For those who had never seen Hernán Crespo smile, the press conference held after the victory over Juventude on Sunday (23), at Vila Belmiro, began with beautiful laughter from the Argentine coach.

No, Crespo was not happy because of the final result or his team’s performance. But he couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that a bottle of sparkling water left him completely soaked before he even started answering the journalists.

The incident could have been a sign of a lighter mood, after all, it was a day of triumph, ending a three-match winless streak. But it quickly became clear that just mentioning Tricolor’s problems was enough for Crespo to return to his direct and sincere tone. This was clearly reflected in his answers. The series of injuries seems to have taken away, above all, the coach’s optimism, and he made sure to put an end to any budding enthusiasm.

Starting with the youth players. Three of them came on during the match (Lucca, Negrucci, and Paulinho, the latter making his professional debut).

“At this moment, I am thinking about the present. This is the reality. I am thinking about the present. The present is now… it’s more convenient to have Lucca, to have Paulinho, to have Pedro, to have Maik… I won’t forget anyone… Negrucci, of course… at this moment, it’s more convenient, because they are in the rhythm of the under-20s, but to think about planning, projecting, building, and putting on their shoulders the responsibility for São Paulo’s future… I don’t think it’s fair. There’s a whole process. For many of them, this is their first year in the under-20s. Normally, you need to do two years. So, calmly, at this moment… yes, they are playing because they are available to play and because they have match rhythm. But to think, at this moment, about what will happen next season, if he will be… we already know… you don’t have to ask me… we already know that, if I can play the Cotia boys… my admiration for them, yes, but not for this reason. They don’t have to take on the responsibility for next season. They can help and become protagonists… why not? But calmly. Let’s see, game by game,” he said.

“No, they don’t have to take on anything (the question was about ‘taking on certain burdens next season’). They have to play freely, they have to play and be free, because they are young. And try to help, maybe with the hope that they’ll become protagonists. So, help… we can’t think that a boy in his first year of under-20s will be a starter and will have to play with the weight and responsibility of a big team like São Paulo. No. They have to be free. We have to create a solid structure, a solid base, to give them the opportunity to show what they can do. But to give them the responsibility of being a São Paulo starter? No. Can they achieve it? Yes, of course they can. With work, they can achieve it. But we’re talking about a group of players who haven’t even finished their first year in the under-20s. I think it’s a bit early to give them that responsibility,” he added, when asked a second time about the topic.

If the subject of the medical department already seems almost cliché given the constant movement (Marcos Antônio went out, but Ferreirinha came in), Crespo maintained a sober tone. And without wanting to give details about the planning for next year, he was also somewhat pessimistic about when he’ll have everyone available, especially the trio Calleri, Lucas, and Oscar.

“The important thing is what I said. We already know that, for next year, many will be coming back from serious injuries. So, to be clear, if you build a team, like this season, with Oscar, Lucas Moura, and Calleri, for example, and they’re not there for the whole season… with this squad, we reached 45 points with five rounds to go. Can we think they are the future? No. I think that, if Calleri goes back to being Calleri… because we don’t know, because he has a ruptured (ligament) in his knee. Do we know if Lucas Moura will go back to being Lucas Moura? Do we know if Oscar will play again? We don’t know. So, the building process is about this squad. Where can we (inaudible word) this squad? If then, during the season — in January, February, March… — Calleri goes back to being Calleri, Lucas Moura goes back to being Lucas Moura… maybe… hopefully Oscar will be healthy again… they’ll be reinforcements. For me, that’s how it is. We have to improve the current squad. Without these three key pieces, the current squad reached 45 points with five rounds to go. So, we have to work a lot to improve, if we don’t want to repeat this season,” he pointed out.

In this atmosphere of uncertainty, which as Crespo himself insists on emphasizing, “there has always been a lot of sincerity on his part,” São Paulo’s future and even the Brasileirão itself are treated as unknowns. The dream of still qualifying for the Copa Libertadores continues. But the coach, extremely realistic, chooses not to make promises to the already battered hopes of the fans. Those, by the way, whose boos were also understood by the Argentine.

“You already know what the difficulties are. In the last press conferences, I was very clear. All the difficulties… and there are still more that we haven’t talked about. This is the reality. We have to adapt, do the best we can, and try to get points. The idea is always to try to play a certain way. Today, it didn’t happen. We didn’t play as we intended and wanted, but it was a very delicate moment. We know we still have three games to finish this season and try to get as high as possible,” he explained.

“You talk to me about planning. It’s difficult… we’ll try to do the best we can. When this season is over, we’ll see what we did. I said… it’s very difficult. Everything that was planned when we weren’t here didn’t happen during the season. And we arrived here at a very difficult, complicated moment. There was talk of relegation… it’s very hard to come here, to face all the difficulties that São Paulo has… we arrived here all the same… so, to expect too much… no… yes, I will expect for next season, that’s for sure. For this season, I knew I had to fight and struggle. In the first game we played, against Flamengo, I said: ‘We’ll have to fight until the end. Until December.’ We reached 45 points five rounds before (the end of the championship). Not ten rounds before. Only five. With clear parameters for what we must do next season,” he pointed out.

“We have to embrace the amateur spirit, and not think that they are professionals. At this moment, we have to think that we have to play with our hearts, with what we have. As I always said: will we make it? I don’t know. Today [yesterday] we made it, like this (makes a ‘claw’ gesture). But we made it. Can we play better? Clearly (yes). We’ve already shown that we can play better. But, at this moment, it’s like this. So, what we have, we’ll give. Everything. Will it be enough to win the games? I don’t know. But we’ll put in all the energy we have. There are three rounds left. We’ve opened up a three-point gap in our competition with Bragantino. We hope that tomorrow Cruzeiro gives us a hand with Corinthians (actually, the game was later, and Cruzeiro did give that hand, winning 3-0). There will be nine points left (in dispute), and we’ll have a three-point lead, if all goes well. This is the championship we have to play in these last three rounds,” he concluded.

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

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