that side was repeatedly targeted by the opponent. There was an obvious problem, but the Portuguese coach chose not to fix it at halftime. In a knockout game, with the opponent finding a clear route to attack, leaving things as they were was a difficult gamble to understand, especially because the yellow card increased the risk and further limited that side’s performance.

When Villalba was sent off, an even harder decision to understand followed: the Cruzeiro manager took off Kaio Jorge and Matheus Pereira, as well as Gerson, who asked to come off because of fatigue. Gerson’s substitution can be explained by his own exhaustion, but giving up Kaio Jorge and Matheus Pereira at that moment meant taking two of the team’s most important players off the field for any eventual decisive moment, precisely when Cruzeiro still had the aggregate advantage. And if the tie had gone to penalties, both would also have been among the players capable of making the difference. The coach chose a strategy, but gave up too many key references along the way.

The explanation came later, with Artur Jorge defending the idea of a back five and quicker players to exploit spaces. The problem is that football is not a laboratory, and a knockout match does not offer many opportunities to test experiments. The coach decided to change what did not need changing, removed key references when he needed them most, and bet that the organization drawn up on the board would be enough to make up for the loss of quality on the pitch. It was not. And after all that, the most important thing was still missing: recognizing that the reading of the game was wrong.

On the board’s side, the picture is not much different. After the elimination came the promise that the club will act more, demand more, and be more present in football matters. The question is inevitable: why only now? Cruzeiro had months to notice the problems, correct course, and hold accountable those who needed to be held accountable. There was time spent at the bottom of the Brasileirão, elimination from the Libertadores, and a run of performances that already pointed to difficulties, and even so, the firmer stance only appeared after another competition had been lost. It is such a late reaction that it looks more like an answer to pressure than planning.

The apology to the fans also comes too late. The supporters did not need a promise that the board would follow the football department more closely from now on. They needed that to have happened earlier. There is no problem in acknowledging there were mistakes; the problem is needing an elimination to finally realize what had been right in front of everyone’s eyes for months. If the management intends to be a protagonist, it cannot operate like a spectator who only steps in when the game is over.

And that is exactly why the Copa do Brasil elimination cannot be analyzed as an isolated episode. It is the most painful result of a season that kept lowering its goals as mistakes piled up. Cruzeiro began wanting titles, spent almost ten rounds near the bottom of the Brazilian Championship, went out of the Libertadores, and is now out of the Copa do Brasil. What remains is the Brazilian Championship and the fight for a Libertadores spot, an important goal, but far smaller than what was expected when the year began.

The season goes on, but the bar cannot keep dropping. Cruzeiro have the investment, the squad, and a fanbase that does not need anyone to explain the size of the club. What needs to be explained is how September arrived with so little after so much had been projected in January. And before any new signing, promise, or speech, perhaps something far less sophisticated is needed: acknowledging the mistakes, including those that still insist on looking like successes.

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