Emily Lima hails Corinthians' team spirit after derby, eyes season run | OneFootball

Corinthians secured qualification for the next round of the Women’s Copa do Brasil by defeating Palmeiras 1-0 on Saturday morning (30) at Allianz Parque. A late goal by Gabi Zanotti decided the single-leg third-round clash and kept the Brabas alive in the national competition.

After the match, head coach Emily Lima held a press conference and highlighted the team’s collective performance, assessed the importance of the Derby win, commented on aspects of the display on the pitch, and spoke about the current moment experienced by the black-and-white squad.

Photo: ©Rodrigo Gazzanel / Ag. Corinthians

When analyzing the move that led to the qualification-clinching goal, the Corinthians coach praised Gabi Zanotti’s movement and highlighted the connection shown by the group during the derby.

“Zanotti’s movement was incredible, drawing the center-back inward and attacking the space behind her so that she loses her reference point, because she’s watching the ball. Anyway, these are things where, many times, individual quality makes the difference in a game like this, but without failing to emphasize today the collective strength and the connection that existed among the group of players, the staff group. Also, players who weren’t in the squad were inside the locker room watching the match. So, I think this is a group where we can still maximize things even more and improve the details that we still need to adjust,” she said.

Asked about the impact of qualifying against a rival and whether the result strengthens the work being carried out by the coaching staff, Emily said she remains confident in the process adopted since her arrival at the club.

“I think about the weight of it with a very calm mind, I really believe in the work. That moment of the defeat at their place was also a time of a lot of learning. I believe that if we had come out of that match victorious, there would have been many things we wouldn’t have been able to detect. Winning here is always good in any derby, winning at each other’s home ground. Yes, it strengthens us, of course. It wasn’t the first time, it wasn’t the first time. That is already part of Corinthians’ history. I think we’ll leave that for you to evaluate. We focus much more on the work and on the run of matches we have ahead of us.”

The coach also pointed out the aspects that pleased her most and those that still need to be corrected after the victory over Palmeiras.

“I think what bothered me a little was not having as much of the ball as we should have, but we managed to react to that. I don’t know what word to use, whether it was nervousness or... I don’t know the right word, but sometimes we were just giving situations away. We were handing the ball to the opponent. We gradually grew into the game, we reduced that a bit, and with Palmeiras’ strong marking and transitions, which are a very strong point of Palmeiras, we suffered a lot from counterattacks and had to run back all the time. I believe what pleases me and what pleased me today was the collective work that was there. And that collective work also comes from the substitutions. You come into a game with very high intensity, absolutely on fire.

I said that to Vic. You know what the temperature is like in there. So, it’s complicated for those players to come in and maintain or improve it. I believe they maintained that energy, that temperature, and then we managed to decide the game in the 41st minute, if I’m not mistaken, by scoring that goal and then playing with the strategy of trying to keep the ball, trying to keep the ball as much as possible in the opponent’s half, trying to kill off the game, trying to draw fouls, trying to stop the game so the minutes would go by. Anyway, I think now they enjoyed it a little. We’re going into a break after next week. The girls are already reporting to the national team. I think that’s it, enjoy this moment. We’re top of the Brazilian Championship, qualified in the Copa do Brasil. I think it’s really about resting mentally, resting and coming back at full strength because in this second half of the season we’ll still have a lot to say about what lies ahead of us.”

Finally, Emily Lima answered whether she considers the victory over Palmeiras to bear her signature and stressed that she sees the work as a collective construction based on Corinthians’ historic identity.

Emily Lima: “It’s not my signature, I work collectively. I am the one at the forefront in moments of defeat. I take that responsibility. I think Corinthians’ face is the face of the history they have already built. So we are enhancing that history. We’re not going to come here and say that Corinthians now plays in a certain way... Their individual quality is very strong and allows us to strengthen the collective. I’ve always said since my arrival that we came to facilitate the process. Not to solve any kind of problem or anything like that.

Or to change the way Corinthians plays. I don’t think so. I think it’s about making things easier individually so that, collectively, we can make better decisions. Of course, the individual quality of this team helps our work a lot. So it is much more Corinthians’ face being Corinthians’ face, and not Emily’s face. Because one day Emily will leave, and Corinthians’ identity has to continue. And today, I think you who are much more used to following Corinthians, today it is Corinthians’ face. So I have to understand where I am and enhance that Corinthians identity.”

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