The incredible Diniz: first win with Cruzeiro and second Cup final in a year :: Olé

30/10/2024 22:31hs.

While Fernando Diniz celebrated exactly 361 days ago obtaining his first Copa Libertadoresthe deté may have fallen into the mental trap of seasoning what was to come with optimism. Sins that are committed in the heat of success. Times of ecstasy that, as Vinicius de Moraes sang to La Felicidad, usually come to an end. To then be recycled, like everything.

These kinds of cycles in life (and football, which is almost the same) tend to be spaced out. So that the coming and going is bearable. Although the rule is not always followed. Diniz can certify it: on November 24 of last year his Flu beat Boca in the Libertadores final at the Maracaná. And he, in parallel, was excited about being ratified as coach of Brazil. Selected the one he had led on an interim basis since Tite had kept his word of leaving office after the Cup, and who – if the horoscopes had been fulfilled – Today Carlo Ancelotti should be directing.

Thursday’s newspaper, in this case, proves that what was predicted did not happen. Neither by the media gurus of Brazil, nor by the mind protected by the curly hair of Diniz. That same man who this Wednesday He euphorically celebrated his first victory as coach of Cruzeiro in the South of the Province of Buenos Aires. A 1-0 against Lanús that placed it in a new international definition. This time, from South America. Divine swing with intermediate nuances.

Twists of an incredible year

Diniz’s hug with Kennedy, scorer of the Cup goal (EFE).

Diniz, a romantic who came to define that “the game precedes thought itself: it is more inspiring, faster,” He climbed to the zenith of his illusions that afternoon in Rio de Janeiro. Without knowing that behind the Sugar Loaf of euphoria there would be a steep slope. I had no idea that after the categorical – and expected – defeat against Manchester City in the Club World Cup final (0-4) there would be a reset of the year. And his own career.

The native of Patos de Minas received the first news of the year on January 5: The first thing Ednaldo Rodrigues – already restored to his position as president of the Brazilian Football Confederation – did was fire him. That coach who at some point the media had imagined as a kind of re-founder of Jogo Bonito ended his double command. Almost a foreshadowing of what would come later.

Although on February 29, Fluminense won the Recopa Sudamericana by beating LDU de QuitoDiniz’s image had already begun to lose strength. The football he worshiped did not appear. The aesthetics were not ideal. But the results supported it. Or they would keep him, actually, for a few more months as a detainee of the Rio club. Although not by much.

He won the Cup Winners’ Cup with Fluminense.

Even after leaving his team first in their group in Libertadores 2024, Diniz was kicked out of Flu on June 24. He could not withstand a very bad start for Brasileirao, with seven defeats and three draws that sank the Rio club into the last positions. The past had, in effect, been left behind. And the ticket, chopped.

“These are very difficult days to digest. Fluminense was a great gift in my life. It was a marriage. It will pass and everyone will be fine.”the American champion coach said in his goodbye. No longer a job. With some floating hope of resurgence. Going through his own anguish before beginning a sabbatical period that lasted 90 days.

Cruzeiro announced Diniz as new coach on September 23. A month and a week before making his return to a continental final after 15 years. Something that they had not achieved since the head-to-head match they lost against Alejandro Sabella’s Estudiantes in 2009. A ticket that they sealed after four draws and two defeats that raised doubts.

Already buried, for example: the start of FD in Belo Horizonte now has another vigor. Cupbearer. Encouraging. As if to take revenge in the Sudamericana for everything that happened to him after the Libertadores final. Little time passed. But a lot happened.

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