Corinthians women's U20 coach rues injuries, highlights youth transition | OneFootball

By Fabio Luigi / Central do Timão Editorial Staff

Last Sunday afternoon (26), Corinthians faced São Paulo at Estádio Alfredo Schürig, Fazendinha, in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Brazilian Women’s Under-20 Championship, and drew 0-0. The two teams will meet again this Thursday (30), at 3 p.m., in Santana de Parnaíba, with the rival as the home side. The team that advances will face Ferroviária or Botafogo in the semifinals.

Moments after the final whistle, coach Julia Passero gave an interview to the Timão Delas portal and commented on the importance of the transition process between categories in the club’s women’s youth system at Parque São Jorge: “Transition — that’s really why we’re here. We’re here to help transition the athletes and get them to the professional level. That is the purpose of the youth system, of development. I see Corinthians’ work as being very consistent, with all the coaches who have come through here. Last year they were already making these transitions with the players. It’s no coincidence that we had Julia Farias starting for the Under-20 team. We had Bia Vaz on the field for most of the match, and we’ve always tried to have them perform in both categories.”

Photo: Staff Images/CBF

She went on to praise the long-term work with the young players, which creates greater chemistry among them: “It was fantastic; they’re a generation, both the 08 and 09 girls, and the 07s also got to play a bit in the Brazilian championship. It’s a generation with a lot of connection, I’d say. They’ve been playing together for a long time, you know. They won an Under-15 state title together. That obviously doesn’t come from Julia Passero, it comes from a sequence of work that has been done here.”

Later, the young coach spoke about the use of 2009-born players in the squad and the importance of them getting minutes in the older age group: “Today we also had some 09 players out there, and that’s important for the club. So we bring them in, and now we have that idea together with Igor, who is the Under-17 coach. He has this idea of having them perform in the Under-20s, respecting these processes that, when we talk about moving down and up, a really nice term Bia uses here is that, actually, it’s about being in the Under-16 category and moving up. It’s a promotion. And when they are in the Under-17 category, they need to be protagonists. On a technical, tactical, mental and physical level as well. Because when you transition, there’s also a physical demand. You’re training with older athletes. And it’s natural for us to develop better physical strength,” she continued.

Lastly, she lamented the loss of two important players for the team: midfielder Júlia Faria and forward Rayane Pontes, who suffered serious knee injuries in recent weeks. Both had been starters for the Under-20 team. The coach mentioned the psychological work being done with the players so that their absence does not affect the squad.

“We’re subject to that. So, for me, within player development, we understand that they also need to go through this moment. Not that we want them to get injured, but we know it can happen. And with that said, they are two extremely important players. Naturally, we’re human, so the group is going to feel it. For me, we also can’t just treat an injury like, that’s it, it’s over — we’re not machines. So we did some work together with Gabi, our psychologist, and Luísa as well, who just arrived to help strengthen the group.”

“So when it happened — and it was in two straight matches, actually — I was shaken myself, we were all shaken, we’re human. So we recalculated the route, brought the group closer together, and did an activity... they loved getting a little relief from that burden, you know? Understanding that everyone matters a lot. We’re even doing work to bring the medical department staffa little closer in that regard.”

She concluded: “But after it happened, they were two traumatic incidents, right? So these are things that are uncontrollable within the game, both with Ray and Julinha.And bringing the group closer, I think maybe that becomes motivation for them, even for me myself.You see that look in their eyes up in the stands, like, wow, I wish I were playing in this match.That’s very important, and we have to bring that into the group.”

“So we had good weeks to absorb all of this, a nice three-week break to process it. And it was also a good return, right? In terms of game strategy, they are two important pieces. But I believe the group responded very well, with the work of the psychology team and also the coaching staff,” she finished.

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