Muricy Ramalho, Sao Paulo FC coach: “2006 Brazilian Champion” Despite not having players with ideal characteristics, coach Muricy Ramalho successfully implemented the 4-4-2 organization with his team. By: Estevão Bertoldi Sanches and Guilherme Costa 4 No. 19 – Februari/March 2007 A complete soccer coaching experience When playing in a 3-5-2 organization, Sao Paulo had a victorious approach at Sao Paulo demonstrates the coach’s personality. season in 2005, in which they won 3 championships – Sao Persistent, confident and hard working, Muricy Ramalho was Paulo State League, Libertadores Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. able to make the team adapt to his style. The tactical system, which was also used in 2004, was the per- fect way to adapt the characteristics of the starting line-up play- “We do not have players with characteristics to play 4-4-2, but ers. However, in the past year, Muricy decided to ignore his we decided to use this system anyway. We could not maintain players’ styles and changed the team drastically. With this for- the 3-5-2 because we were becoming too predictable. So I deci- mation won Sao Paulo the Brazilian Championship – something ded to change the formation and needed everyone’s help in that had not happened since 1991. order to make it work. Players did a great job and learned how to play in a different system. In our case, their styles did not Adaptation help at all.” (See diagram 1a and 1b) Different from most teams in the world, who try to find a system that best fit their players’ qualities, Muricy’s Sao Paulo had a Muricy´s persistency was essential for this change in the sys- rigid system and his players should be able to adapt to it. The tem. He admitted that his players did not feel comfortable du- Diagram 1a Diagram 1b Aloísio Luisão Leandro Amoroso Danilo Danilo Souza Junior Cicinho Mineiro Mineiro Josué Josué Junior Ilsinho Miranda Fabão Alex Fabão Lugano Rogerio Ceni Rogerio Ceni 2006 Brazilian Championship formation (4-4-2) 2005 Libertadores Cup formation (3-5-2) No. 19 – Februari/March 2007 5 A complete soccer coaching experience ring the first few games. “We had to play against the players´ characteristics and it is not easy. The players were willing to do it, they worked hard, and they were competent. Their reward was the Brazilian Championship.” Wing Backs The most difficult thing for Sao Paulo was adapting its outside midfielders, who became wing backs in the 4-4-2 formation. All the options that Muricy had – Souza and Ilsinho on the right side, and Junior and Richarlyson on the left – are offense min- ded players. They also like to run diagonally through the midfield and are not good markers. (See diagram 2) Diagram 02 Offensive move of outside midfielders in 3-5-2 (diagonal penetration) “When Ilsinho came to Sao Paulo, for instance, he could only think about offense. We had a tough job teaching him how to mark. Before playing for us, he used to only surround the oppo- nents, trying to reduce spaces. We taught him how to tackle the man with the ball, which not only force the opponents to make mistakes; it made him a more complete player.” One of the biggest problems for Sao Paulo´s 4-4-2 was the of- fensive attitude of the wing backs. “Ilsinho used to go forward all the time and Junior always penetrates diagonally if we let him do it. When we changed the system, we needed to force a de- fensive role for them. Now they attack alternately and stay in Diagram 3a Diagram 3b Outside backs marking opponent. Outside midfielders marking opponent’s Opposite back becomes third defender (4-4-2) outside back (3-5-2) 6 No. 19 – Februari/March 2007 A complete soccer coaching experience defense when we do not have possession. They were used to ferent moves in a regular game when we performed well in a always mark the opponents’ wing back. Now our player on the small space.” (See exercise 1) opposite side becomes a third defender.” (See diagram 3) During the small field practice, when building up from the back, Muricy was insistent throughout the season to make his wing one of the central defenders starts with the ball and always backs think defensively. “It is not possible to do it overnight. We looks for one of the defensive midfielders. So both of the defen- had a few problems in the beginning but we were able to be per- sive midfielders – Josué and Mineiro – had a new role in ball sistent. We were a bit annoying, but repetition is what produces distribution. Their physical condition was important for playing positive results in soccer.” this role. (Diagram 4) Role of midfielders “We started to use our defensive midfielders much more. In our Muricy´s strategy to adapt Sao Paulo to 4-4-2, included practi- 3-5-2, they used to cover our outside midfielders. We had two cing on small fields (half of the regular dimensions) with 11 defensive midfielders with great qualities and who like to play players on each side and limited number of touches per player. offensively. These characteristics helped us when changing the “Players were closer to each other and spaces were reduced on formation. We stopped being a predictable team and we can the field. We could see that we would be able to make many dif- now vary the way we play completely. This creates confusion for Diagram 4a Diagram 4b Building up from the back (3-5-2) Building up from the back (4-4-2). More participation from defensive midfielders. No. 19 – Februari/March 2007 7 A complete soccer coaching experience our opponents, and they spend a lot of time trying to adjust to this and it became a significant part of our offensive game.” our game. This is the time when we can dominate the match.” After finding the deliverers, Muricy created four moments for World Cup break players to enter the opponent´s box. “We numbered players Besides winning the championship, the tactical variation applied from one to four. The first one enters the box in the direction of by Muricy helped the team achieve the best attack of the com- the near post. The second player goes into the middle of the box, while the third runs in the direction of the far post. The last player takes a wider position in the box. We have options for direct crosses or someone passing the ball for the players behind.” (See diagram 5) Diagram 5a Free kick 1 petition (66 goals scored) and also the best defense (32 goals Diagram 5b allowed). “Repetition is the key to success. You will not be able to have things naturally; you must work to achieve something. It is an essential factor in success in soccer.” Muricy, however, stresses that persistency and changes in the formation were only possible due the fact that the Brazilian Free kick 2 Championship had a break during the 2006 World Cup. “We had time to train and adjust the team in the middle of the competition. This was like a pre-season and this made adap- tations possible.” Entering into the box in pre determined places was also a stra- tegy used for defensive situations. Until 2005, Sao Paulo´s de- fenders used to man mark the opponents at crosses. “But this Free Kicks method increased the number of penalty kicks against us.” One of the adaptations created by Muricy was set plays for free kicks. Sao Paulo used to have only direct shots from To improve performance on set plays, Muricy also changed the the goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni – a great goal scorer in free place were Sao Paulo trained. “We were used to practice only at our kicks. But last year, crosses from Souza and Junior also be- training center, which has a smaller field than our stadium, causing came really important. differences during games. We started to train twice a week at our stadium, and it also increased the number of long range shots.” “Our team did not have great statistics in free kicks and repeti- tion was our solution to improve it. We worked hard during the World Cup break. The first thing we looked for was the players Article in collaboration with Cidade who could take good crosses. We saw that Souza and Junior, do Futebol both outside players, were the best ones. We trained a lot on www.cidadedofutebol.com.br 8 No. 19 – Februari/March 2007 A complete soccer coaching experience 11v11 on half a field Organization: - Dimensions: half field with 2 goals - 2 teams (each team has 11 players) in a 4-4-2 formation 1 4 3 Progression: 9 5 - Simulation of a game on a small field with limited number of 7 6 2 8 touches (maximum 2 touches per player). 10 11 7 10 8 5 6 2 11 9 4 3 1 Finishing and Ball Possession Organization: - Half field with 3 goals - 3 teams (each team has 8 players + goalkeeper) - Each team can score in two goals. For example: Team red can score on goals 2 and 3. Variation: - Unlimited number of touches per player - Maximum of 2 touches per player - Teams can only score by header No. 19 – Februari/March 2007 9 A complete soccer coaching experience.