Vasco: Diniz after São Januário loss, "We played well, not enough" | OneFootball

Vasco lost at home again and was defeated 2-0 by Mirassol this Tuesday (2nd), in the 37th round of the Brazilian Championship. The result confirmed the São Paulo team in the group stage of the 2026 Libertadores and left the Cruz-Maltino under pressure once again. Even so, coach Fernando Diniz stated that he did not see a poor performance from his team.

After the match, Diniz acknowledged the negative impact of another defeat at São Januário, but emphasized that, in his view, Vasco performed better than the score suggests.

- Losing again at São Januário is something that bothers us a lot, especially after the win against Inter. But we didn’t play a bad game. On the contrary, we played a very good match against a very qualified team. We had volume, numbers in our favor, but we couldn’t turn that into goals. They had two chances and were precise — said the coach.

+ “BACKSTAGE COUP”: Legal maneuver could halt salaries, sales, and stop Vasco

Fernando Diniz in Vasco vs Mirassol, Brasileirão 2025 — Photo: André Durão

Diniz mentioned that the team spent much of the game close to creating clear chances, especially at the start of the second half, but failed to finish:

– We came back better for the second half, always entering Mirassol’s final third. But we failed to turn our superiority into goals. Léo Jardim practically didn’t work with his hands, and Mirassol didn’t create many big chances either. We had ten corners, they had one. But we didn’t have the same energy as in the game against Inter.

“We didn’t deserve to lose”

In a recent assessment, Diniz again emphasized that, in his view, the negative results do not reflect the team’s performance in the last few rounds.

– It’s hard to explain. We had other games where we didn’t deserve to lose or draw — like against Grêmio, Ceará, and São Paulo. Today, again, the team played well, but it wasn’t enough to win. And we need to win, especially at São Januário — he concluded.

+ Vasco: Nike debut date announced

Photo: Reproduction/Vasco.

Standings

With the defeat, Vasco remains with 45 points, in 11th place. The gap to the relegation zone is four points — Internacional, the first team inside the Z-4, faces São Paulo this Wednesday.

The Cruz-Maltino ends its participation in the Brasileirão next Sunday, at 4pm, against Atlético-MG in Belo Horizonte.

+ Follow Papo na Colina on social media: Thread, Bluesky, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Tiktok and Google News.

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