Emily Lima on decisive Copa do Brasil tie, Fazendinha pitch, derby run | OneFootball

Corinthians defeated Ferroviária 1-0 on the night of last Friday (17), at Fazendinha, in the fourth round of the Paulista Women’s Championship. After the final whistle, head coach Emily Lima gave a press conference, analyzed the team’s performance, looked ahead to the rematch against Ferroviária in the fourth round of the Women’s Copa do Brasil, and commented on other matters involving the black-and-white squad.

Asked about the new clash against Ferroviária, scheduled for this Monday (20) in the Copa do Brasil, Emily said that although she expects similar characteristics from the opposing team, the context will be completely different because it is a knockout match.

Photo: Rodrigo Gazzanel/Agência Corinthians

“A totally different game, a totally different context. We understand Ferroviária’s patterns, or we believe that on Monday we’ll face something very similar.

I think we need to adjust things much more offensively, because today defensively we managed not to be drawn in, because it’s a game entirely based on drawing you in, that’s how Ferroviária play. It’s really nice, it’s a very strong trend that has been happening in football. And we, strategically, didn’t fall into that trap of being drawn in and let them have the ball until the moment when we have certain triggers already determined by the players. And we played our game; I believe we could have extended the scoreline. We didn’t suffer much today, we managed to control the game quite well. And on Monday, I repeat, it’s another context, it’s another game, it carries much more weight. We have to go there and fight for qualification.”

Next, the coach spoke about the condition of the Fazendinha pitch, highlighting that the squad even had to adapt its warm-up before the match. Emily also said that planning for the 2027 season and the squad’s contract situations are already being discussed internally between the coaching staff and the board.

“The pitch is complicated. We come to play a game like this, one that matters a lot too, and finding a pitch in this condition is not something comfortable for us. But it was what we had today, and that’s what I said in the locker room.

The pitch is bad for us, bad for them. And in here, whether it’s a good pitch or a bad one, we have to find strength from wherever we can to win the game. During the warm-up, we already saw a certain difficulty, and we had to adapt our warm-up. So I think it’s about keeping our eyes on the result. We’re going to have difficulties anywhere, at any time. And we have to know how to get through that situation. It’s important today to come away with the win, with all these difficulties.

Of course we’ve sat down and talked. As soon as I arrived, I sought information about everyone’s contracts. It’s already been discussed very well. That’s something very internal for us. The only thing I can tell you is that yes, it’s been discussed and well guided. We’re already thinking about the squad for next year. We talk about everything, actually. And with Robledo’s contract now in the middle of the year and some others at the end of the year, we’re always attentive to the market, we’re always attentive to our players. And I think it’s a natural process within a coaching staff and a board to always be active in that conversation. As I said, it’s a very internal conversation. And the only thing I can tell you is that this conversation has existed between us since I arrived.”

Another topic addressed was Tamires’ absence due to the 2026 Men’s World Cup. Emily preferred not to go into detail on the matter and only stated that she followed the club’s instructions.

“It’s a topic I’m not going to comment on. I arrived at the club with conditions already in place, such as Tamires’, for the World Cup, from the board and the previous coaching staff. I just followed orders. I’m an employee of the club, I followed orders, and we’re continuing to work.”

The black-and-white coach also commented on the participation of English midfielder Jesse Lingard’s daughter in Corinthians Women’s activities during the week. For Emily, the experience represents the strength and reach of Brazilian women’s football.

“I think it was nice for us, but I think even more so for her. To get to know another culture, to be among Brazilian players, who are talked about all over the world. It was a really nice initiative by Corinthians to bring her to the girls’ training session and to the game today. She felt what women’s football is like in our country, and for us it’s a pleasure.

You could see in her eyes how happy she was to be there, and she didn’t want to leave training. She wanted to stay there until the end, but her father wanted her to go watch his training session. It’s a passion that crosses borders, crosses oceans, and here we have the responsibility to welcome her well and show her a little of what our football is.

If not, we have replacements; we’ve had 20, 25 days of a lot of training, with many variations. I think a positive medical update will calm us down, of course, but we can’t stay focused on that. I think we have to focus a lot on Monday’s game, and if they’re not available, unfortunately, we have to turn to our plans, because we can’t have only 11.

So, it’s work we’ve been doing since we arrived. Today was an interesting moment to make some substitutions, within what we’ve also been thinking. Anyway, I think it’s about focusing on Monday’s game and hoping that nothing serious has happened to either of them.”

Finally, Emily assessed the run of derbies Corinthians will face when competitions resume and stressed the high level of demands in the team’s schedule in the second half of the season.

“In our country, and even more so in the state of São Paulo, we understand that we’re basically playing two Brazilian championships all the time. So it’s about preparing for that.

So what I see is preparing the team in the best possible way, because there are no easy games anymore. Every game is a different context, but the degree of difficulty is very high. And we have to prepare ourselves and prepare them so that everything works out.

There is no unbeatable team, but we will make ourselves strong so that it happens this year. It’s a very demanding, very intense second half of the season, a run of very tough games, with the Libertadores in the middle of it all. And we have the duty and the commitment to make sure they can handle all this load,” she concluded.

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