Dorival Júnior on cancelled São Paulo trip, Arboleda ban, fan plea | OneFootball

Dorival Júnior is officially back at São Paulo. The club’s new head coach was introduced at CT da Barra Funda on Monday afternoon (18) and spoke with the press for more than an hour about a number of topics.

Among them, he revealed that he really did not intend to work again this year and even had to cancel an international trip he had planned when he received the invitation to return to Tricolor.

“I really wasn’t going to come back so soon. And when I got the president’s call, right after the match against Juventude, I understood what had been going on. I had a trip booked to Florida, but I ended up rethinking the whole situation. I have a commitment to São Paulo, I accept it, and I will try to give my best here,” said coach Dorival.

“You can be sure of that. I will do everything possible so that we can recover the kind of moment this same group experienced not long ago. It’s a job that I hope will be a continuation of what had been implemented here so that we can get back to the same level of performance we had been showing,” said the coach.

Right at the start of the presentation, director Rui Costa, who was also present at the press conference, had already announced that Arboleda will not be reintegrated into the Tricolor squad after the act of indiscipline of leaving the club for a month. And Dorival commented on the Ecuadorian’s case.

“Arboleda was very important during my spell here, he was key to that title. In fact, ever since 2017. Now, a problem happened and it has to be resolved. Discipline matters anywhere and it has to prevail. That’s how I understand the São Paulo board’s behavior,” he said.

AN APPEAL TO THE TRICOLORES

São Paulo’s new coach also made an appeal to the fans, who have been somewhat at odds with the club since Crespo was replaced by Roger Machado, who was booed and criticized throughout his brief spell with Tricolor.

“I hope we have our fans back, truly believing in this team’s recovery. In the league itself, the team maintained a very competitive attitude, the result of the work done by Crespo and Roger. We will carry on, making the most of that work. We will continue at least maintaining this position.”

“I’m sure every true São Paulo supporter will set aside any political thinking, anything individual, for the collective good. Before anything else, he is a São Paulo supporter, regardless of whether he is on one side or the other. I’m sure that person will think carefully, especially because he has the club in his heart. If he does, then this gesture is needed.”

“It will be very important for every São Paulo supporter to grow closer to the institution. Not only for the fans to return to Morumbi, but for that atmosphere to continue as well. That is a separate matter. It is a dispute. I hope it is as healthy as possible. But above all, I hope they understand that the club needs peace in order to find important paths for our club.”

“The message is that the fans have never abandoned São Paulo, Morumbi… and I’m sure that support will come. The presence of the fans is essential. The greatest example was precisely my last spell. In 2017, the strength from the stands allowed us to recover in the Brasileirão and gave us huge support to find a path that wasn’t easy, it was very difficult.”

“People have no idea what goes on inside a working group. Back in 2023, we asked the fans to be a little patient, because I saw many qualities in this group, which improved even more with Lucas’ arrival, which helped the team grow.”

“I hope once again that we have that participation and that the fans believe again and make their voices heard. It will not be a simple job. I also had problems over there. We did everything we could to find a way in the last few matches and we couldn’t. Above all, we have to be realistic.”

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