Emily Lima hails Corinthians progress, season run and Robledo deal | OneFootball

Corinthians closed out the first stage of the Brazilian Women’s Championship with a convincing win. On the afternoon of last Sunday (9), the Brabas hosted Santos at Canindé Stadium, in São Paulo, for the 15th round of the national competition, and won 4-1. The black-and-white side’s goals were scored by Belén Aquino, Thaís Ferreira, Gisela Robledo, and Rhaizza.

After the match, head coach Emily Lima gave a press conference and analyzed the team’s performance in the derby. The coach highlighted Corinthians’ improvement in ball circulation, attacking combinations, and their ability to control the game with patience.

Photo: Rodrigo Gazznel / Ag. Corinthians

“Well, it’s always important to win and, beyond winning, I believe it was a very interesting match, with a lot of combinations. It’s a game of patience, which is what we’ve been looking for, with ball circulation and switching the play. So I think that, beyond the goals, we evaluate much more than just the goals. The goals are a consequence of what we’ve been improving and doing during the match. So I believe it’s always very positive for us, in a derby, to come away with this scoreline heading into the rest of the competition.

Now it’s time to turn the page from the Brazilian Championship to the Paulista. The Mirassol match—we know the difficulties because of the distance and the heat. Fortunately, we’re able to go a day earlier so we can rest and eat well, so that we can also put in a good performance there, keep going in the Campeonato Paulista, and then get ready to go to Salvador.

So this week is going to be very intense for us, because we had to do everything for the three matches—Santos, Mirassol, and Bahia—in three days. Because next week, we won’t even step on the pitch. We travel to Mirassol, play on Wednesday, come back, in the middle of the week we have a necessary rest break, then on Friday we travel again, play on Saturday, and return on Sunday. So we had to create a strategy over those three days, try to sum up all three teams so that we can perform well in the matches and go for the three points.”

Emily also spoke about the choices for the starting lineup and stressed that the decisions are based on the performances shown daily in training. The coach said she works with a squad of 30 players and that the technical staff’s priority is to maintain internal competitiveness.

“We work with 30 players, and it’s important for the fans to be satisfied, but we also have to be satisfied with the fans. So I don’t worry too much about that. I need to be very clear that the work is being done well and that we are giving 100% for Corinthians. That will always be my concern. The consequence of the lineups and the matches comes from these players’ daily work. So we will always try to be as fair as possible each week. Imagine that we still have many players who could be in this team. So it’s very difficult for you to come in and say, ‘I’m going to settle the team and this will be the team.’

I believe the team that started managed to play a very good match. I believe it was one of our best games, especially with the combinations we’ve been looking for, between defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder, forward, full-backs supporting. Anyway, several situations that we’ve been insisting on in training session after training session. And our biggest concern is not external, it’s internal, and it always will be internal. What we can improve internally so that we can take advantage of the matches and show you, show the fans, what we are doing every day.”

Emily Lima speaks about Gisela Robledo’s renewal

One of the topics addressed in the interview was the situation of Gisela Robledo, whose contract with Corinthians runs until August 31. The forward scored one of the goals in the win over Santos and, according to Emily Lima, her stay had already been requested by the coach herself since arriving at the club.

The manager also revealed that the renewal is being treated internally as something very concrete and highlighted Robledo’s progress in adapting to the team’s style of play.

“Robledo is part of the squad. When I arrived, I was already informed that she was the only player whose deal would be renewed in the middle of the year. Her staying was already a request of mine when I got here. So we’ve been working, and that’s why she’s enjoying it. She’s happy, she’s satisfied. Corinthians is happy, we’re satisfied, because today was a very good response from her, and she has already been doing this in training. I’m very careful. Sometimes you ask us: ‘Why didn’t she come on? Why isn’t she playing?’. Internally, within training, a lot happens.

So we come in with a different methodology and style of play, which sometimes takes them time to adapt to, and we have to have the patience to understand that on a daily basis, to keep talking with her, showing video, explaining. And I think today Robledo understands a little better what we want, and today we were able to choose to give her many more minutes than she had been getting.

I think exposing an athlete, exposing the team in a situation that I don’t see as necessary... So Robledo today—not just today, she showed you today, but in training she has been improving a lot. And since she already knows that the renewal is something very concrete, she’s very happy. She really likes being here, she was extremely happy, and I think that’s it: having the group as satisfied and happy as possible so that we can also enjoy it and be happy, satisfied with their performance.”

Gi Fernandes’ progress

Emily Lima also used Gi Fernandes as an example of the adaptation process to the coaching staff’s work. According to the coach, some players need more time to absorb specific concepts of the new model, especially regarding positioning and decision-making.

“No doubt. And Gi falls into the same case as Robledo, which is the same case as Day. These are players who are playing more now. It’s what I say about adaptation. It’s not easy when you’ve worked for a long time with one working method, with strategies, with a style of play, and then things change. Not that we changed radically, but there are very specific points, very specific concepts, and sometimes the player is left in doubt: ‘Do I push up? Do I not? Do I tuck in? Do I stay wide? Do I close down the ball? Do I not? Do I track back? Do I not?’. So there are a lot of details that sometimes hinder the player’s development.

And when I spoke about Gi, it was really about being patient, being patient. And the more competitive she is in relation to another player in the same position—because Gi is our only full-back—it’s about constantly taking her out of that comfort zone, showing that it’s not just her. There’s someone else right on her heels, and she’s right on her teammate’s heels too. So we also have the duty to create that competitiveness between them, so that we can raise the level of our players. And that’s not only among the players. We, and I in particular, have to do that with the whole staff as well, getting the best out of everyone every day, because we’re talking about a high level where there’s no time to breathe.

So with the players it’s the same. Gi has been showing, not only in the matches but also in training, that she understands better, and based on that she has been developing. And Gi doesn’t need to prove anything else to anyone, or to us. I think it was a period of adaptation, and now she’s going to enjoy a little more of what she went through in this first half of the year.”

Emily Lima’s relationship with Canindé

Lastly, Emily spoke about her personal and professional connection with Canindé. The coach recalled moments she experienced there since childhood and also during her football journey.

“It’s not only professional. I spent a lot of time here with my family. My family—my father’s whole side—is Portuguese. So when I was a child, I used to come here with my grandparents, I spent a lot of time here, I lived a lot inside this club. Then I had the opportunity to work here with Prisco and Palumbo, who is no longer with us, but he was someone who taught me a lot. I made my transition from player to supervisor, coordinator, and then coach with him. It was all written. I don’t think there could have been a better person than him for that.

And then Corinthians started bringing matches here. So I feel very good here. We also had a good match against Vitória, the pitch is good. Today as well, although I unfortunately don’t remember his name, the gentleman who takes care of the pitch here—I had the pleasure of meeting him now, he was introduced to me, and I thanked him for the care he put into it.”

With the derby win, Corinthians wraps up another Brazilian Championship fixture and now shifts focus to the Paulista Women’s Championship. The Brabas return to the pitch next Wednesday (12) at 5 p.m. (Brasília time) against Mirassol at Estádio Manoel Francisco Ferreira, in Bálsamo. After that, the team travels to Salvador, where they face Bahia on Saturday (15) in the Brazilian Women’s Championship.

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