Dorival Júnior says he called off trip for São Paulo, Arboleda ban, 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 to the press for more than an hour on a variety 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 call from the president, 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 this moment that 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 find that 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, announced that Arboleda will not be reinstated to the Tricolor squad after the act of indiscipline in leaving the club for a month. And Dorival commented on the Ecuadorian’s case.

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

AN APPEAL TO THE TRICOLOR FANS

The new São Paulo 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 at Tricolor.

“I hope we have our fans back, truly believing in this team’s recovery. Even within the league itself, the team maintained a consistently competitive approach, 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 am sure that every São Paulo supporter at heart will set aside any political thinking, anything individual, for the collective good. First and foremost, he is a São Paulo supporter, regardless of whether he is aligned with the current leadership or the opposition. I am sure that person will think carefully, especially because the club is in his heart. If it is, then it calls for that gesture.”

“It will be very important for every São Paulo supporter to reconnect with 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 people understand that the club needs peace in order to find important paths forward for our club.”

“The message is that the fans have never abandoned São Paulo, Morumbi... and I am sure that support will come. The presence of the fans is fundamental. The greatest example was precisely in my last spell. In 2017, the strength from the stands helped us recover in the Brasileirão and gave us tremendous support to find a path that was not 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, helping the team grow.”

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

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