2023-11-10 03:50:00
Fernando Diniz spread his arms as if they were wings and began his flight through the Maracaná to watch up close how his team, Fluminense, had just defeated Boca Juniors and won the Copa Libertadores. He had a bright look, moist eyes, a huge smile, and an agitated heart; He hugged everyone he met in his path; He threw kisses, raised his fists, ran wildly, screamed, grabbed his face, his hair, and jumped around like a child; He jumped and stood up haughtily, like someone who was really living his happiest day, his most extreme madness, like someone who did not believe what he had achieved.
It is Fernando Diniz, the fashionable coach in Brazil, the one who sleeps with the Copa Libertadores under his blanket, the one who designed the plan for his Fluminense to overthrow the mystical Xeneize. And he is the coach who is most talked regarding today in Brazil, not only because of the feat he has just achieved, but because he is a two-faceted coach who lives in two offices, with two demanding jobs. One day he unleashes his fatigue as continental champion with Fluminense and 48 hours later, following regaining his composure, he sits down very seriously to give the list of Brazil’s squad, since he is also the interim coach of the Brazilian national team, Colombia’s next rival in the tie. , on November 16 in Barranquilla.
Diniz sits on the highest and most demanding throne in Brazilian football, that of national coach, but at the same time he is a club coach. It is up to him to distribute his objectives and strategies, from the club to the National Team, from the National Team to the club. He was appointed as the team’s interim coach while Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid’s coach, takes over, probably at the end of the season, that is, in mid-2024.
Meanwhile, their mission is to direct the tie, for Brazil to be the best Brazil, to rule, to dominate, to have an impressive step, to dance samba. But for now that is not the case: in four games Brazil is an earthly Brazil, full of mortals, a team without batucada, which is third in the table and which has given up points that it would not normally give up and that has suffered scares that it would not normally suffer. . So Diniz’s challenge, now that he has the continental title, is enormous: it is to make Brazil the same Brazil as always, and his first challenge as champion coach of the continent is to face Colombia.
Fernando Diniz, DT of Fluminense.
He is 49 years old, was born in Patos de Minas (Brazil) and has an extensive career that began with the guayos on, as Diniz was a soccer player, a midfielder who had his career only in Brazil, in teams such as Palmeiras, Corinthians, Fluminense, Flamengo, Cruzeiro or Santos, among others. Since 2009, a year following he retired as a player, he has been a coach and has been on small and large teams. He started in the modest Votoraty, where he won the Paulista Cup and the Paulista Série A3 Championship. And he moved forward, taking enormous steps until he managed teams of the stature of Paranaense, Fluminense, São Paulo, Santos, Vasco da Gama… An all-rounder in technical direction, who treasured other achievements such as the Guanabara Cup and the championship. Carioca with Fumiense, until their greatest victory came, the Copa Libertadores, then their euphoria is understandable.
Diniz’s philosophy
Some call him the Brazilian Guardiola, due to his obsession with touch play and ball possession, although in reality Fernando Diniz is the opposite of Guardiola. His philosophy is at the other extreme, it is to grant freedom to his players, who do not feel tied down, who express their conditions without positional rigor, like someone who flees from the tactical scheme to prioritize associative rigor, the combination of passes, the cult of the wall, of the offensive and happy game, very Brazilian, very of jogo bonito, of the fast touch, of the dribble, of magic, of voracity to attack, with a game that is born in the pasture or in the arena of Copacabana, as if its idea were to return to the roots of Brazilian football. Some call it art football, others simply call it Dinizism, as if it were a trend that already bears his name, a way of playing without shackles, with complete freedom of movement and tactical structures.
The legendary former player Ronaldo Nazario was one of those who at the time nominated him for coach of Brazil: “He would be an attraction for the National Team. He is a guy who plays well and puts on a show,” he said. A show that distances itself from Guardiola and in general from European methodologies. He said it himself: “His (Guardiola’s) way of having the ball is almost the opposite of mine. It is a more positional game. The players respect the position a lot and the ball goes into space. My way of seeing football is almost ‘apositional’… The players can change positions more, the field is more open, in certain sectors we get closer. One is a game that is more confined to positions and the other is more free,” he said regarding his way of understanding the game. And Guardiola already responded: “I want to know more regarding that non-positional game, maybe Diniz will tell me when we meet.”
Fernando Diniz, DT of Fluminense.
It is a very important gain. My voice will be amplified. There are things that I always talk regarding, but following today those things that I have talked regarding my whole life are going to remain circulating forever.
Diniz put together his idea of the Fluminense champion with true leaders, with a gladiator like Felipe Melo, with a side of a thousand battles like Marcelo, with the balance of André, with the exquisite pause of Ganso, with the dynamics of the Colombian Jhon Arias and with the goals from an infallible striker like Germán Cano. With them he conquered the glory of the continent, with them he managed to make his idea resonate, because at last he has a great title that certifies his thoughts:
“It is a very important gain. My voice will be amplified. There are things that I always talk regarding, but following today those things that I have talked regarding all my life will remain circulating forever,” he said upon winning the Libertadores.
He is also a leader, a teacher capable of efficiently transmitting the message to the player. He is even a psychologist by profession. He himself commented in an interview: “My vocation has always been the human area. I wanted to study psychology, philosophy or sociology,” he told UOL Brazil in December 2012. He is also somewhat visionary. When the game with Boca was tied, Diniz called striker Kennedy, cornered him and told him, very close, looking him in the eyes, like an instruction that cannot be lost: “You are going to score the title goal. You are going to score the title goal. “You are going to score the goal of the title,” he shouted at him, and it was not a cry, it was a certainty. Kennedy came in and delivered. He scored the continental title goal. Diniz knew it, he sensed it, he foreshadowed it.
Brazil’s selection. On the left, coach Fernando Diniz.
His whole idea already led him to glory in Fluminense, but not in the National Team. And it seems logical. They are two different conceptions. With Brazil he does not have time to apply what he professes, he is not able to modify the chip of the footballer who comes from Europe, which is why it has been difficult for him to start the tie, which is why he arouses the first criticism, but here he goes, imposing his style once morest wind and tide.
Diniz has already changed his facet like someone who changes his clothes or office, like someone who knows the border between managing the club and the National Team, he has already left behind his madness experienced at the Maracaná, his greatest euphoria, and recovered the seriousness of the case to get back on track. Brazilian football in the qualifying round.
PABLO ROMERO
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@PabloRomeroET
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