Cuca faces Cruzeiro again in second Santos debut – a look back | OneFootball

Santos announced last Thursday the hiring of Cuca as a replacement for Juan Pablo Vojvoda as the team's head coach. Registered in the BID, the coach will make his re-debut for Peixe this Sunday against Cruzeiro, a club he faced in 2018 during his second debut as the commander of Alvinegro Praiano.

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At that time, Cuca was hired for the position after the dismissal of Jair Ventura at the end of July that season. In the first days of August, he debuted for the second time as Santos' coach, precisely in the match against Cruzeiro.

However, Peixe ended up defeated on that occasion. Cuca's team lost 1-0 at Vila Belmiro in the first leg of the Copa do Brasil quarter-finals that year. Subsequently, Santos would defeat Raposa at Mineirão, taking the match to penalties, but ended up eliminated by the champion of that tournament edition.

Among the 11 starters of that match was Gabigol, the only remaining player from the team in the current Santos squad, who returns to work with the coach.

Cuca's Second Tenure

That was Cuca's second debut for Santos, as he had already coached the team in mid-2008, in a short stint that lasted only 14 games, in which he achieved three victories.

Santos' Situation

Against Cruzeiro, Santos tries to recover from the tough defeat to Internacional at Vila Belmiro to return to winning ways in the Brasileirão. Peixe is 16th in the standings, with six points accumulated and has not won in the competition for three games. The last victory was against Vasco, almost a month ago.

Match Details

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