Brazil Under-17 coach praises team balance at South American championship

Brazil Under-17 coach praises team balance at South American championship

Carlos Eduardo Patetuci, Brazil U-17 national team coachCredits: Nelson Terme / CBF

Brazil’s U-17 national team has a 100% record in the South American Championship for the category. In their opener, they thrashed Bolivia 5-0, followed by a 4-1 win over Peru. The team also beat Argentina (3-0) and Venezuela (1-0). In addition, the side coached by Carlos Eduardo Patetuci has the most efficient attack with 13 goals scored and the best defense: only one goal conceded. The Brazil coach highlighted this balance.

“The first phase was excellent. We achieved our initial objective, which was to qualify for the semifinal and for the World Cup. We scored 13 goals and conceded only one. And in four matches, four wins. During the training period for the South American Championship, we worked hard to make the team very balanced across all areas. It’s no use having a very strong attack, a very good offensive unit, and being fragile defensively. So in our preparation, we focused a lot on working with all areas of the team — defense, midfield, and attack. This integration, this compactness between the sectors, has allowed us to be very effective so far, and we hope to keep being effective in the semifinal as well,” he said.

In the final group-stage match, Brazil beat Venezuela 1-0 on Sunday (12). The match was marked by heavy rain throughout the 90 minutes. Coach Carlos Eduardo Patetuci praised his team’s ability to adapt.

“Yesterday, against Venezuela, it was an unusual match, one in which the field was in very poor condition. So we had to adapt. We couldn’t implement our playing concepts, our game model, which is a proactive style, keeping the ball on the ground, exchanging short passes, so we had to adapt with more vertical balls, longer passes, relying heavily on duels, first and second balls, and shots on goal. We managed to be effective and won the match. The important thing was the victory, remaining unbeaten, and moving on to the semifinal,” he said.

Brazil’s opponent in the South American Championship semifinal is Colombia. The match will take place on Thursday (16) at Carfem. And the Brazil coach is expecting a great match.

“It’s a very physically strong team, with a lot of technique as well, which is one of their characteristics. They have grown in the competition, and we’ve noticed that over the course of the matches here. It’s going to be a tough game, a great battle. We are prepared, we’re going to play our game, and of course analyze Colombia’s strengths carefully so that we can neutralize them and take advantage of their weak points, their possible vulnerabilities, so that we can be effective,” he said.

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