Roger hails São Paulo in tough conditions: “I saw a solid team” | OneFootball

The scoreline was narrow, but coach Roger Machado made sure to praise São Paulo’s performance in the 1-0 win over Boston River this Tuesday (7), in their Copa Sudamericana debut.

The reasons to be satisfied with the performance in Uruguay were clear: the completely adverse weather conditions faced by Tricolor, who had to overcome rain and strong winds, in addition to the lack of chemistry in the mixed lineup fielded.

“A match under different circumstances, with a lot of rain, a lot of wind, an empty stadium. It could have led the team to relax, but I saw a solid team that managed to play safely and control the opponent to win in an important debut. I was able to notice some important things, evaluations for the rest of the season,” he said.

Only Rafael, Bobadilla and Ferreirinha kept their places in the starting lineup compared to the team that thrashed Cruzeiro over the weekend in the Brazilian Championship.

According to Roger, although the Sudamericana has its own value, the competition can be crucial to the club’s plans to rotate players and keep everyone in good physical condition.

“We take advantage of these moments to make assessments, manage workloads, give opportunities to others and test alternatives. It was a good debut, a solid match, on a decent pitch, but one that proved to be heavier. The wind would stop the ball and wouldn’t allow long switches in the air, so it had to be played on the ground,” he added.

“The form and squad rotation we had today, using players with fewer minutes and giving everyone a boost, was also with the weekend match in mind. It’s important to keep everyone ready, motivated and eager to be among the starting 11. An international competition has to motivate those who are fighting for space,” concluded the Tricolor boss.

After the opening win, which leaves them tied at the top of Group C, São Paulo will have a direct clash for first place in their next Sudamericana match, against Chile’s O’Higgins at Morumbi, at 7 p.m. (Brasília time) next Tuesday (14). Before that, the club travels to Salvador (BA) to face Vitória in the Brazilian Championship, at 4:30 p.m. (Brasília time) on Saturday (11).

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